Dictation lets you use speech-to-text to author content in Microsoft 365 with a microphone and reliable internet connection. It's a quick and easy way to get your thoughts out, create drafts or outlines, and capture notes. 

  1. Open a new or existing document and go to Home > Dictate  Office Dictate Button while signed into Microsoft 365 on a mic-enabled device.

  2. Wait for the Dictate button to turn on and start listening.Dictate Outlook Listening

  3. Start speaking to see text appear on the screen.

This is a subscriber-only feature Can't find the Dictate button? The dictation feature is only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers.

How to use dictation

  1. Open a new or existing document and go to Home > Dictate  Office Dictate Button while signed into Microsoft 365 on a mic-enabled device.Dictate button

    Tip: You can also start dictation with the keyboard shortcut: ⌥ (Option) + F1.

  2. Wait for the Dictate button to turn on and start listening.Dictation activated

  3. Start speaking to see text appear on the screen.

This is a subscriber-only feature Can't find the Dictate button? The dictation feature is only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers.

Learn more about using dictation in Word on the web and mobile

Dictate your documents in Word for the web

Dictate your documents in Word Mobile

What can I say?

In addition to dictating your content, you can speak commands to add punctuation, navigate around the page, and enter special characters.

You can see the commands in any supported language by going to Available languages. These are the commands for English.

Phrase(s)

Output

period, full stop

.

comma

,

question mark

?

exclamation mark/point

!

new line

new line

apostrophe-s

's

colon

:

semicolon

;

open quotes
close quotes

" "

hyphen

-

ellipsis, dot dot dot

...

begin/open single quote
end/close single quote

' '

left/open parentheses
right/close parentheses

( )

left/open bracket
right/close bracket

[ ]

left/open brace
right/close brace

{ }

Phrase(s)

backspace [1-100]	
delete [word or phrase]	
delete [1-100]
delete from [x] to [y]
delete last/previous [1-100] characters/words/sentences/paragraphs	
delete next [1-100] characters	
delete or scratch or erase	
delete that or scratch that 	
delete word/sentence
insert space	
undo	

Phrase(s)

select [word or phrase]	
select word/sentence/paragraph 	
select that	
select last/previous [1-100] characters/words/sentences/paragraphs	
select from [x] to [y]	

Phrase(s)

align center 	
align left 	
align right 	
bold	
bold [word or phrase] 	
bold from [x] to [y]	
bold last/previous [1-100] words/sentences
bold that 	
capitalize	
capitalize [word or phrase] 	
capitalize from [x] to [y]	
capitalize last/previous [1-100] characters/words/sentences/paragraphs	
capitalize that 	
clear formatting	
decrease indent	
increase indent	
italicize [word or phrase] 	
italicize from [x] to [y]	
italicize last/previous [1-100] words/sentences	
italicize that 	
italics	
lowercase	
lowercase [word or phrase] 	
lowercase from [x] to [y]	
lowercase last/previous [1-100] characters/words/sentences/paragraphs	
lowercase that 	
remove bold	
remove bold from [word or phrase]
remove bold from [x] to [y]
remove bold from last/previous [1-100] characters/words/sentences/paragraphs
remove bold from that
remove bold from word
remove highlight	
remove highlight from [word or phrase] 	
remove highlight from [x] to [y]	
remove highlight from last/previous [1-100] characters/words/sentences/paragraphs	
remove highlight from that 	
remove highlight from word
remove italics
remove italics from [word or phrase]
remove italics from [x] to [y]
remove italics from last/previous [1-100] characters/words/sentences/paragraphs
remove italics from that
remove italics from word
remove strikethrough
remove strikethrough from [word or phrase]
remove strikethrough from [x] to [y]
remove strikethrough from last/previous [1-100] characters/words/sentences/paragraphs
remove strikethrough from that
remove strikethrough from word
remove subscript
remove subscript from [word or phrase]
remove subscript from [x] to [y]
remove subscript from last/previous [1-100] characters/words/sentences/paragraphs
remove subscript from that
remove subscript from word
remove superscript
remove superscript from [word or phrase]
remove superscript from [x] to [y]
remove superscript from last/previous [1-100] characters/words/sentences/paragraphs
remove superscript from that
remove superscript from word
remove underline
remove underline from [word or phrase]
remove underline from [x] to [y]
remove underline from last/previous [1-100] characters/words/sentences/paragraphs
remove underline from that
remove underline from word
strikethrough
strikethrough that
strikethrough [word or phrase] 	
strikethrough from [x] to [y]	
strikethrough last/previous [1-100] words/sentences
subscript
subscript [word or phrase]
subscript from [x] to [y]
subscript last/previous [1-100] words/sentences
subscript that
superscript
superscript [word or phrase]
superscript from [x] to [y]
superscript last/previous [1-100] words/sentences
superscript that
underline	
underline [word or phrase] 	
underline from [x] to [y]	
underline last/previous [1-100] words/sentences	
underline that 	
uppercase	
uppercase [word or phrase] 	
uppercase from [x] to [y]	
uppercase last/previous [1-100] characters/words/sentences/paragraphs	
uppercase that 	

