I was never a big fan of voice dictation. Having been born with keyboard and mouse in hand, I’ve always felt more comfortable that way, and my verbal WPM can’t compare to my typing speed.
But I use Google Docs every single day, so when I learned that it has a Voice Typing feature, I figured I may as well try it out. I’m admittedly late to the game — it first debuted back in early 2016 — but better late than never, right?
It turns out, Voice Typing is awesome! In this article, you’ll learn everything you need to know about voice dictation and voice control in Google Docs, including how to get started and a few essential tips for productivity.
Setting Up Voice Typing in Google Docs
Google Docs (the online word processing software attached to Google Drive) features a built-in accessibility tool called Screen Reader that can be used to read your documents aloud. This quick tip will guide you through the steps to enable this feature in your account preferences. Google Docs brings your documents to life with smart editing and styling tools to help you easily format text and paragraphs. Choose from hundreds of fonts, add links, images, and drawings. Use any of the Google Docs apps (Document, Presentation, or Spreadsheet), and you’ll know within a second of opening it that you’re not using a real OS X application. Create and edit web-based documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Store documents online and access them from any computer.
As of this writing, Voice Typing only works on the latest versions of Google Chrome. You can get basic voice dictation in the Google Docs app for Android and iOS, but none of the additional features that make Voice Typing so useful.
To begin, visit docs.google.com and sign in with your Google account. (Yes, you need a Google account to use Google Docs!)
Make sure you’re using the latest version of Chrome. To check if you are, click the three-dot menu and select Help > About Google Chrome… If you’re behind, it will automatically update.
And you’ll need a microphone. If you don’t have one, be sure to get a dynamic microphone instead of a condenserCondenser vs. Dynamic: Which Mic Do You Actually Need?Condenser vs. Dynamic: Which Mic Do You Actually Need?Thinking about upgrading from a built-in microphone to something more professional sounding? Here's what you need to know between choosing a condenser or dynamic microphone.Read More. Dynamics pick up less background noise, so your words will be clearer and the voice recognition engine will be a bit more accurate. If you don’t know where to start, I recommend one of the microphones in our podcast equipment guideThe Best Podcast Equipment for Starters and EnthusiastsThe Best Podcast Equipment for Starters and EnthusiastsLooking to create your own podcast? We've rounded up some essential podcasting equipment for all budgets and levels of experience.Read More.
Dictating Your First Sentence in Google DocsOn Desktop
With a new Google Docs document open in Chrome, go to Tools > Voice Typing… (or use the Ctrl + Shift + S shortcut) to open the Voice Typing popup box.
In the box, select from over 40 languages and accents. This is essential! Pronunciations matter for the accuracy of the voice recognition engine.
Click the microphone icon to start dictation. The first time, Chrome will ask you if you want to grant permission to Google Docs to use your microphone. Click Allow.
Now start talking! As you speak, you’ll see the words pop up like magic in real-time, and you’ll also see something like this () when Google Docs is processing your speech into words. You can insert punctuation with these words (but only in English, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish languages):
It’s okay to pause whenever you want and for however long you want. As long as the microphone icon is on, Google Docs will keep listening. To turn Voice Typing off, click the icon again. If you switch to another tab or another application, Voice Typing will automatically turn itself off.
On Mobile
Download and launch the Google Docs app (Android, iOS). Create a new document or open an existing one, whichever you want, and then tap where you want to start typing. When the onscreen keyboard appears, tap the microphone icon to start voice dictation.
As you speak, the words will appear in the document in real-time. But unlike in Chrome, the mobile version of Google Docs will not wait around forever — if you pause for too long, the voice recognition engine will turn off. Presumably, this is to preserve battery life in case you forget. To turn it off manually, tap the icon again.
You can use the above punctuation phrases on mobile, too. Check out our guide for using Google Docs on mobile devicesHow to Start Using Google Docs on Mobile DevicesHow to Start Using Google Docs on Mobile DevicesGoogle Docs is an indispensable tool when you are on the road. Here's a primer for using Google Docs on mobile devices.Read More for more tips.
Controlling Google Docs With Your Voice
In addition to basic dictation, Voice Typing grants a lot of extra control over your document, even allowing you to format text and paragraphs using nothing but your voice. The downside? These voice commands are only available when your Google account language and the Voice Typing language are both English.
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Here’s everything you can control by voice alone.
Document Navigation
The “Go to” command will be what you use most. You can pair it with the following filters: “start of”/”end of” or “next”/”previous”. The available targets for where you can navigate depend on which pairing you use.
