What is the best dictation app for Google Docs?

For Google Docs, the best starting point is the one Google already gives you: voice typing in the document itself. It needs no download, and it works in the three browsers Google lists. Start it from the Tools menu, and use a separate tool only when you need more than Docs can give, such as dictation into your email or voice commands for the page. A December 2020 archived copy of Google's help page names only Google Docs and Google Slides speaker notes as places you can type by speaking ¹, so check the current page for other places.

Google's voice typing is the best default for Google Docs

Google says voice typing in Google Docs works with the latest versions of Chrome, Edge and Safari, and that the web browser controls the speech-to-text service ². That is the first thing to check. Firefox is not on Google's list.

To start it, open the document, choose Tools, then Voice typing, and click the microphone box that appears ³. Google also lists a keyboard shortcut, Ctrl + Shift + S on Windows or Command + Shift + S on a Mac, but Google labels that shortcut as available in Chrome, so the menu is the safer route in Edge or Safari ⁴.

In Chrome, the browser asks for microphone permission for the site ⁵. If you chose to block it, Docs will not start voice typing until you change that setting in the browser's site settings.

Speaking is faster than typing for a first draft

The reason to dictate into Docs is speed. In a controlled study on an iPhone, English text entered by speech reached 153 words per minute, against 52 words per minute on the phone's keyboard ⁶. That is a lab result with short phrases on an older iPhone, so it shows the direction of the gap, not the speed you will get in Docs.

Dictation also adds errors you have to fix, so budget time for editing. The guide to Google Docs voice typing covers punctuation and commands.

When another tool is the better choice

Google's tool is the right answer when your text goes only into Docs. It is the wrong answer in three cases.

You dictate into email, chat or forms too. Voice typing in Docs does not reach those apps, so you need the operating system's dictation or a system-wide tool for them. Our overview of dictating into any app sorts the options by platform.

You want voice commands in a web app. Dragon's browser extension adds commands for web pages. Nuance's Dragon 16 help lists Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, each in its latest version ⁷. Dragon 15's help is different: it lists Chrome, and it says the extension does not apply to Edge ⁸. Check the help for the version you own before you buy.

You need to work offline. Nuance's Dragon 15 help says that offline mode is not supported for working with web-based documents ⁹. We did not find a Google page that says whether voice typing in Docs works offline, so if you write offline, switch off your connection and test it before you rely on it.

What to do

1. Open the document in Chrome, Edge or Safari, not Firefox.
2. Choose Tools, then Voice typing, and allow the microphone when the browser asks.
3. Dictate a paragraph of about 100 words in a quiet room, then count the corrections you make.
4. If the corrections are too many, check the microphone and the room before you change tools.
5. If you need dictation outside Docs or voice commands in a web app, test a system-wide tool or Dragon on the same paragraph before you choose.

For the Mac side of the same question, see whether Mac dictation works in Google Docs. If the menu is missing or the microphone does nothing, read why Google Docs voice typing is not working. The terms are defined in our glossary entries for voice typing and words per minute.