Type with your voice

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You can type and edit a document by speaking in Google Docs.

Note: This feature is only available in Chrome browsers.

Voice typing

Type with your voice

Start voice typing

1. Check that your microphone works.
2. Open a document in Google docs with a Chrome browser.
3. Click Tools > Voice typing. A microphone box appears.
4. When you're ready to speak, click the microphone.
5. Speak clearly, at a normal volume and pace (see below for more information on using punctuation).
6. When you're done, click the microphone again.

Correct mistakes while voice typing

• If you make a mistake while you're typing with your voice, you can move your cursor to the mistake and fix it without turning off the microphone.
• After you correct the mistake, move the cursor back to where you want to continue.
• To see a list of suggestions, right-click words underlined in gray.

Add punctuation

You can use these phrases to add punctuation to your text:

• Period
• Comma
• Exclamation point
• Question mark
• New line
• New paragraph

Note: Punctuation works in German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Russian.

Voice commands

You can use commands to edit and format your document when you voice type. For example, "Select paragraph," "italics," or "Go to the end of the line."

Note: Voice commands are available only in English. The account language and document language must both be English.

Select text

To select text, say these commands:

• Select [word or phrase]
• Select all
• Select all matching text
• Select list item
• Select list items at current level
• Select next character
• Select next [number] characters
• Select last character
• Select last [number] characters
• Select line
• Select next line
• Select next [number] lines
• Select last line
• Select last [number] lines
• Select paragraph
• Select next paragraph
• Select next [number] paragraphs
• Select last paragraph
• Select last [number] paragraphs
• Select word
• Select next word
• Select next [number] words
• Select last word
• Select last [number] words
• Deselect
• Unselect
• Select none

Format your document

To format your document, say these commands:

Alignment

• Align center
• Align justified
• Align left
• Align right
• Center align
• Left align
• Right align

Text formatting

• Apply heading [1–6]
• Apply normal text
• Apply subtitle
• Apply title
• Bold
• Italicize
• Italics
• Strikethrough
• Subscript
• Superscript
• Underline

Text color and highlighting

• Text color [color]
• Highlight
• Highlight [color]
• Background color [color]
• Remove highlight
• Remove background color

Note: The colors available are: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, magenta. If you say "highlight" by itself, the highlighting color is yellow.

Font size

• Decrease font size
• Increase font size
• Font size [6-400]
• Make bigger
• Make smaller

Paragraph formatting

• Decrease indent
• Increase indent
• Line spacing [1-100]
• Line spacing double
• Line spacing single

Lists

• Create bulleted list
• Create numbered list
• Insert bullet
• Insert number

Remove formatting

• Clear formatting
• Remove formatting
• Remove bold
• Remove italics
• Remove strikethrough
• Remove underline

Edit your document

To edit your document, say these commands:

• Copy
• Cut
• Paste
• Copy link
• Delete
• Delete last word
• Delete link
• Insert table of contents
• Delete table of contents
• Update table of contents
• Insert bookmark
• Insert equation
• Insert footer
• Insert footnote
• Insert header
• Insert horizontal line
• Insert page break

Add and edit tables

To add and edit tables, say these commands:

• Insert table
• Insert table [1-20] rows by [1-20] columns
• Insert row
• Insert column
• Insert new column
• Insert new column on the left
• Insert new row
• Insert new row above
• Insert new row below
• Delete column
• Delete row
• Delete table
• Remove column
• Remove row
• Remove table
• Exit table

Move around your document

To move around your document, say these commands:

Scroll

• Scroll down
• Scroll up

Resume voice typing

To move the cursor to the end of the paragraph and start voice typing again, say "Resume."

To move the cursor to a particular word or phrase, say "Resume with [word]." The cursor moves to the end of the word that you speak.

Here are all the commands you can say to resume voice typing:

• Resume
• Resume with [word or phrase]
• Go to the end of the paragraph
• Move to the end of the paragraph
• Go to the end of the line
• Move to the end of the line

Commands to open help

To open a list of voice commands in your document, say these commands:

• Voice typing help
• Voice commands list
• See all voice commands

Speak (for accessibility)

To use these commands, turn on screen reader support. It's best to wear headphones so the screen reader feedback isn't typed into your document.

• Speak cursor location
• Speak from cursor location
• Speak selection
• Speak selection formatting
• Speak table row and column headers
• Speak table cell location
• Speak table column header
• Speak table row header

Troubleshoot

If voice typing isn't working, try these steps.

"We're having trouble hearing you"

If you see an error message that says "We're having trouble hearing you," try the following:

• Move to a quiet room.
• Plug in an external microphone.
• Adjust the input volume on your microphone.
• The microphone isn't working

If you can't get the microphone to work on your computer, try the following:

• Make sure that that the microphone isn't broken.
• Make sure that your document has permission to use your camera and microphone.
• Check that your microphone is plugged in and is not being used by another application.
• Move to a quiet room.
• Restart your computer.

Voice commands aren't working

If voice commands aren’t working, try the following:

• Speak more slowly and clearly
• Pause before and after each command. The text of your command might show in the document for a moment.  For example, if you say "select all," the words "select all" show up before your text is selected.

Some suggested headsets

1. Logitech ClearChat Comfort/USB Headset H390 (Black) Amazon Price:$24.99

2. Plantronics 80935-21 AUDIO 655 DSP Headset W/MIC USB Noise Cancelling Amazon Price:$39.68

3. Plantronics Voyager Pro HD Wireless Bluetooth Headset – Compatible with iPhone, Android, and Other Leading Smart Devices Amazon Price:$57.14