Can I Voice Type?

[RichBrownsDesk]

One thing I liked about my Amazon Fire tablet was that the keyboard had a little microphone icon that I could tap and then just voice-type my emails or documents. Any way to accomplish that with my Surface 3?:

 

[malberttoo]

I've never used it, but plug in "Windows Speech Recognition" into your Windows search field. That should take you to an app in the control panel. Play around with that and see what it does for you.

Also you can Google "windows voice dictation" or some such, and find some interesting things that way as well.

 

[jnjroach]

Yes you can use speech recognition it has been built into Windows since at least Windows 2000, and since Vista it has used Dragon Naturally Speaking's engine.

 

[malberttoo]

...it has used Dragon Naturally Speaking's engine.

I did not know this, very cool!

 

[Tsurugaya]

Yes you can use speech recognition it has been built into Windows since at least Windows 2000, and since Vista it has used Dragon Naturally Speaking's engine.

Well, that them begs the question of what the difference is. Why invest in Dragon Dictate if it comes free with Windows?

 

[malberttoo]

Well, that them begs the question of what the difference is. Why invest in Dragon Dictate if it comes free with Windows?

I wondered that same thing also. The only thing I can figure, is that maybe it's not the exact same product. Perhaps the retail version comes with a lot more bells and whistles, more granular controls, frequent updates, etc.

 

[Tsurugaya]

Well, I have it and updates are far and few between.

 

[jnjroach]

Engine doesn't equate to product, Dragon Naturally Speaking has additional dictionaries included and additional add-ons. Back around 2005 DNS was facing bankruptcy and MS invested to keep them afloat and found them a buyer.

 

[Tsurugaya]

Interesting, didn't know that. I realize that engine and product are different, but if we are talking simple voice input (not control) the it would suffice, no?

 

[jnjroach]

Interesting, didn't know that. I realize that engine and product are different, but if we are talking simple voice input (not control) the it would suffice, no?

Correct....IIRC Windows Speech can also do some command functions as well....

 

[kristalsoldier]

Yes you can use speech recognition it has been built into Windows since at least Windows 2000, and since Vista it has used Dragon Naturally Speaking's engine.

OK...this is a really stupid question - but how do you start using this?

 

[jnjroach]

OK...this is a really stupid question - but how do you start using this?

Windows Speech Recognition control panel and start training it.....