Customize Speech Models To Your Needs
Tailor your speech models to understand organization- and industry-specific terminology. Overcome speech recognition barriers such as background noise, accents, or unique vocabulary. Customize your models by uploading audio data and transcripts. Automatically generate custom models using Office 365 data to optimize speech recognition accuracy for your organization.
Best For Enterprises: Dragon Professional Group
Dragon Professional Group
Get a free USB headset when you purchase Dragon Home or Dragon Professional Individual using the code USB2022 at checkout.
Even though documentation is a crucial part of any organization’s day-to-day workflow, it usually takes up a lot of valuable time and resources. However, it doesn’t have to be that way, thanks to Dragon Professional Group. The best speech-to-text software for enterprises allows employees to create documentation 3x faster and 99% recognition accuracy. This is made possible by the program’s next-generation speech engine, which uses “Deep Learning” technology to achieve high recognition accuracy while dictating, even for users with accents or those working in open office spaces.
Dragon Professional Group also makes it simple to automate repetitive tasks and streamline multi-step processes. You can configure custom voice commands which is helpful when quickly adding frequently used items into documents. The system also allows you to create time-saving macros, or add industry-specific terms to the software’s vocabulary to share with other employees.
The program also comes with “Nuance Management Center,” a centralized user administration console that allows for easy management of everything from user profiles to custom command databases.
How To Dictate Text In Microsoft Office
There are a few different ways to dictate text in Microsoft Office depending on the software version you use. Heres how to do it in Word, PowerPoint, and more.
You could type your documents the old-fashioned way in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, but why not dictate the text instead? Whether you have a disability, medical condition, or are looking to save some time, Microsofts Dictate tool can help you get work done.
Based on a Microsoft Garage project that was developed to test dictation in Office applications, Dictate has now been implemented across Microsoft Word for Office 365, PowerPoint for Office 365, the free Word for the web, the free OneNote for the web, and the free OneNote app for Windows 10. You can access the built-in tool through an icon in the Ribbon of whichever program youre using.
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On Any Operating System: Google Docs
Open a Google Docs doc on the screen–> Tools–> Voicetyping. You can also hit a keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+S on Windows and Cmd+Shift+S on a Mac. A new microphone button will appear on screen. Click to start speaking and dictating,
If the system is not sure about something you said, it will underline the phrase in question, and you can right-click on these words to see a list of alternative suggestions. To insert punctuation like periods, commas, exclamation points, or question marks, or add new lines or paragraphs, just say so. In addition, Google Docs supports a host of voice commands for selecting and formattingtext, adding and editing tables, moving around the document, and more. For a full list of the commands: .When you are done dictating, click the microphone button again or say “stop listening.”
enter your text by speaking and then copy/paste into another application.
The first few options work within the learning management system as well. For instance, on a Mac, open an assignment submission, enter the shortcut for dictation and it will enter the text as you speak.
How Does Speech Recognition Work

After clicking on the button start dictation, the speech recognition system will send the sound recorded by your microphone to an external partner such as Google Text-to-Speech, IBM Watson Speech to Text, Microsoft’s speech-to-text or Amazon Transcribe. The partner will then convert your speech into text and will send back the text transcription. This process is happening live, this is why you can see the audio transcription directly on your screen. This is also why you need to be connected to the Internet to use this tool.
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Best For Windows 1: Built
Microsoft Logo
For a reliable Windows talk-to-text solution, you don’t even need to look elsewhere, as Microsoft’s newest OS already comes with one. Introduced as part of the October 5th update, the improved Dictation feature lets you capture all your thoughts and ideas using just your voice, quickly and accurately. Since it’s deeply integrated into the operating system, Dictation works flawlessly with just about any text field in Windows 11. To get started, select a text field , use the “Windows” logo key with the “H” key to launch the dictation toolbar, and begin speaking.
You can easily dictate most letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and symbols by just saying their names . Dictation also supports numerous voice commands that allow you to select/edit text, move the cursor to a specified location, and more. Windows 11 supports a variety of different languages for dictation, and your computer needs to be connected to the Internet and have a working microphone to use it.
Dictate In Word For Office 365
If you have a subscription for Office 365, launch Microsoft Word and open a document. Position your cursor where you want to start dictating. Click the Dictate icon on the Home Ribbon. The first time you do this, Word may ask for permission to use your microphone. Grant permission and you can start speaking.
