Quick Links
There are many voice recording apps, and there are many transcription services. However, the Microsoft Word mobile app combines these two capabilities in one place, saving you time, effort, and—if you’ve already paid for Word—money.
How to Use Microsoft Word Dictation
To begin, open a new or existing document via the Microsoft Word or Microsoft 365 mobile app, and tap the microphone icon that appears in the bottom-right corner of your screen. The screenshot below shows the icon on an iPhone, though it’s very similar (and hard to miss!) on an Android device.
When you tap the microphone icon, it will change to a keyboard icon, which you can tap to stop recording and return to typing mode.
And just like that, you’re ready to go! The pane at the bottom of your screen—including a pulsating blue microphone icon—lets you know that the app is listening.
As soon as you start talking, Word will begin transcribing what you say.
To change the language, enable or disable automatic punctuation, or decide whether sensitive terms should be filtered out, tap the “Settings” cog in the bottom-right corner of the transcription pane. At the time of writing (February 2025), the Word mobile app’s dictation tool supports nine languages—including English, French, Spanish, and Hindi—with a further 30—such as Bulgarian, Irish, and Thai—in preview.
Here, you may also activate or deactivate spoken commands.
Navigational and Formatting Commands
As well as transcribing what you say, the Word mobile app’s dictation feature also understands many commands. Here are some to get you started, though this list is by no means exhaustive!
“That” is a key word when using the Microsoft Word mobile dictation tool. For example, if you say “Highlightthatyellow”, Word will highlight the last thing you said. Another example is “Uppercasethat,” which turns the previous thing you said to block capitals. In other words, “that” means “the last thing I said.”
Removes the previous word or punctuation
Delete that
Removes the last sentence or few words you just added
Delete the last [number] words
Removes the specified number of words before the cursor
Delete from [word] to [word]
Removes all the text between and including the two specified words
Bold [word]
Turns the specified word bold (or whichever formatting you choose)
Underline the last sentence
Applies underline (or whichever formatting you choose) to the previous sentence
New line
Moves the cursor to the next line
Add comment
Creates a blank comment box where you can type a comment
Adds the specified punctuation
Undo the last action
Smiley/frowny/winky face
Uses punctuation to create a pictograph of a facial expression, such as :) or ;)
Align center/left/right
Aligns the current paragraph to the center, left, or right
Create bullet/number list
Starts a new bullet or numbered list on the next line
Stop dictation
Turns off the microphone and ends the dictation
Other Tips You Should Know
Here are some things that I’ve found help me use the transcription feature like a pro:
you may alsoget Word to transcribe your speech on the desktop appand in Word for the web. On the other hand, if you want somewhere less formal to create your transcriptions than in Word,Microsoft OneNote also has a transcription functionfor turning your speech into notes.
