You can use your voice to control your computer. You can say commands that the computer will respond to, and you can dictate text to the computer. For more information about what you can do with Windows Speech Recognition, see What can I do with Speech Recognition?
Before you get started using Speech Recognition, you'll need to set up your computer for Windows Speech Recognition. There are three steps to setting up Speech Recognition: set up your microphone, learn how to talk to your computer, and train your computer to understand your speech.
Before you get started, make sure that your microphone is connected to your computer.
Open Speech Recognition by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Ease of Access, and then clicking Speech Recognition.
Click Set up microphone.
Follow the instructions on the screen.
The success of speech recognition is directly related to the quality of the microphone you use. The two most common types of microphones for Speech Recognition are headset microphones and desktop microphones. Headset microphones are better suited for working with Speech Recognition because they are less prone to picking up extraneous sounds.
Windows comes with a speech training tutorial to help teach you the commands used with Speech Recognition. The tutorial takes about 30 minutes to complete. Follow the steps below to run the speech training tutorial:
Click Take Speech Tutorial.
Follow the instructions in the Speech Recognition tutorial.
Speech Recognition uses a unique voice profile to recognize your voice and spoken commands. As you use Speech Recognition, your voice profile gets more detailed, which should improve your computer's ability to understand you.
Click Train your computer to better understand you.
Speech Recognition is available only in English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese.
To set up your computer for Windows Speech Recognition, you need to do three things: set up your microphone, learn how to talk to your computer, and train your computer to understand your speech.
Open Speech Recognition Options by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Ease of Access, and then clicking Speech Recognition Options.
Follow the instructions in the wizard.
The speech recognition rate is directly related to the quality of the microphone you use. The two most common types of microphones for Speech Recognition are headset microphones and desktop microphones. Headset microphones are best suited for working with Speech Recognition because they are less prone to picking up extraneous sounds. For more information about microphones, go to the Microsoft website and search for "microphone."
Windows comes with a speech training tutorial to help teach you the commands used with Speech Recognition. The tutorial takes about 30 minutes to complete, so make sure that you have enough uninterrupted free time to complete it. Follow the steps below to run the speech training tutorial:
Follow the instructions in the Speech Recognition Tutorial.
See all support pages for personalization & ease of access.
Ask a question in the community forums.
