This wikiHow teaches you how to use your voice instead of your keyboard to type text in Google Docs or Google Slides on your computer. This feature is only available on the Google Chrome web browser.
Step
Method 1 of 2: Enabling Voice Typing Feature in Google Docs
Step 1. Make sure the microphone is enabled on the computer and ready to use
If you're using a Mac computer, read this article to find out how to turn on the microphone. If you are using a Windows computer, read this article to create a test sound recording.
Step 2. Open Google Chrome
This browser icon is in the “ Applications ” on Mac computers and segments “ All Apps ” in the “Start” menu on the PC.
Step 3. Visit
If you're not signed in to your Google account yet, follow the on-screen instructions to sign in.
Step 4. Open the document you want to edit
If you want to create a new document, click the + New ” in the upper left corner of the page, then select “ Google Doc ”.
Step 5. Click the Tools menu
This menu is at the top of the Google Docs page.
Step 6. Click Voice typing
The microphone bar will be displayed.
Step 7. Click the microphone when you are ready to speak
Step 8. Say the words you want to type
Speak clearly at a moderate volume and speed. The words that are pronounced will be displayed on the screen, according to what you say.
- Say these English terms to add punctuation and newlines if necessary: “ Period " (point), " comma " (comma) " Exclamation point " (exclamation mark), " Question mark " (question mark), " New line " (new line) " New paragraph ” (new paragraph).
- You can also use voice commands in English to format text. Some commands that can be tried are “ Bold " (bold text) " Italicize " (italics) " Underline ” (underlined text) “ All caps " (all capital letters) " Capitalize " (capitalize one character) " Highlights ” (character tag) “ Increase font size ” (font size increase)” Line spacing double ” (doubling of line spacing) “ Align center " (average middle), " Apply 2 columns ” (addition of two columns).
- You can switch from one part of the document to another using voice commands. Say " Go to ” (go to) or “ Move to ” (switch to), followed by the desired destination (e.g. “ Start of paragraph " for the beginning of the paragraph " End of document " for the end of the document," next word " for the next word, and " Previous page ” for the previous page).
Step 9. Click the microphone again when finished speaking
The words you speak will no longer appear in the document.
Method 2 of 2: Enabling the Voice Typing Feature on Google Slides Speaker Notes Segment
Step 1. Make sure the microphone is enabled on the computer and ready to use
If you're using a Mac computer, read this article to find out how to turn on the microphone. If you are using a Windows computer, read this article to create a test sound recording.
You can only enter text by voice in the speaker note segment, not slides
Step 2. Open Google Chrome
This browser icon is in the “ Applications ” on Mac computers and segments “ All Apps ” in the “Start” menu on the PC.
Step 3. Visit
If you're not signed in to your Google account yet, follow the on-screen instructions to sign in.
Step 4. Click the slide you want to edit
After that, the slide file will be opened for you to edit.
Step 5. Click the Tools menu
This menu is at the top of the Google Slides page.
Step 6. Click Voice type speaker notes
The speaker notes window will open, as well as a small panel with a microphone button in it.
Step 7. Click the microphone icon when you are ready to speak
Step 8. Say the words you want to type
Speak clearly at a moderate volume and speed. The words that are pronounced will be displayed on the screen, according to what you say.
Say these English terms to add punctuation and newlines if necessary: “ Period " (point), " comma " (comma) " Exclamation point " (exclamation mark), " Question mark " (question mark), " New line " (new line) " New paragraph ” (new paragraph).
Step 9. Click the microphone icon again when done
Changes made to the file will be saved immediately.
