Google docs: Talk your way to writing

Aatif Sulleyman

Google is making it easier and easier to create and edit documents in Drive, letting you save time and get things done a lot more efficiently.

Well, the best Google Docs feature you might not know about has been available for some time. Voice Typing is incredibly useful, and lets you transcribe, edit and format documents with simple spoken commands, as long as your computer has a working microphone and you’re using Docs in Chrome.

Switch Voice Typing on

To enable it, hit Tools bar and select Voice Typing from the dropdown menu. This will launch a small window. Once you’ve chosen the right language, click on the microphone icon. If your computer’s microphone isn’t on, it will offer guidance on how to enable it.

Speak to type

That done, just speak to your PCand words will appear. It will work best in a quiet environment and speak clearly, at a normal volume and steady pace. It might not work perfectly every time, but if you see a mistake, you can correct it with your mouse and keyboard simultaneously.

Punctuation

It’s easy to insert punctuation with Voice Typing. Just use these phrases:

• Full stop
• Comma
• Exclamation point
• Question mark
• New line
• New paragraph

Editing and formatting

Google even lets you edit and format text with speech, though the option is currently only available to English speakers. There’s a list of commands, but the following are the most useful to casual Docs users.

• Copy
• Cut
• Paste
• Select [word or phrase]
• Select all
• Deselect
• Delete last word
• Delete [word or phrase]
• Copy link
• Insert link [then say the URL]
• Bold
• Italicise
• Italics
• All caps [word or phrase]
• Capitalise [word or phrase]
• Text colour [colour name]
• Decrease font size
• Increase font size
• Clear formatting

Stop Voice Typing

Once you’re done, either click the microphone icon again or say “Stop listening”. To resume, say “Resume”.

— The Independent