Dictate words, punctuation, and specific actions, such as “new line” and “new paragraph.” You may want to dictate just a few sentences or a single paragraph at a time and then stop so you can review your text for any mistakes. To stop dictating, press the Dictate icon again.
After activating the tool, click the Settings icon on the small Dictate window at the bottom of the screen. Here, you can turn on Auto Punctuation so your dictation automatically includes periods, commas, and other marks without you needing to speak them. You can also turn the profanity filter on and off. With this filter on, any profane words show up as a series of asterisks.
You can also dictate text in other languages. Click the Settings icon on the Dictate window. Move to the command for Spoken Languages and choose the language you wish to use.
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How Do I Convert Speech To Text In Word
Speech-to-text conversion, also known as speech recognition, is the process of transforming spoken words into text. This can be done manually, by typing out the words as they are spoken, or automatically, by using speech recognition software.
In Microsoft Word, you can use the built-in speech recognition feature to convert speech to text. This feature is available on Windows PCs and Macs. To use it, you first need to install the Microsoft Speech Recognition software.
Once the software is installed, you can open a document in Word and start speaking. The speech recognition software will convert your speech into text, and will automatically insert the text into the document.
The speech recognition feature in Word can be used to type out text, to dictate text, and to control the cursor. It can also be used to insert punctuation, words, and phrases.
The speech recognition feature in Word is not perfect, and it may not be able to interpret all of your speech. If the software has trouble recognizing a word or phrase, you can type it in manually.
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Best Dictation Software For Typing In Google Docs
Google Docs includes a dictation feature that’s both highly accurate and easy to use, called but you have to be using Chrome to access this feature. Just go to Tools > Voice typing, and a microphone icon will appear on the left. Click on it, and start talking. If you’re idle for about 30 seconds, the microphone automatically stops. Click on it again to resume. You can use the same process to dictate speaker notes in a Slides presentation.
If you need help or you want a list of commands, click on the question mark within the microphone icon. Help will pop up on the right where you can scroll or search to find voice commands such as punctuation, text formatting, editing, and even moving around your document.
Google Docs voice typing price: Free
Google Docs voice typing accuracy: Out of 207 words dictated, nine words were incorrect, giving it a 96% accuracy. Most of the errors were for capitalizing words in the middle of sentences, such as untold, decline, and discovery.
Recommendation: If you’re a Google Docs power user and want dictation capability, voice typing is an excellent choice for its accuracy and many voice commands.
, which means you can automatically do things like save form entries to Google Docs, create new documents whenever something happens in your other apps, or create project management tasks for each new document.
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Does Windows 10 Have Text
Yes. Microsoft Windows 10 and 11 have text-to-speech tools, and the speak feature is called the Narrator. To enable the Narrator, you will need to go to Settings , Ease of Access, and click on Narrator.
The app will work on any type of document, including web pages. You can start or stop the app using Windows key + Ctrl + Enter keyboard shortcut or Speak command.
You can also use Speechify on your Windows 10 computer to read all types of documents, web pages, and more.
Editing Text Whilst Dictating
Although dictation is awesome, it can sometimes make a mistake with the voice to text recognition, or maybe you say a sentence in a particular way and then decide it doesnt sound right. You can activately edit the text as you dictate using a few easy commands.
undo |
backspace |
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What Are The Benefits Of Voice To Text
Some of the benefits of voice to text might seem obvious, and right off the bat, its simple to see why a free voice to text software might be useful. However, this program offers many more benefits that you might not have considered.
With our voice to text tool, you can experience seamless ease of communication, quick document turnaround, and course, flexibility for your work. Why take the time to type out your grand ideas when you can quickly capture them through our voice to text tool?
Ever have a great idea you cant wait to type out but once you get the chance to type it out, youve forgotten the idea? Or further, have you ever constructed a great sentence in your head, but by the time youve pulled up a document to type it out, your brain has totally switched up the order? It happens to all of us. But with our speech to text tool, you simply speak into our software and record the idea without lifting a finger! Then, simply print the transcription, save it as a text, or save it as an email or word document
But thats not all, theres a long list of benefits that voice to text tools can offer! For example, voice to text software can:
Health Advantages To Voice Typing

Sitting in front of a computer in general may result in different types of Computer Related Repetitive Strain Injuries . To avoid them the best way is not to sit in front of the computer for long periods of time. But, if you have to, you have to take extra care on your posture. You can read more about it here . Voice typing is one of the main recommended ways to minimize these risks, as it enables you to sit back comfortably, freeing your arms, hands, shoulders and back altogether. You can get back to typing once finished dictating for corrections & editing.
