Microsoft announces new feature for its desktop OS

Sep 3, 2020 13:57 GMT  ·  By

Voice dictation has been around for a while in Windows, but a fully-featured voice typing experience was without a doubt necessary, especially as Microsoft wants to improve the way we use the operating system without a mouse and keyboard.

The most recent preview build of Windows 10 that Microsoft shipped to insiders offers an early version of this new voice typing feature, with production devices projected to get it at a later time.

“Windows voice typing is the new and improved version of Windows dictation that enables you to type effortlessly with your voice wherever there’s a text field on your PC. Sometimes, using your voice is more comfortable and efficient than typing on a keyboard – with Windows voice typing, you can relax your hands and just say what you want to write,” Microsoft says.

First of all, how does it work? To launch the voice typing, it’s enough to just press Windows key + H or tap the microphone button on the touch keyboard. The experience is very similar to the one on a mobile phone, but if you’re using a hardware keyboard, the shortcut certainly comes in very handy.

Microsoft says it has updated the backend to provide what it describes as “the most reliable voice typing experience ever on Windows.”

Needless to say, not all languages are supported at this time, but hopefully, Microsoft will bring it to more users in the coming months before the go-ahead for production builds is given. The following languages can use the voice typing feature at this point:  

  • English (US)
  • English (Australia)
  • English (India)
  • English (Canada)
  • English (United Kingdom)
  • French (France)
  • French (Canada)
  • Portuguese (Brazilian)
  • Simplified Chinese
  • Spanish (Mexico)
  • Spanish (Spanish)
  • German
  • Italian
  • Japanese

Voice typing can also be controlled with voice commands, so for example, you can just stop or pause the feature with a command like “Stop voice typing.” If you want to delete an implied section, simply saying “Delete that” or “Scratch that” should be enough. Such commands are available in all supported languages.

The voice typing experience also comes with auto-punctuation, so technically, you can continue to talk and Windows 10 will figure out on its own when it should add question marks and periods. You can enable this feature in the settings screen, and Microsoft says that Japanese doesn’t support it just yet.

“We are still working to improve the feature and how it interacts with different applications. In some Office apps you may experience random pauses while using the voice typing feature. If this happens, click the microphone icon again to restart the listening experience,” the company explains.

Needless to say, this is clearly a big feature for Windows 10, especially because it’s a modern feature on a modern operating system. As we know already, Windows 10 is supposed to be the platform powering everything, not just the desktop experience, so with voice typing, Microsoft makes it more appropriate for other ways of interaction.

As for when the voice typing is projected to go live for users, it’s a little bit too early to discuss such details, as Microsoft has only started the gradual rollout to insiders. In other words, not even all insiders are getting the voice typing feature, as Microsoft just wants to make sure that everything is running as planned before giving the green light for everyone in the testing program.

As far as production devices are concerned, there’s a chance voice typing would be available in Windows 10 21H1, but if something goes wrong, the feature could be pushed back at any moment.