Speech Recognition and Voice to Text

Try speaking to your computer.

Voice recognition software use has increased over recent years for more and more applications. In fact, both major operating systems have built in voice to text and speech recognition tools that require no software purchases. Given that most of us are working from home in altered work areas and performing altered work in some cases, we are recommending that everyone consider utilizing speech to help perform your work. Start with some simple items to familiarize yourself with the basics, such as dictating emails and simple text. It is possible to significantly reduce your typing volume using these tools.

Here are some resources to get you started.

For Apple Computers

Voice Dictation on Mac - Speech to Text (built into all Apple devices)

For Windows 10 Computers

Please note: Windows has 2 tools that do this. One is voice dictation (Windows Key+H) which is a dictation tool only that works in any text box. We dictated this guideline using this feature. The article below shows how to use it.

Voice Dictation on Windows 10

The second is speech recognition (Ctrl+Windows Key+S) which can dictate but also can control computer function. This article shows both tools in detail.

Speech Recognition and Voice Dictation on Windows 10

Also, here’s a video showing how to set it up.

Speech Recognition for Windows 10

If you try this, please let us know how it is working for you. Your feedback is important to us. If you have difficulty using this or setting it up, contact Thomas Sneed for assistance.

Additionally, all smartphones and tablets have voice to text capability for anything that the device's keypad is used to perform. Look for the microphone icon on the keypad and click on it to activate.

We hope this information helps you find some comfort while you work. Remember the best thing you can do for yourself while using the computer is to take adequate breaks. It is recommended for every 20-30 minutes of computer work, stand up and move around, stretch, and/or work on something else besides the computer for a few minutes. (last update July 2020)