Master Voice Typing in Google Docs: A Step-by-Step Guide (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: Google Docs might be a free service, but it's still a powerful cloud-based text editor with plenty of advanced features. If you prefer speaking to typing something out, one thing you might be interested in is voice typing. If that piques your interest, here's how to try it. To start, head over to docs.google.com and open a document you want to try this out on. Once it's open, click on the Tools menu and select Voice Typing. A microphone icon will then pop up on your document. Check the language stated above the microphone icon to ensure it's the language you'll be speaking in. To change the preset language, click on the drop-down menu and select it from the list. Once voice typing is enabled, the icon will turn red to let you know it's on. You might be prompted to allow Google Docs to use your microphone if you haven't already, so click on Allow to proceed. If the icon doesn't turn red or if you get an error message, you might have to check your browser's permissions. On Chrome, this can be done by clicking on the lock icon at the very left of the address bar. Next to Microphone, the drop-down menu should read Allow. If that isn't the issue, your microphone settings on your system might be the problem, or your microphone is being used by another app. Once the microphone icon turns red, you can try typing by speaking clearly at a normal volume and pace. You can use different phrases to add punctuation to your text like period, comma, exclamation point, and question mark. While voice typing works with a whole bunch of different languages, punctuation might not be available in every option. Now that you're sure voice typing works, you can activate and deactivate it automatically by holding down the Control and Shift keys, then tapping S. If you've liked this guide, make sure you subscribe for all sorts of videos covering Google Docs and other technology. Don't forget to check out one of these videos we think you might enjoy.