What you need: Windows, Android, or iOS
Time required: 30 minutes
Voice recognition is improving every year, and getting cheaper too. A decade ago, if you wanted to talk to your computer rather than type, you’d have had to spend several hundred pounds on special dictation software. This would intercept everything you said, translate it into characters, and send it on to whichever program you were using.
Things have changed considerably since then. Now, you can dictate directly into a Google Docs document using 'Voice typing' if you’re logged in through Chrome. To enable it, click Tools at the top of a document, followed by ‘Voice typing’, then click the on-screen microphone and start talking.
Tools like voice typing are a considerable time-saver if you’re working on a lengthy document, but what if you’re a slow typist who just wants to send a few emails and text messages? You can’t do that in Google Docs unless you attach the document to a message using the File menu’s Email section, which is probably overkill.
There’s good news, though. Those improvements to voice recognition don’t rely entirely on the power of an online office suite like Google Docs. In many cases, similar features are built into the operating system
