How to Dictate in Windows 10

Last Updated: October 7, 2018

Dictation was introduced in the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update to make it easier for people to use their computers. Also, Dictation converts your spoken words to text on Windows computers as it does on Mac and iPhone/Android. You can learn how to use it with the dictation toolbar and with Windows speech recognition.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

With the Dictation Toolbar

1
Make sure you are running the latest version of Windows 10. The dictation toolbar is not available on Windows 10 Creators Update and earlier, and in certain countries in certain languages. In that case, you will have to use Windows Speech Recognition.
2
Select a text field. It is pointless to try and dictate outside of a text field, as nothing will be written.

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3
Press ⊞ Win+H to start dictating. A toolbar will appear on your screen with a microphone on the left and an x on the right. It will say "Initializing..." for a bit then will say "Listening..." when it is ready.
4
Say what you want to type. For example, you can say, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" and the dictation toolbar will place the text you said into the text field.
- To place punctuation, say the character (such as "Period" for ".")
5
Press ⊞ Win+H again to stop dictating. The toolbar will stop picking up text, and you will be able to speak normally without other input getting picked up.
- You can also say "Stop dictating" or click the X in the corner to stop dictating.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

With Windows Speech Recognition

1
Set up Windows Speech Recognition first. Click on the search box, type "Windows Speech Recognition", and complete the wizard.
- Speech Recognition settings are very difficult to change after setup. Determine whether you want to stick with the current settings upon setup.
2
Click on the microphone. The output will change from "Off" or "Sleeping..." to "Listening...", allowing you to control your computer using your speech.
3
Select a text field. It is pointless to try and dictate outside of a text field, as nothing will be written.
4
Say what you want to type. For example, you can say, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" and Speech Recognition will place the text you said into the text field.
5
Click on the microphone again to stop dictating. Speech Recognition will stop picking up text, and you will be able to speak normally without other input getting picked up.
- You can also say "Stop listening", click the X in the corner, or right-click and choose "Off" to stop dictating.