How do you voice type online for free?

To voice type online for free, the best-known option is Google Docs voice typing. Open a document in Chrome, Edge or Safari, choose Tools > Voice typing, and click the microphone. Free dictation pages that run in a browser also work, but they usually send your audio to a server, so they need an internet connection. Allow the microphone when the browser asks, or nothing will be typed.

Google Docs is the best-known free option

Google Docs voice typing needs no app and no installation. To use it:

1. Open a document in the latest version of Chrome, Edge or Safari. Google says these are the supported browsers ¹.
2. Click Tools > Voice typing. A microphone box appears ².
3. Click the microphone when you are ready, speak, and click it again to stop.

The shortcut Ctrl + Shift + S (Command + Shift + S on a Mac) starts the same feature ³. Google's shortcut list labels that shortcut as available in Chrome, so if it fails in Edge or Safari, use the Tools menu. Firefox is not on Google's list of supported browsers ¹, so use Chrome if you use Firefox for everything else.

Google Docs types only into the open document, which is useful for drafts and less useful for email or a web form. For those, the built-in tool on your computer types into any field, as explained in Can you use talk to text on a computer?

Browser voice typing sends your audio to a server

Free online dictation pages usually use the browser's own speech recognition, the Web Speech API. By default, speech recognition on a web page sends your audio to a server-based recognition service, so it does not work offline ⁴. This matters in two ways:

• It needs a connection. On a plane, in a basement or on a weak Wi-Fi network, the page may stop working or produce nothing.
• Your audio leaves the device. Read the page's privacy policy before you dictate personal or confidential text into a page you do not know.

For the technology behind these pages, see Web Speech API. If you need speech that stays on the device, a free offline option is covered in Free Dictation Software.

Allow the microphone in the browser

When a site first wants the microphone, Chrome asks you to choose Allow while visiting the site, Allow this time or Never allow ⁵. Choose one of the first two. If you choose Never allow, the site stays blocked until you change it in the site settings ( site microphone permission). If nothing types, check the microphone permission first, then the microphone the browser is using.

Word for the web: not counted here

Microsoft Word's Dictate button on the desktop app is only for Microsoft 365 subscribers ⁶, and it needs a reliable internet connection ⁷. We could not confirm from Microsoft's own pages whether Dictate in Word for the web is free, so we have not counted it as a free option here. Check Microsoft's current page before you rely on it.

Which free option to choose

Our own free online dictation page runs in your browser, and is a quick way to try the idea before you choose. Check its page for how it handles audio before you dictate private text.

What to do next

Open Google Docs, click Tools > Voice typing, and say one sentence to check the microphone works. If you already use Chrome, that is the simplest free setup. If you need dictation in every app, not only in a browser, read How to turn on voice typing on every device. For the subject as a whole, see Dictation and Voice Typing, and for the term, see voice typing. To turn voice typing off again, see How do you turn off voice typing?