How to use the Dictation tool in Word 2019, Outlook 2019, Word 365, Outlook 365 and macOS

Overview

Dictation lets you use speech-to-text to create content in Office with a microphone.

Procedures

Windows OS - Turn Online Speech recognition on:

1. Type Settings on the “Type here to search” from the windows taskbar.
2. Click Privacy.
3. Click Speech.
4. Switch the Online speech recognition to on.
5. Close the window.

Windows OS - Enabling and Using Dictation in Word 2019 and Outlook 2019

1. Open Word 2019 and/or Outlook 2019
2. Click File from the left side of the taskbar at the top.
3. Choose Options.
4. Click General.
5. Scroll down to “Office intelligent services” and check Enable services.
6. Click OK.

Activating the Dictation toolbar

1. While in Word or Outlook, press the Windows logo key + H 
2. Start speaking and see the text appear on the screen from your voice.
3. Click the Microphone at the top of the dictation toolbar to start speaking again.
4. Click the “X” to close the dictation toolbar.

Windows OS - Word 365 and Outlook 365 clients

1. Open Word 365 and/or Outlook 365 client (does not work in web version)
2. Click the Dictate button from the top toolbar.
3. Click the microphone and start speaking
4. Click dictation settings to change to another language, microphone or to enable auto-punctuation (when you say the punctuation name, ex. Comma, a comma is added)
5. Choose “Help” from the dictate toolbar to view the Dictate Commands
6. Click the “X” to close the dictation toolbar.

macOS OS - Turn Online Speech recognition on:

1. System Preferences - Keyboard - Dictation - On - Enable Dictation
2. Open Outlook or Word
3. Start a new message/document
4. Click on Microphone on toolbar
5. OK to allow access

References/Links  

None at this time.

Last Reviewed:   17-Nov-2022