How to Have Speech to Text in Office 2007
By William Nagel
Speech recognition software allows you to speak commands and create documents on your computer by talking into an attached microphone. With Windows Speech Recognition enabled on your computer, you can use Microsoft Office 2007 to record your voice and translate your words into text. Windows Speech Recognition is a built-in feature of Windows Vista and Windows 7. Using Windows Speech Recognition in Microsoft Office 2007 requires some practice, but once the computer recognizes your voice, creating a document is as simple as talking to yourself.
Using Speech Recognition
Step 1
Open Windows Speech Recognition. Select “All Programs” from the “Start” menu. Select “Accessories” and “Ease of Access” from the sub-menu. Click Windows Speech Recognition.
Step 2
Open the Microsoft Office 2007 application you want to use and create a new document. Place the cursor in the new document.
Step 3
Speak into your microphone. The words you say will appear on the screen as you speak.
Step 4
Say “period” when you reach the end of a sentence. Say "paragraph" when you want to start a new paragraph.
Correcting Mistakes
Step 1
Say “correct that” to highlight the last word or phrase you said.
Step 2
Speak the correct word or words slowly and clearly into the microphone.
Step 3
Continue dictating your document to the computer.
References
Tips
- Use the Speech Recognition Training included with Windows to improve the flexibility of the Speech Recognition software. The more you use the training utility, the better speech recognition will work.
- To insert a punctuation mark such as a comma, semicolon, or colon, say the name of the punctuation mark when you want to include it.
- Use the “literal” command followed by a command word to insert the command word into your document. For example, say “literal period” to insert the word “period” into your text.
- To fix a specific error, say “correct” followed by the incorrect word. Speech Recognition will highlight the word and allow you to correct it.
Warnings
- If you use a version of Windows other than Windows Vista or Windows 7, you will need to install an older version of Microsft Office to use speech to text features. Office 2007 requires Windows Vista or Windows 7 to utilize speech to text functionality.
Writer Bio
William Nagel is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he studied science, technology and culture. He has been writing since 2007 and specializes in computer hardware, operating systems and software documentation. His work has been published in the "North Avenue Review."