What is fluid dictation in Windows 11?

Fluid dictation is a Windows 11 feature that cleans up your speech while you talk. It corrects grammar, punctuation and filler words such as "um" and "uh", so you edit less afterwards ¹. It runs on a small language model on your PC ². It needs a Copilot+ PC, and Microsoft offers it in English locales ³.

If you want the full picture of the feature, our guide to fluid dictation, Copilot+ PCs and Windows on Arm covers the hardware, the privacy details and the Arm question. This page answers only what the feature is and what it does.

Fluid dictation corrects your sentences as you say them

Fluid dictation works during dictation, not after you stop. Microsoft says it "automatically corrects grammar, punctuation, and filler words as you speak" ¹. The result needs less cleanup afterwards: grammar and punctuation are corrected, and filler words are cleaned up.

The cleanup is done by a small language model, or SLM, that Microsoft says runs on the device ². A model of this kind can also change a word you meant to keep, which the next section deals with.

The feature is part of voice typing on Windows 11, so you start it the way you start any dictation: press the Windows key + H on a hardware keyboard ⁴. Microsoft also describes fluid dictation as a Voice Access feature on Copilot+ PCs ⁵, so the same cleanup can appear in both tools. Our guide to Windows voice typing explains the main shortcut and settings.

You can undo a correction, and it is off in password fields

A cleanup model can get a sentence wrong, so Microsoft gives you a way back. To keep the original sentence, or to undo one correction, you say "Revert" or "Undo that," or press Ctrl+Z ⁶.

Fluid dictation is on by default in voice typing on Copilot+ PCs, and you can turn it off in the voice typing settings at any time ⁷. It is also switched off automatically in secure fields such as passwords and PINs ⁸, which Microsoft says protects your privacy.

Fluid dictation needs a Copilot+ PC and an English locale

Fluid dictation has two conditions. The first is hardware: it is a Copilot+ PC feature ⁵. Microsoft says many of its new Windows AI features require a neural processing unit (NPU) that can run at 40 or more trillion operations per second ⁹, which is the hardware that defines Copilot+ PCs. A PC without that label should not be expected to offer fluid dictation.

The second is language. Microsoft says fluid dictation is available "in all English locales" ³. The Microsoft pages we read name no other language for it. If you dictate in Spanish, German or Chinese, the cleanup is not there for you, although standard voice typing still works in the languages it supports.

Fluid dictation is not the same as speech recognition

Fluid dictation edits the text, but it does not recognize your speech. Voice typing turns your voice into words through an online service: Microsoft says "voice typing uses online speech recognition, which is powered by Azure Speech services" ¹⁰, and it needs an internet connection ¹¹. So a fluid dictation session has two steps. Recognition turns the sound into words, and the on-device model tidies them.

This split matters for privacy. The cleanup stays on the PC, but the audio that becomes words in voice typing goes to Microsoft's service. Microsoft's pages do not say whether your audio stays off the cloud when fluid dictation is on, so do not assume the whole process is offline. Our guide to Windows dictation privacy covers what the online step means in practice.

When fluid dictation is worth using

Fluid dictation is most useful for English speakers who dictate first drafts, emails and notes, and who would otherwise spend time removing filler words and fixing punctuation. For those tasks, the cleanup means less editing afterwards.

It is least useful when the exact wording matters, such as legal or medical text, where you still need to read every sentence. It is also not a reason to buy a new PC if you dictate only now and then. For that kind of use, the built-in tools on Windows 11 are the place to start, and the question on whether Windows has dictation lists them.

Two other questions have their own answers. For whether Voice Access uses AI, see the question on Windows Voice Access and AI. For whether dictation software works on Arm, see the question on dictation and Windows on Arm. Voice Access itself is covered in our guide to the Windows 11 feature, and the overview of dictation on Windows links to the rest.

What to do

1. Check the Copilot+ PC label on the product page before you buy, because fluid dictation is not on other PCs.
2. Make sure your dictation language is an English locale, since Microsoft offers the feature in English locales.
3. Press Windows key + H and dictate a paragraph in a normal document.
4. Read the result. If a correction is wrong, say "Revert" or "Undo that," or press Ctrl+Z.
5. If you want the words exactly as spoken, turn fluid dictation off in the voice typing settings.

Microsoft's pages change, so read the current help before you rely on a setting.