You need both — there’s no way to do this with an iPhone and a Windows PC. You’ll need to enable it on your iPhone by opening the Settings app, tapping Messages, and activating Text Message Forwarding to your Mac. Text on pc for mac. This is part of. The built-in SMS-message-sending feature on a Mac only works if you partner it with an iPhone, too — not if you have an Android phone.
With “start of” or “end of”, you can speak these commands:
And with “next” or “previous”, you can speak these commands:
For tables, you have:
And then you have miscellaneous points of interest:
You can also “Go back/forward [number] characters/words” as well as “Go up/down [number] lines/paragraphs”. If you’re just reading a document, you can go mouse-free by speaking “Scroll up” and “Scroll down”.
At any point, you can say “Resume” to jump to the end of the document or “Resume with [word]” to jump to a word.
Text Selection
In order to edit documents without a mouse, you have to be able to select text. Google Docs is pretty smart about this and you can select all kinds of text anywhere in the document, but the learning curve is a bit steep. Productivity will be slow at first, but after a week or so of practice, you’ll be quicker than a mouse.
Text Editing
What if you mess up while dictating? Maybe an accidental “um” gets thrown in there, or you decide to rewrite your last paragraph? That’s just as easy. Most of these editing commands should be paired with a selection command from above.
Google Docs supports all kinds of annotations and extra features that hang on the peripheries of a document. You can add these with the “Insert” command:
Zalgo Text For Google Docs Mac App
Less frequently, you may need to deal with tables of contents:
Text Formatting
Yes, you no longer need to rely on the formatting toolbar to spruce up your documents. Even when dictating, you can turn boring papers into office-ready documents. Not all formatting options are available, but most are, so even if you have to do some touching up afterward, at least you can do most of it hands-free.
Remember to combine these with the selection commands above:
If you want to undo any of that:
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You can also change alignments:
You can create lists:
You can alter individual paragraphs:
Voice To Text For Google Docs
And you can even play around with colors:
Google Docs Mac Download
![]() Disable Voice Typing
Simply speak “Stop listening” to turn it off.
Sadly, voice commands are NOT available in the mobile app yet.
How Will You Use Google Doc’s Voice Typing?
Normally voice dictation is used for recording notes and thoughts while on the go, but Voice Typing is feature-packed enough that you can use it to write entire documents. This is great for anyone who suffers from office-induced repetitive strain injury5 Reasons Working With Computers Is Bad For You & How to Stay Healthy5 Reasons Working With Computers Is Bad For You & How to Stay HealthyWorking on the computer may sound like the most relaxed job in the world, but it's quite the contrary. It's very tough on your body, which is not used to this modern type of work..Read More or some kind of gaming-related hand pain5 Dangerous Gaming Injuries And How To Avoid Them5 Dangerous Gaming Injuries And How To Avoid ThemImagine that you can no longer grasp a can of soda without your wrist feeling like it wants to explode. That, my friend, is what that innocent-looking game console can do to you. I'm not..Read More.
If that’s you, then start learning Voice Typing right now! And you can use it on the go, at least in a limited form, with the Google Docs mobile app. I’d expect these extra features to come to the mobile version in the next few years, so you may want to learn them now in preparation. (Also, optimize your workstation7 Hacks to Make Your Work Desk More Efficient for Maximum Productivity7 Hacks to Make Your Work Desk More Efficient for Maximum ProductivityDo you feel sore or fatigue? Do your eyes ache or is your neck killing you? An optimized work desk might cure your ailments and boost your productivity.Read More to reduce pain!)
How do you feel about writing and editing documents by voice alone? Is it more of a hassle than necessary? Or is it the future? Let us know in the comments!
Before you go, check out these Google Docs add-ons for professionalsThe 10 Best Google Docs Add-Ons for More Professional DocumentsThe 10 Best Google Docs Add-Ons for More Professional DocumentsUse these ten useful add-ons to create professional-grade Google documents quickly.Read More:
Explore more about: Google Docs, Google Drive, Productivity, Voice Commands.
Google Docs is an awesome tool for collaborative writing, especially when you need to get or give feedback. That's because you can insert little comments into the document that can contain discussions and be resolved when they're finished. This is available in Google Docs' 'Insert' menu, but it's also a handy keyboard shortcut.
On Windows, you just need to press Control+Alt+M. On Mac OS X, it's Command+Option+M. That'll bring up a comment and you can start typing right away. You can add as many comments as you want by just selecting what you want to comment on and using this keyboard shortcut.
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For a quick demo, check out the video above.
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Shortcut of the Day highlights a great shortcut on various platforms from the desktop to mobile devices to the web. You can find more shortcuts here.
You can follow Adam Dachis, the author of this post, on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook. Twitter's the best way to contact him, too.
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