Google Docs Voice Typing Commands List: How To Enable And Use The New Editing And Formatting Commands

Looking for a list of the new Google Docs voice typing commands? We've got everything your need to know about how to enable voice typing and use the commands to create, edit, and format your documents on Google Chrome.
Looking for a list of the new Google Docs voice typing commands? We've got everything your need to know about how to enable voice typing and use the commands to create, edit, and format your documents on Google Chrome. iDigitalTimes

Google Docs fans rejoice! Voice Typing just got a whole lot better on the browser-based word processor. The company announced Thursday that it has added support for voice commands in Google docs on Chrome that allow you to do a wide variety of formatting and editing functions such as highlighting and replacing words, starting lists, changing heading formatting and more.

While the voice typing capability in Google Docs first debuted last September, the company hopes that the new formatting and editing voice commands will empower users to create better content more efficiently.

“We launched Voice typing in Docs to help you capture ideas, compose a letter, or even write the next great novel—all without touching your keyboard,” the company wrote . “Starting today, you can also edit and format your documents with your voice.”

Though there’s a bit of a learning curve on using voice to type or perform other functions, once you start doing it, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it. If it’s your first time trying voice typing in Google Docs, don’t worry. We’ve included a tutorial to get you going, along with a list of the most useful voice commands we’ve tried. For the complete list of all voice commands available, see Google’s official support page.

How To Enable And Use Google Docs Voice Typing Commands

You can enable the voice typing option in Google Docs quite easily by selecting "Voice Typing" from the Tools menu
You can enable the voice typing option in Google Docs quite easily by selecting "Voice Typing" from the Tools menu iDigitalTimes
  • Turn on your microphone - To get started with Google Docs voice typing you need to make sure you have your microphone on and you are in a relatively quiet environment. It was a windy day in my office and the program had some difficulty taking my commands. Using a headset is probably optimal.

  • Turn on Voice Typing - open up a Google Docs document, click on Tool>Voice Typing. A microphone should appear on the left-hand side of the screen. Click on it to activate voice typing mode (You’ll know it’s activated if the microphone icon turns red).

  • Start Talking - Now you just start saying what you want typed. If you want to insert punctuation, simply say the punctuation mark you want inserted (ex.: saying “This is my first time using Google Docs voice typing exclamation point” = “This is my first time using Google Docs voice typing!”)

  • End Voice Typing - Tap on the Microphone icon again to end voice typing.

Google Docs Voice Typing Commands List (iDigi Favorites)

Google Docs Punctuation Voice Commands

Say one of the following to insert the punctuation type:

  • Period

  • Comma

  • Exclamation point

  • Question mark

  • New line

  • New paragraph

Google Docs Editing Voice Commands

  • Select All

  • Delete All

  • Copy

  • Cut

  • Paste

  • Copy link

  • Delete

  • Delete last word

  • Delete link

  • Insert table of contents

  • Delete table of contents

  • Update table of contents

  • Insert bookmark

  • Insert equation

  • Insert footer

  • Insert footnote

  • Insert header

  • Insert horizontal line

  • Insert page break

Google Docs Text Alignment, Formatting And Size Voice Commands

You can format your document’s text with any of these voice commands. Make sure to select the text you want the formatting applied to first or say the command before typing/dictating the text you want formatted.

  • Align center

  • Align justified

  • Align left

  • Align right

  • Apply heading [1–6]

  • Apply normal text

  • Apply subtitle

  • Apply title

  • Bold

  • Italicize

  • Italics

  • Strikethrough

  • Subscript

  • Superscript

  • Underline

  • Decrease indent

  • Increase indent

  • Line spacing [1-100]

  • Line spacing double

  • Line spacing single

  • Decrease font size

  • Increase font size

  • Font size [6-400]

  • Clear formatting

  • Remove formatting

  • Remove bold

  • Remove italics

  • Remove strikethrough

  • Remove underline

  • Create bulleted list

    • To add new bullets to your list say “insert bullet,” or “new line.”

  • Create numbered list

    • To add new bullets to your list say “insert bullet,” or “new line.”

Google Docs Text Color, Highlighting and Background Colors Voice Commands

  • Text color [color] (Ex.: say “Text Color Red” to change a text’s color to red.)

  • Highlight

  • Highlight [color] (Ex.: say “Highlight Color Red” to change the highlight color to red. The default highlight color is yellow. See a full list of available colors, here.)

  • Background color [color] (Ex: say “Background Color Red” to change a text’s background to red.)

  • Remove highlight

  • Remove background color

Google Docs Voice Commands For Creating and Editing Tables

  • Insert table

  • Insert table [1-20] rows by [1-20] columns

  • Insert row

  • Insert column

  • Insert new column

  • Insert new column on the left

  • Insert new row

  • Insert new row above

  • Insert new row below

  • Delete column

  • Delete row

  • Delete table
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