Glossary
Dictate (Microsoft 365)
Dictate is the speech-to-text feature in Microsoft 365 apps such as Word, Outlook and PowerPoint. It needs a Microsoft 365 subscription, a microphone and a reliable internet connection.
Updated October 17, 202615 cited facts, each traced to its source
Also called Microsoft Dictate, Office Dictate, Word Dictate.
Dictate is Microsoft's speech-to-text feature inside Microsoft 365 apps. You speak, and the words are typed into the document, email or slide at the cursor. Microsoft describes it as a way to author content with speech-to-text, using a microphone and a reliable internet connection 1.
Dictate works in some Microsoft 365 apps, not all
Microsoft's Dictate article lists Word, Outlook and PowerPoint under Applies To, and does not list Excel 2. For Mac, the article lists Word for Microsoft 365 and PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 3.
Microsoft's Word article also lists Word 2024 and Word 2021 for Mac 4. The two Microsoft articles therefore give different version lists, so check the article for your exact version before you rely on a step.
Dictate is for subscribers
The dictation feature in Word is only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers 5. Outlook follows the same rule 6. Office 2016 and Office 2019 do not have Dictate without a Microsoft 365 subscription 7.
An example: starting Dictate in Word on a Mac
Open a new or existing document, go to Home and then Dictate, while signed into Microsoft 365 on a device with a microphone 8. You can also start dictation with Option + F1 9. Saying "delete" by itself removes the last word or punctuation mark before the cursor 10.
If the Dictate button is missing, Microsoft's troubleshooting says to check that you are signed in with an active Microsoft 365 subscription 11. If the button is grayed out, check that the document is not read-only 12.
Why it matters for dictation
Dictate needs a reliable internet connection in Microsoft 365, so it is not an offline tool 13. Microsoft's connected experiences article also lists Dictate among the experiences that analyze your content 14. If privacy or offline use matters to you, read that article before you choose Dictate over an on-device tool.
For screen reader users, Microsoft says it tested Word's dictation with Narrator, JAWS and NVDA 15. Dictate is also one of several ways to speak into Office, and the built-in options in your browser or operating system may be enough for a short note.
Related terms
- Transcribe (Microsoft 365): Word's feature for turning an audio file into text, which is separate from Dictate.
- Connected experiences (Microsoft 365): the cloud-backed features that include Dictate.
- Text insertion: how dictated words reach the cursor in an app.
Guides that cover it
Evidence
Every number on this page, with where it comes from. Open a fact to see the exact words in its source.
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
- 6.
- 7.
- 8.
- 9.
- 10.
- 11.
- 12.
- 13.
- 14.
- 15.
Related terms
- Voice Typing in Google Docs, Word and Every Other AppThe topic this term belongs to
- Connected experiences (Microsoft 365)Connected experiences are Microsoft 365 features backed by cloud services, and Dictate is one of the experiences that analyze your content. You can turn them off in Manage Settings, but that setting also turns off other services.
- CursorlessCursorless is a spoken language for structural code editing that lets developers code by voice. Every command is an action performed on a target in the code, and it runs on Talon with a VS Code extension.
- Dictation (ChromeOS)Dictation on ChromeOS is a built-in accessibility feature that types recognized speech into an editable field. You turn it on with Search + D or the microphone icon in the status tray.
- Site microphone permissionSite microphone permission is the browser's setting for each website that decides whether that site may use your microphone, usually chosen when the browser prompts you. It works alongside the operating system's own microphone setting, so both must allow the microphone before a site can listen.
- Talon VoiceTalon Voice, usually called Talon, is hands-free input software for writing, coding, browsing and gaming. It runs alongside a speech-recognition engine, and it is used for voice coding, often together with the Cursorless editing language.
- Text insertionText insertion is the step where dictation software places recognized words into the text field that has the cursor. It is done either by simulating keystrokes or by pasting the text from the clipboard.
- Transcribe (Microsoft 365)Transcribe is a Word for Microsoft 365 feature that turns an uploaded audio file into text in the Transcribe pane, rather than typing your speech into the document. Its monthly limits depend on your license.
- Vibe codingVibe coding is building software by describing what you want to an AI model and accepting the code it writes, without reviewing that code. Andrej Karpathy introduced the term, and the developer Simon Willison argues for a narrower meaning than the broad one now in use.
- Voice codingVoice coding, also called programming by voice or coding by voice, is writing and editing source code by speaking instead of typing. It needs a speech-recognition engine and a separate platform that turns spoken words into code editing actions.
- Voice typing (Google Docs)Voice typing in Google Docs is a built-in speech-to-text tool that types as you speak. You start it from the Tools menu in a supported browser, and the browser controls the speech-to-text service.
- WaylandWayland is the display system that Linux desktops are moving to in place of the X Window System, called X11. Its compositor delivers input to each app, so a typing tool that worked on X11 may not type on a Wayland desktop.
- Web Speech APIThe Web Speech API is a set of browser interfaces that let a web page start speech recognition and receive the recognized words as text, through an object called SpeechRecognition. Where the recognition runs, on your device or on a server, depends on the browser.
Pages that use this term
- Voice Typing in Google Docs, Word and Every Other AppTopic
- How to Turn On Voice Typing on Every DeviceGuide
- Dictate Emails in Outlook and GmailGuide
- How do you dictate in OneNote?Question
- How do you dictate in Outlook on a Mac?Question
- How do you dictate in PowerPoint on a Mac?Question
- How do you dictate in PowerPoint?Question
- What is the Dictate shortcut in Word on a Mac?Question
- What is the keyboard shortcut for Dictate in Word on Windows?Question
- Why is Dictate not working in PowerPoint?Question
- Why is Word dictation not working on Windows 11?Question
- Connected experiences (Microsoft 365)Glossary
- Transcribe (Microsoft 365)Glossary