Dictate is a plugin for MS Word that lets you convert speech to text live, directly in your document. For speech-to-text conversion, the platform uses Cortana's voice bank. The program also works across the entire MS Office suite, so you can dictate into PowerPoint, Outlook, and so on.
Installation
Installation is quite simple: first, you need to download the correct version for your operating system (32 or 64-bit). We recommend that you do not have any MS Office service open at the time of installation.
The environment only works with MS Office 2013 (or later) and you must have Service Pack 1 installed. You'll also need a microphone on your computer.
Activation and configuration
When activated, you'll see a tab in MS Word named "DICTATION". At this point, you'll need to select the input and output language (it also acts as a translator). Of course, it includes Spanish. Another configuration option lets you enable or disable manual punctuation.
Using the plugin
Once everything is ready to start using the add-on, simply select with the cursor the place in the document where the extension will write the text. After that, click the microphone icon and start dictating.
Live test
To show you how the tool works, we'll demonstrate it with a live test. We will dictate: "This is a dictation test, the platform works."
"This is a dictation test, the platform works."
It worked! The problem we encountered is that in some dictations it didn't recognize our voice, and every time you stop for a punctuation mark, the recording stops. Now we'll do a translation test:
"Now we will make a test translation."
Well, there are no more words to describe this program. We'll finish this note by saying out loud what we thought of the plugin so the plugin writes it down.
"The program is very good."
Official site: Official website
