Today you will learn how to activate the microphone in Word so you can take advantage of a very convenient feature within this tool: voice dictation, one of the best voice assistants on the market.
Basically, it is to have the option to write with your voice, that is, to make documents in Word by dictating to a device to convert voice into text. Just by speaking, you will see the text appear in your document. To do this, you need a microphone, which is built into your computer by default, you just have to make sure it works.
Now, to find out how to activate the dictation microphone in Word, it is important to verify that the function is available. According to the Microsoft page, it comes from Windows 10 for Microsoft 365 subscribers. And that is why you surely do not find the <Dictate> button in previous versions of the program (however, this has a solution, do not worry). Read on, because we’ll show you all the routes you need to learn how to activate the microphone in Word.
let’s get started!
how to activate the microphone in Word on a PC?
Okay, so you’re wondering how to speak and get typed in Word? The first thing you should do is to check if in your <Start> toolbar you have the microphone activated as shown in the following image.
Source: Word
If not, here’s how to activate it on both Windows and Mac.
Windows 10
As we had mentioned at the beginning, if your PC has the latest version of Windows 10 installed, it will be very easy for you to learn how to activate the microphone in Word and take advantage of the voice dictation feature. In addition, activating the “microphone” in Word to start creating documents is also available in English, French, Chinese (Simplified), German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. Let’s say you have to make a project proposal and you want to use voice dictation in Word.
To use it:
Start Word on your PC.
Place the mouse (cursor) in the area where you want to add text.
Press the <Windows> key + the letter H.
At the bottom of the document you will see a bar that says: <For dictation, go to Settings and enable online speech recognition>, which you will have to click on and it will take you to a <Settings> menu of <Speech>.
Source: Word
5. In the button where <Disabled> appears you switch to <Enabled> and exit the menu.
Source: Word
6. Once you are back in the document, just click <Windows> + H and start dictating to insert the text into the document.
7. When you are done, pronounce the word “End” and the tool will stop the voice dictation.
see how easy it is to learn how to dictate in Word? If you want to resume dictation in Word, just press the above-mentioned keys again or simply click on the microphone icon.
For more information on how to use the Windows dictation function and which voice commands to use to get the most out of it, you can consult the Microsoft support page. It’s a good reminder that if the version of Word you use is integrated with Office 365, you can also use it to dictate in Word. Now, continue learning how to activate the microphone in Word in Office 365.
Office 365
how to activate the mic in Office 365 If you have a subscription to the Office 365 platform, then you can very easily make use of the Voice Dictation feature in Word, which is included in this application. It is available in several languages, including Spanish, you will only need a permanent internet connection to use it.
To find out how to activate the microphone in Office 365, and start using voice dictation, follow the detailed instructions below:
Open the Word application.
In the Home tab, press the Dictation button in the upper right corner. As soon as you see the Record symbol, you can start dictating in Word the text on your PC.
Pro tip: after learning how to dictate in Word in Office 365, we remind you that you can use punctuation symbols just by mentioning the name:
Period (.)
Comma (,)
Question mark (?)
Exclamation mark (!)
Backspace or Backspace (←)
New paragraph (¶)
Semicolon (;)
Colon (:)
Grave accent ( ` )
Acute accent ( ‘ )
Simple, isn’t it? When you have finished learning how to activate the microphone in Word in Office 365, press the dictation button (top right) again to stop listening to the text.
Note that you can learn how to activate voice dictation in Word Web version, also available in this article. Just connect to the web version of Office from a supported browser (Chrome, Firefox or Safari) and sign in with your Office 365 account.
how to activate voice dictation in Word in the Web version? In the same way as explained above.
Click on the Home tab.
Click on the Dictation button on the right.
Once the browser allows access to the microphone, start dictating text in Word.
To stop recording, press the Word dictation button again.
Now that you know how to enable voice dictation in Word with Office 365, you’re probably going to want to use this feature with Word templates to make calendars, to-do lists, etc. follow us in the next section! Let’s now take a look at how to enable the microphone in Word on macOS.
