How to use voice typing on Google Docs on Windows, Mac, iPhone or Android

What to know

To enable Voice typing on Google Docs on PC, click on Tools > Voice Typing. Then click on the Microphone icon to start dictating.
You can also use the Dictation feature on your device to voice type on Google Docs. On a Mac, go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Dictation tab > turn Dictation On > Enable Dictation. Then press the shortcut key to activate dictation (Ctrl key twice is the default).
On Windows, simply press Win+H to activate voice typing.
On iOS, set up dictation from Settings > General > Keyboard > Enable Dictation and Auto-Punctuation. Then, in Google Docs, select the microphone icon in the keyboard and start voice typing.
On Android, set up voice typing from Settings > System > Language & input > On-screen keyboard > Gboard > Voice typing > Use voice typing. Then, in Google Docs, select the microphone icon in Gboard and start voice typing.

Typing with your voice on Google Docs can be a huge convenience, especially if you have a lot to type. It can also help physically challenged users who might find it difficult to type in general. Google Docs, like most services, offers the ability to voice type easily. So if you’re looking to learn about voice typing in Google Docs, then here’s all you need to know about it.

How to use voice type in Google Docs (2 ways)

You can choose to enroll in the beta program or use the Dictation feature offered by your device to voice type in Docs. Follow either of the sections below, depending on the method you prefer.

Method 1: Use the native voice type feature

Here’s how you can use the native voice typing feature in Google Docs. Follow the steps below to help you along with the process.

Step 1: Enable Microphone

Let’s first ensure that your microphone is enabled and working with Google Chrome. Use the relevant section below, depending on your current device, to help you along with the process.

On Windows 11 PC

Open the Settings app by pressing Windows + i. Now click Privacy & security in the left sidebar.
Scroll down and click Microphone.
Click and enable the toggle for Microphone access at the top.
Now enable the toggle for Google Chrome from the list on your screen.
If this is your first time using Chrome, then it will be missing from this list for now. You can click Allow when you trigger voice typing for the first time in Chrome when the browser asks for permission as you follow the steps below.

And that’s it! You will now have enabled microphone permissions for Chrome on your PC.

On Mac

Like on Windows, the Google Chrome application requires access to your microphone in order to let you type using the name Voice typing feature on Google Docs.

To give Google Chrome access to your Mac’s microphone unit, open System Preferences on your Mac from the Menu bar, Launchpad, Dock, or Spotlight.
When the System Preferences window loads up, click on Security & Privacy.
Inside the Security & Privacy window, click on the Privacy tab at the top right corner.
When the Privacy tab opens, select Microphone from the left sidebar.
Inside the “Allow the apps below to access your microphone” section, check the Google Chrome box.

This will immediately give the Google Chrome app on your Mac access to your device’s microphone.

Step 2: Use Voice Typing

Now that we have enabled microphone permissions, we can now use voice typing in Google Docs. Follow the steps below to help you along with the process.

Open Google Docs in Chrome and choose a Blank document to start with.
Click Tools in the menu bar at the top.
Select Voice typing.
You can also use the Ctrl + Shift + S keyboard shortcut to activate voice typing.
A microphone in a box should now appear near your cursor. Click the icon and speak the text you wish to type in Docs.
You can now click the microphone icon again or use the keyboard shortcut when you wish to stop.

And that’s how you can use voice typing in Google Docs.

Method 2: Use the Dictation feature on your device

You can also choose to use the native dictation feature offered by your device to voice type in Google Docs. Dictation is offered by most modern-day devices as an accessibility feature, and it was recently added to Windows 11 as well. Use the dedicated sections below to help you use dictation on any device.

On Mac

macOS has a native Dictation feature that lets you dictate text of any length instead of using a keyboard. The tool can be used on any app running on your Mac, including Safari, thus allowing you to dictate text on Google Docs as well. Before you can start using this feature, you must be wary of the requirements that are necessary to get it to work while using Google Docs on a Mac.

Requirements

An active internet connection (for Macs with non-Apple silicon)
For best results, use Safari to open Google Docs. Dictation doesn’t work efficiently on other web browsers like Google Chrome or Firefox.
You’re using dictation in a language that’s supported by Apple:
- English
- Arabic
- Catalan
- Chinese (Cantonese)
- Chinese (Mandarin)
- Chinese (Shanghainese)
- Croatian
- Czech
- Danish
- Dutch
- Finnish
- French
- German
- Greek
- Hebrew
- Hindi
- Hungarian
- Indonesian
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Malay
- Norwegian Bokmãl
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Romanian
- Russian
- Slovak
- Spanish
- Swedish
- Thai
- Turkish
- Ukrainian
- Vietnamese

Step 1: Set up Dictation

Before you can start using your voice to enter text on Google Docs, you first need to enable Dictation on macOS. Here’s how to do so:

Open System Preferences on your Mac from the Menu bar, Launchpad, Dock, or Spotlight.
When the System Preferences window loads up, click on Keyboard.
Inside the Keyboard window, click on the Dictation tab at the top.
On this screen, click On adjacent to “Dictation”.
You’ll now see a prompt appear inside the Keyboard window asking you to confirm your action. To continue, click on Enable Dictation.

This will enable Dictation on your Mac.

If you wish to dictate your text in English, you can skip to the next step.

To dictate in a language other than English, configure the language you want to primarily use for dictation by clicking on the Language dropdown menu.
Now, select Add Language from this menu.
Now, from the “Select languages” box, check the box adjacent to the language you want to use for dictation. Once you’ve selected the required languages, click on Ok.
You can now select the language that you added from the Language dropdown menu.

The next step is to choose a shortcut that you can use to activate Dictation on the Mac from any screen. By default, you can activate dictation by pressing the Control key on your keyboard twice.

To change the activation key for dictation, click on the Shortcut dropdown menu.
Now, select a desired shortcut from the available options. Additionally, you can click on Customize to choose the desired key for activating dictation.

That’s it. You can now start using dictation to enter text on your Mac.

Step 2: Use Dictation in Google Docs

To enter text using your voice on Google Docs, launch the Safari app on your Mac and open the Google Docs homepage.
Inside Google Docs, sign into your Google account and then open the document where you wish to enter text using your voice.
When the document opens, locate and click on the insertion point where you want to start dictation.
Once you do that, press the Control key (or the key you previously configured) on your keyboard twice. When you do that, you’ll hear a tone to indicate that your Mac is ready for dictation. At the same time, you’ll also see a floating microphone bubble appear somewhere on the screen.
You can now start dictating text using your voice and your Mac should be able to pick up the words you speak and add them to the Google Docs document.
The words you type will be highlighted with an underline. To enter punctuation, typographical, mathematical, or other signs, you just need to say the sign name and it will be entered as text inside the document. Similarly, you can also make formatting changes or capitalize letters, and words using their relevant commands. You can view the full set of dictation commands on this Apple Support page.
Once you’ve finished typing, you can deactivate dictation by pressing the Control key (or your chosen shortcut key) twice again or pressing the Return (Enter) key on your keyboard. You can also stop dictation by clicking on Done inside the floating microphone bubble on the screen.

Dictation will now be disabled until you re-activate it using its dedicated shortcut.

On Windows

Here’s how you can use voice typing in Windows 11. Use the requirements section to get familiar with its needs and the subsequent steps to set up and use voice typing on Windows 11.