How To Use Speech Dictation on Windows 10

Karim Buzdar

December 7, 2017

5 Min Read
Microphone Dictation in Windows 10

The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update has many new features and changes, including dictation, so you can now input English text anywhere on the desktop without typing from the keyboard.

To get started with dictation, select the area on your desktop where you would like to translate the spoken words into text, then press the Windows + H keys to open the dictation toolbar. Then keep saying whatever you want to translate.

Click the Microphone icon to stop dictating. You can also stop dictation any time by saying "stop dictation".

Currently, US English is supported and your PC needs to have an Internet connection for dictation to work.

Dictation Commands

You can use available dictation commands to tell your PC to do some special tasks like “delete that” or “select previous word”.

Task

Say

Clear a selection

Clear selection; unselect that

Delete the most recent dictation result or currently selected text

Delete that; strike that

Delete a single word such as current word

Delete

Move the cursor to the first character after a specified word or phrase

Go after that; move after ; go to the end of ; move to the end of that

Move the cursor to the end of a unit of text

Go after ; move after ; go to the end of that; move to the end of

Move the cursor backward by a unit of text

Move back to the previous ; go up to the previous

Move the cursor to the first character before a specified word or phrase

Go to the start of the

Move the cursor to the start of a text unit

Go before that; move to the start of that

Move the cursor forward to the next unit of text

Move forward to the next your ; go down to the next

Move the cursor to the end of a unit of text

Move to the end of the ; go to the end of

Tab, Enter, End, Home, Page up, Page down, Backspace, Delete

Tap Enter, press Backspace

Select a specific word or phrase

Select

Select the most recent dictation result

Select that

Select a unit of text

Select the

Turn spelling mode on or off

Start spelling; stop spelling

Dictating Letters, Numbers, Punctuation, and Symbols

You can translate most of the letters, numbers, punctuation, and symbols. To translate letters, numbers, punctuation and symbols, say “start spelling” and then the symbol and letter. When you are done with translation, say “stop spelling”.

Following is a list of available punctuation characters and symbols you can use.

Character

Say

uppercase

uppercase followed by your desired letter suppose uppercase A

lowercase

Lowercase followed by your desired letter suppose lowercase b

@

at symbol;at sign

#

Pound symbol; pound sign; number symbol; number sign; hash symbol; hash sign; hashtag symbol; hashtag sign; sharp symbol; sharp sign

$

dollar symbol;dollar sign

%

Dollar symbol; dollar sign; dollars symbol; dollars sign

^

caret

&

and sign;and symbol

*

Asterisk; times; star

(

Open paren; left paren; open parenthesis; left paren

)

Close paren; right paren; close parenthesis; right parenthesis

_

underscore

-

Hyphen; dash; minus sign

~

Tilde

Backslash; whack

/

Forward slash; divided by

,

Comma

.

Period; dot; decimal; point

;

Semicolon

Apostrophe; open single quote; begin single quote; close single quote; close single quote; end single quote

=

Equal symbol; equal sign; equals symbol; equal sign

(space)

Space

|

Pipe

:

Colon

?

Question mark; question symbol

[

Open bracket; open square bracket; left bracket; left square bracket

]

Close bracket; close square bracket; right bracket; right square bracket

{

Open curly brace; open curly bracket; left curly brace; left curly bracket

}

Close curly brace; close curly bracket; right curly brace; right curly bracket

+

Plus symbol; plus sign

Open angle bracket; open less than; left angle bracket; left less than

Close angle bracket; close greater than; right angle bracket; right greater than

Open quotes; begin quotes; close quotes; end quotes; open double quotes; begin double quotes; close double quotes; end double quotes

About the Author

Karim Buzdar

https://www.linkedin.com/in/karimbuzdar/

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