MacOS
If you have a Mac, you can take advantage of the MacOS dictation system to “write” texts with your voice in Word, as it is fully compatible with the Spanish language. To find out how to activate voice dictation in Word on a Mac, follow the steps below:
In your Apple menu select <System Preferences> (or also the gear icon in the Dock bar).
Source: Mac
Once there, click on<Keyboard>.
Source: Mac
Go to the <Dictation> section.
In the <Dictation> menu check <Enabled> / <Enable dictation>.
In the same menu select <Language> (for the example we will use Spanish Latin America).
Finally, in the <Quick Function> option, choose from the drop-down menu the command or key to activate the microphone in Word (for the example we will use the Fn (Function) key twice).
Source: Mac
Pro tip: as an additional option to how to activate voice dictation in Word for Mac, it is recommended to check the box Use “Enhanced dictation”. This way, you will be able to further increase the recognition of spoken words. Once you have done this, wait for the file needed to take advantage of this feature to download and install completely – which may take a few minutes. Finally, close the configuration window.
If you see that everything is in order, then it’s time to see how to dictate in Word on a Mac. To do this, then continue by doing the following:
Launch Word for Mac
Open or create a new document
Place the cursor in the area you want to add text and,
To start voice dictation on MacOS, press the Fn key on your keyboard twice. If everything is OK so far, then you will see a microphone button appear next to the program window.
Once you are done, you can end voice dictation on MacOS by clicking the End button just below the microphone icon.
Problems activating the microphone in Word: what to do?
Let’s say you have followed in detail the instructions we gave you on how to activate the microphone in Word. However, you have not yet been able to enjoy the tool because the program cannot “hear” the words you say. So, how can you activate voice dictation in Word without any problems?
First of all, make sure you are using a microphone connected through a 3.5 mm audio jack. Make sure it is plugged into the correct input (it is usually pink or marked with a microphone icon) and that it is positioned correctly.
If problems still persist, we suggest you run some tests to see if the impasse may be due to a misconfiguration of the operating system. Many people who try to learn how to activate voice dictation in Word face simple problems such as software updates, sound settings, audio drivers, etc.
how to activate the microphone in Word on the cell phone?
Nowadays, having a smartphone allows us to perform tasks that used to be possible only behind a desk. Therefore, knowing how to activate the microphone in Word on the cell phone is already a very common activity, although not everyone knows that voice dictation is also available on these devices.
Here’s how to activate the microphone in Word on Android and iOS:
Open the app and tap the microphone icon in Word to activate dictation.
Tap the microphone icon in Word when it is red and start speaking.
To turn off the voice dictation feature in Word when you are done, tap the same microphone icon again.
how to activate the microphone in word processors other than Word?
You may be wondering how to activate the microphone in word online or in other word processors, such as Google docs. Here are the instructions to locate it in Drive and OneDrive.
Word online in OneDrive
Let’s start with OneDrive, where the interface already has by default the Word microphone incorporated in the toolbar, as you can see in the following image.
Source: OneDrive
Just select the Word microphone icon and it will immediately ask for permission to access your microphone. You must accept to display the dictation menu.
Source: OneDrive
Source: OneDrive
Google docs
In a Drive document the function you find it in the <Tools> tab, option <Voice Dictation>, which displays its respective menu to start speaking and transcribing in Google docs.
Source: Drive
Voice dictation in Word: unrecognized words
When learning how to activate the microphone in Word, you may encounter some difficulties, such as unrecognized words. Yes, those symbols that sometimes we find it hard to remember how to call them by name.
Therefore, we leave you with a list of the most popular symbols that will help you overcome this obstacle. Thus, you will be able to make better use of Word’s voice dictation by structuring your sentences better.
Period = .
Comma = ,
Question mark = ?
Exclamation mark = !
Backspace = new line
Colon = :
Semicolon = ;
Open and closed parentheses = ()
Arrow = @
Asterisk = *
Underscore = _
& or et = &
Hashtag = #
Division sign = ÷
Multiplication sign = ×
Symbols for “less than” and “greater than” = < >
Euro symbol = €
Dollar sign = $
Pound sign = £
that’s it! Now you know how to activate the microphone in Word to avoid typing and now you can take your texts to another level thanks to this fantastic technology. can you imagine how much time you can save? Unbelievable!