Phrase(s)

create bullet list	
create list 	
create number list 	
create numbered list	
exit list 	
next bullet or next item	
next line	
start/insert/add bullet list	
start/insert/add list	
start/insert/add number list	
start/insert/add numbered list	

insert/add comment	
insert/add comment [content]

Phrase(s)

pause dictation	
stop dictation	
exit/close dictation	
open/show help	
show commands	

Phrase(s)

Output

asterisk

*

backslash

\

forward slash

/

vertical bar sign, pipe character

|

backquote, backtick

`

underscore

_

m-dash

n-dash

paragraph sign/mark

section sign

§

ampersand, and sign

&

at sign

@

copyright sign

©

registered sign

®

degree symbol

°

caret symbol

^

Phrase(s)

Output

percent

%

number/pound sign

#

plus sign

+

minus sign

-

multiplication sign

x

plus or minus sign

±

division sign

÷

equal sign

=

less than sign, left angle bracket
greater than sign, right angle bracket

< >

Phrase(s)

Output

dollar sign

$

pound sterling sign

£

euro sign

yen sign

¥

Phrase(s)

Output

smiley face

:)

frowny face

:(

winky face

;)

heart emoji

<3

Available languages

Select from the list below to see commands available in each of the supported languages.

More Information

By default, Dictation is set to your document language in Microsoft 365.

We are actively working to improve these languages and add more locales and languages.

Supported Languages

Chinese (China)

English (Australia)

English (Canada)

English (India)

English (United Kingdom)

English (United States)

French (Canada)

French (France)

German (Germany)

Hindi

Italian (Italy)

Japanese

Portuguese (Brazil)

Spanish (Spain)

Spanish (Mexico)

Preview languages *

Arabic (Bahrain)

Arabic (Egypt)

Arabic (Saudi Arabia)

Bulgarian

Chinese (Traditional, Hong Kong)

Chinese (Taiwan)

Croatian (Croatia)

Czech

Danish

Dutch (Netherlands)

English (New Zealand)

Estonian

Finnish

Greek

Gujarati (India)

Hebrew

Hungarian

Irish

Korean

Latvian

Lithuanian

Maltese

Marathi (India)

Norwegian (Bokmål)

Polish

Portuguese (Portugal)

Romanian

Russian

Slovak

Slovenian

Swedish (Sweden)

Tamil (India)

Telugu (India)

Thai

Turkish (Turkey)

Vietnamese

* Preview Languages may have lower accuracy or limited punctuation support.

Click on the gear icon to see the available settings.

Dictation in Word for the Web Settings

  • Spoken Language: View and change languages in the drop-down

  • Microphone: View and change your microphone

  • Auto Punctuation: Toggle the checkmark on or off, if it's available for the language chosen

  • Profanity filter: Mask potentially sensitive phrases with ***

  • Saying “delete” by itself removes the last word or punctuation before the cursor.

  • Saying “delete that” removes the last spoken utterance.

  • You can bold, italicize, underline, or strikethrough a word or phrase. An example would be dictating “review by tomorrow at 5PM”, then saying “bold tomorrow” which would leave you with "review by tomorrow at 5PM"

  • Try phrases like “bold last word” or “underline last sentence.”

  • Saying “add comment look at this tomorrow” will insert a new comment with the text “Look at this tomorrow” inside it.

  • Saying “add comment” by itself will create a blank comment box you where you can type a comment.

  • To resume dictation, please use the keyboard shortcut ALT + ` or press the Mic icon in the floating dictation menu.

  • Markings may appear under words with alternates we may have misheard.

    If the marked word is already correct, you can select Ignore.

    Dictate Suggestions

This service does not store your audio data or transcribed text.

Your speech utterances will be sent to Microsoft and used only to provide you with text results.

For more information about experiences that analyze your content, see Connected Experiences in Microsoft 365.

Troubleshooting

If you can't see the button to start dictation:

  • Make sure you're signed in with an active Microsoft 365 subscription

  • Dictate is not available in Office 2016 or 2019 for Windows without Microsoft 365

  • Make sure you have Windows 10 or above

If you see the dictate button is grayed out

  • Make sure the note is not in a Read-Only state.

Microphone doesn't have access

If you see "We don’t have access to your microphone":

  • Make sure no other application or web page is using the microphone and try again

  • Refresh, click on Dictate, and give permission for the browser to access the microphone

If you see "There is a problem with your microphone" or "We can’t detect your microphone":

If you see "Dictation can't hear you" or if nothing appears on the screen as you dictate:

  • Make sure your microphone is not muted

  • Adjust the input level of your microphone

  • Move to a quieter location

  • If using a built-in mic, consider trying again with a headset or external mic

If you see a lot of incorrect words being output or missed words:

  • Make sure you're on a fast and reliable internet connection

  • Avoid or eliminate background noise that may interfere with your voice

  • Try speaking more deliberately

  • Check to see if the microphone you are using needs to be upgraded

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