Voice commands and transcription added to Office 365 Word for web
Microsoft has now added new audio transcription features to Word for the web for all Office 365 subscribers. This new addition is supported on the latest Microsoft Edge explorer as well as Chrome browsers and currently only supports audio transcribing in English. Microsoft plans to add this feature to Office mobile at the end of the year and they are also looking into more ways to push this feature out to Office users.
Transcribe with ease.
The new transcription feature allows users to transcribe either recorded or uploaded audio files in Word for web. This removes the need for using third party sites, saving time and effort to allow for a more streamlined process for Office users. Microsoft’s transcription tool will automatically detect speakers which makes it easy to follow the flow of the discussion in the audio files.
The Microsoft Principal Group PM Manager for Natural User Interface & Incubation, Dan Parish said “After your conversation, you can revisit parts of the recording by playing back the timestamped audio and you can even edit the transcript if you see something amiss.”
Currently there is a five hour transcription time limit per month, which will hopefully increase soon. So be sure to use those five hours wisely.
Dictated voice commands
Microsoft has also added the ability to format and edit your work with audio commands, giving users the option to not have to rely on the keyboard so heavily. There is a full list of the available audio commands here on this Microsoft support page that will walk you through how best to use their new dictation feature.
“Voice commands understand a variety of symbols so you can add things like ‘ampersand’ and ‘percent sign’, and you don’t have to sound like a robot!”, Said Dan Parish. “We’ve based commands on the way people naturally talk so that you can capture your ideas easily.”
The dictate feature is available on all Word for web as well as mobile for Office users. Microsoft is planning to roll these features out to desktop as well.
