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Search with your voice in Word for Windows

Feature deep dive
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Hi, Office Insiders! My name is Sarah Skriloff, and I’m a Program Manager on the Microsoft Search team in Office. I’m excited to announce our latest new feature: Voice Search in Word for Windows!

Voice Search in Word

Search in Word is a powerful tool that returns actions, definitions, files, people, and more when you enter just a few characters. Now, using Voice Search, you can say what you’re looking for and Search will find it just as if you had typed it. It’s all about giving you more ways to interact with Microsoft Search and make it easier to find what you need.

How it works

Ready to try out Voice Search in Word?

    1. Launch Word and open a new or existing document.
    2. Click the new Microphone button (Microphone icon in Word Search box) in the right corner of the Search box (or press Alt+Q on your keyboard to place the focus inside the Search box, and then press the right arrow key and press Enter).

      Word document showing Search box with microphone icon called out.
      NOTE: If this is your first time using Search, you may see a dialog box asking you to opt into intelligent services. Follow the prompts to opt in.
    3. Once you’ve initiated the Search functionality, wait until you see the text in the search box change to “Listening….” (If your computer sound is on, you’ll hear a sound effect when the mic is ready.)

      Word document with "listening" state showing in the Search box.
    4. Speak what you’re looking for—for example, try saying, “insert icon.” Notice that your search term will appear in the Search box, and a number of options will appear in a dropdown list. (If your computer sound is on, you’ll be notified by a sound that the Voice Search experience has ended.)

      Word document Search box with menu of options shown.
    5. Select the item you’re looking for from the list. In this example, select the Insert Icons command. Notice that the Icons gallery opens, allowing you to choose any graphic you want.

      Word document with Insert Icons dialog box shown.

    NOTE: If the words that appear in the Search box are incorrect, or the search didn’t return what you were looking for, click the X in the right corner of the Search box and try again. If this occurs, please also send us feedback! (See instructions at the end of this post.)

    Scenarios to try

    Try out a variety of different types of searches using your voice.

    • Definitions: Try saying “what does [word] mean” to look up a term in the dictionary.

      Search for a specific term in the dictionary in Word using your voice.
    • Files: Try finding a specific file.

      Word document search box doing a file search.
    • Help topics: Try asking for a specific Help topic, such as “Help topic track changes.”

      Search for a specific help topic in Word using your voice.

    Known issues

    Sometimes the dropdown menu does not appear after a search query is entered (either by voice or typed). We are working on this issue and expect that it will be resolved soon.

    Privacy

    Voice Search doesn’t store your content or audio data. Microsoft only uses your audio content to provide you with results. For more information about experiences that analyze your content, see  Connected Experiences in Office.

    Supported languages

    This feature is rolling out in the following languages:

    • English (Australia, Canada, India, United Kingdom, and United States)
    • Chinese (Simplified, China; Traditional, Taiwan)
    • French (France and Canada)
    • German (Germany)
    • Italian (Italy)
    • Spanish (Mexico and Spain)
    • Japanese (Japan)
    • Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal)
    • Hindi (India)
    • Korean (Korea)
    • Danish (Denmark)
    • Thai (Thailand)
    • Finnish (Finland)
    • Swedish (Sweden)
    • Dutch (Netherlands)
    • Polish (Poland)
    • Russian (Russia)
    • Norwegian, Bokmål (Norway) 

    Requirements

    • You must have a computer with an enabled microphone.
    • You must opt into intelligent services.

    Availability

    Voice Search is rolling out to Insiders running Beta Channel Version 2111 (Build 14701.20248) or later.

    Don’t have it yet? It’s probably us, not you.

    Features are released over some time to ensure things are working smoothly. We highlight features that you may not have because they’re slowly releasing to larger numbers of Insiders. Sometimes we remove elements to further improve them based on your feedback. Though this is rare, we also reserve the option to pull a feature entirely out of the product, even if you, as an Insider, have had the opportunity to try it.

    Feedback

    If you have any comments or questions about the new Voice Search feature, please let us know by clicking Help > Feedback. We’d love to hear from you!

    Learn what other information you should include in your feedback to ensure it’s actionable and reaches the right people. We’re excited to hear from you!

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