
Simply dictate your search keywords, then your Chromebook will automatically search for it and show you the search results. Google will listen to your voice and you can search for whatever you want. Well, for starters, you can now say “OK Google” when you open a new tab. So now that your Chromebook’s voice detector is on and listening and waiting for your command, what can you do with it? Ready? Now you can talk to your Chromebook… Your speakers will pick up these details and start typing out exactly what you say. Whenever you’re in a document, field, or form, you can simply press “Search + D” and start talking to your Chromebook.

Most people can speak faster than they can type. This feature is pretty cool as it saves you a ton of time dictating directly into your device rather than typing it. You can enable “text-to-speech” from where, which will let you dictate your words directly into your laptop and type text with your voice. You can now enable voice dictation by giong to Settings > Advanced > Accessibility > Manage accessibility features. Update: In 2019, it looks like Google has moved this feature around in Chrome OS. It’ll only ask you this once, so just enable it. It’ll prompt you to ask for permission to access your microphone, but that’s a given. You’ve now enabled voice search on your Chromebook. Now find the section labeled “Enable ‘OK Google’ to start a voice search.” Tick it.Ĭongrats. Scroll down and look for the “Search” subsection. Okay, so you’ve opened up your Settings page. Type in “chrome://settings” into the address bar in your web browser (you need to be using the Chrome browser).Įnable your Chromebook’s voice dictation to use voice search or speech-to-text…and a whole bunch of productivity-boosting goodies.Open up Chrome Web Browser, click on the menu (top-right corner where the three dots are), and then click on “Settings” from the drop-down menu.Click on the status area (bottom-right corner where your Google Account picture is), and then click on “Settings.”.(By default, I believe the setting is turned off- what a shame.) To get started, you’ll want to actually enable it first.
Dictation software for chromebook windows#
This feature works on Chromebooks, and Chrome on Windows and Macs as well. Here’s a Hot Tip on using the voice commands with your Chromebook. If you’re here for that, continuing reading.

Perhaps they’ll come back in a future release- Google Assistant is available for Google devices and Android, so why not Chromebooks?Īs of now, you can still use voice dictations to type with your speech (AKA “speech-to-text”), but that’s about it. You can no longer launch “OK Google” and command your laptop to do various things, like “launch Gmail” or “play next track.” These features seem like they’ve been removed.

Update: In 2019, it looks like the feature for voice commands has been severely limited compared to how they were when this article was first written. The Chromebook’s voice dictation works well and you’ll be surprised at what it can do for you. But it can improve your workflow and speed up your mundane processes.

Personally, I’ve seen it incorporate more and more searches to the point where it’s basically now my virtual assistant. It’s not as advanced as Windows’ Cortana, but it’s improving a lot. It’ll be of good use if you just give it a chance to run. So why not take advantage of the technology that’s already built into your Chromebook and there for you? I mean, you technically paid for it. If you’re alone or just comfortable talking to your laptop, you can save a lot of time simply by dictating to it. No one wants to talk to their phone out loud in public.įor the Chromebook, I can’t see why not. The thing is, no one seems to be using it.įor the smartphone, I can see why. Smartphones, computers, laptops, and even cars all utilize the handy feature. And we’ll be talking about talking to your laptop.Īs you already know, voice control (or voice dictation) is a huge thing now no matter what device you’re using. Did you just get a Chromebook? Are you already an owner? How about another sweet and cool Hot Tip to save you some time and energy?
