Dictation/Speech Recognition

For times when you’d rather dictate than type, Mac OS X and Windows 10 will allow you to do so without paying for new software.

If you’re looking for specific software dictation, Dragon Dictation is an excellent option—come demo Dragon on one of AEO’s computers before you purchase, or schedule regular times of use to avoid having to purchase anything.

Mac

To set up dictation on Mac:

Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Dictation & Speech. Turn on Dictation, then choose from these Dictation options:

• Use Enhanced Dictation.
• Choose your language and dialect. Some languages, such as English, have multiple dialects.
• Choose the keyboard shortcut you will use to signal that you’re ready to start dictating.
• Choose your preferred microphone from the pop-up menu below the microphone icon.

Windows

To set up Speech Recognition on Windows 10:

Find it in: Control Panel > Ease of Access > Speech Recognition

Most programs accept text dictation automatically. All you need to do is start the program and then begin dictating. It’s important to speak clearly, and it works best to speak in complete sentences. Keep in mind that punctuation isn’t automatically added when you dictate text, so you have to tell the computer where to add punctuation. The Speech Tutorial has a great primer on the ins and outs of dictating text. If the program you’re using doesn’t automatically accept dictation, you can enable it by selecting Enable dictation anywhere on the Speech Recognition Options page. Use dictation to talk instead of type on your PC (Microsoft Help).