If you want to go beyond the basics, Master Your Mac will take you there. ITworld is giving away 5 copies of 'Master Your Mac: Simple Ways to Tweak, Customize, and Secure OS X' to some lucky readers. That brings up another good point: Make sure to proofread the text after it's been transcribed - this technology isn't perfect yet, so you will find typos. You would say, "Here I am comma at home comma alone period." It sounds weird, and it takes some getting used to, but it's a trick you'll need to use if you don't want to have to manually add all of the punctuation later. For example, if you wanted Dictation to type the following: Here I am, at home, alone. Here's a trick that will prevent a headache or two: Punctuation needs to be enunciated. Apple's servers will transcribe what you said and then paste the text in the document. The dictation icon appears, as shown in Figure 10-5.Ħ. Open a text document and press the shortcut key twice. Once mastered, a user can be as productive dictating as if they were typing on a keyboard.5. For example, you must say any punctuation you want to add to your text out-loud. However, the feature is not perfect and if you want to use Cortana for dictation on a regular basis, you need to practice your technique and master some commands. The speech-to-text quality has greatly improved over the years and, in general, whatever you say will appear on your screen as intended. The Cortana system will open a small box and begin listening and then typing your words as you say them into the microphone, as you can see in Figure C.
To activate speech-to-text dictation in Windows 10, press the Windows key plus H (Windows key-H). With Cortana initiated, you can now fill out forms, dictate text, and give commands just by talking to your computer. The company does this in an attempt to refine and improve the experience, but this transfer of data does involve privacy issues and requires your acknowledgment. It is also important to note that once you turn this feature on, Windows 10, and by extension, Microsoft will begin tracking your behavior and interaction using speech recognition and Cortana.
Note, you should have a working microphone already connected to your PC at this point. On the next page ( Figure B), click the Turn on speech services and typing suggestions button to activate Cortana and speech recognition. Scroll down to the Speech, inking & typing privacy settings item under Related Settings, as shown in Figure A. Click the Time & language item on the Settings screen and then click the Speech item in the left navigation bar.
To activate speech recognition in Windows 10, click or tap the Start Menu button in the lower left-hand corner of the typical desktop and click the Settings icon.
The appropriate speech recognition settings in Windows 10 tend to be buried deep within the configuration menus.
SEE: System update policy template download (Tech Pro Research) Speech recognition The steps outlined presume you have a working microphone already connected to your PC.
This how-to tutorial shows you how to turn on speech recognition in Windows 10, how to configure the settings, and then how to use the feature for the purpose of dictation. This underutilized feature can be particularly useful in certain business settings where text must be entered, but a keyboard would be inconvenient. However, one feature of speech recognition often overlooked is the ability to dictate text. Through this set of applications and features, users can give their PCs commands, initiate calendar entries, make phone calls, and perform a slew of other functions. Microsoft Windows 10 has its own version of a speech-recognizing digital assistant in Cortana. Windows 11: Tips on installation, security and more (free PDF) Windows 11 SE: Why it's both more and less locked down than Windows 10 S Windows Server IoT 2022 is for a lot more than Internet of Things Windows 11 cheat sheet: Everything you need to know Whether it means giving commands to your favorite smart device at home or your mobile smartphone, “talking” to your digital assistant has become a common and effective way to interface with your connected world. How to turn on speech recognition and dictation in Windows 10Īctivating speech recognition in Windows 10 requires a deep dive into configuration settings.Īs the quality of speech-to-text technology improves, the overall usefulness of speech recognition features and applications in our computing devices has improved as well.