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Listen With Read Aloud For Macos
Read Aloud is only available for Office 2019, Office 2021, and Microsoft 365. |
On the Review tab, select Read Aloud.
To play Read Aloud, select Play in in the controls.
To pause Read Aloud, select Pause.
To skip from one paragraph to another, select Previous or Next.
To exit Read Aloud, select Stop .
Speech Recognition Tool Troubleshooting
The following problems might occur:
- The browser doesn’t support speech recognition : the latest version of Chrome does.We highly recommend you to use Chrome.
- Hardware problem with the microphone : make sure your computer has detected your microphone.
- Permission for accessing the microphone is not granted.Allow our Speech Recognition tool to have access to your microphone.
- The browser listens to the wrong microphone.To solve microphone permission issues, click on the small camera icon in the browser’s address bar , and set there the permission to allow the use of microphone, and pick the correct microphone from the dropdown list.
If you have other issues, please contact us describing the problem in detail.
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How To Use Speech To Text In Microsoft Word: Preparation
The most important thing to check is whether you have a valid Microsoft 365 subscription, as voice typing is only available to paying customers. If youre reading this article, its likely your business already has a Microsoft 365 enterprise subscription. If you dont, however, find out more about Microsoft 365 for business via this link .
The second thing youll need before you start voice typing is a stable internet connection. This is because Microsoft Words dictation software processes your speech on external servers. These huge servers and lighting-fast processors use vast amounts of speech data to transcribe your text. In fact, they make use of advanced neural networks and deep learning technology, which enables the software to learn about human speech and continuously improve its accuracy.
These two technologies are the key reason why voice typing technology has improved so much in recent years, and why you should be happy that Microsoft dictation software requires an internet connection.
A simple visualization of how voice to text software works.
Once youve got a valid Microsoft 365 subscription and an internet connection, youre ready to go!
How To Turn On Text
The first thing you will need to do is enable the Read Aloud tool in Microsoft Word. To do this, you will need to click on More Commands, which you will find in the drop-down menu in the left part of the Quick Access Toolbar.
From there on, you should click on Word Options, hover your cursor over Choose command from, and click on All Commands. This will allow you to find the Speak and add it to the menu.
As soon as you do this, the Speak button will appear in the top left corner, and all you need to do is highlight the text and click on the button to turn it on. You can also use Ctrl+A to select the entire text, or press the shift key and down arrow to select new lines.
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How To Use Speech To Text
One way to use it is to open our free speech to text tool. Simply select the language that you want to be live transcribed and click on start dictation. Allow your browser to access your microphone and start dictating. The free voice dictation software will now start recognizing your voice and will simultaneously transcribe the dictation into text.
Best Overall: Dragon Professional Individual
Dragon Professional Individual
Dragon has always been the gold standard of speech recognition programs, which continues to be the case even today. Packed with a truckload of features and extensive customization capabilities, Dragon Professional Individual is undeniably the best speech-to-text software available. Its next-generation speech engine uses “Deep Learning” technology, thereby allowing the program to adapt to the user’s voice and environmental variationseven when they’re dictating.
Thanks to the “Smart Format Rules” feature, users can easily configure how they want specific items to appear. Dragon Professional Individual’s advanced personalization features allow it to be tailored for maximum efficiency and productivity. You can import or export custom word lists for acronyms and unique business-specific terms. Plus you can configure custom voice commands for quickly inserting frequently used content in documents and even create time-saving macros to automate multi-step tasks with simple voice commands.
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Best Speech To Text Recognition Software For Windows 11
To fully utilize the benefits of speech to text recognition software, you need to look for apps that cater directly to your business needs.
Here we have chosen some of the best speech to text recognition software available for Windows 11 along with its positives and negatives so that you can easily find an app that matches all your business needs.
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Who Can Benefit From Speechnotes

Anyone who is tired of ordinary key-typing might find Speechnotes useful. It might also be helpful specifically for people with difficulties in typing. Such difficulties could be of a result of physical condition, or simply not mastering the keyboard typing technique in an early enough age.In addition, people who type a lot as their profession or hobby might find Speechnotes very useful as long keyboard typing might be very tyring, and even have medical implications as side effects. Needless to say, transcribers will find Speechnotes super helpful, as they can listen to a recording and repeat the speech into the mic, to get Speechnotes to transcribe it for them.
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