Technology Tips – Published December 2023 in the Guide and Digest
By Don Trauger – Kennett
This clever Windows keyboard shortcut saves you a ton of keystrokes
Windows key + H: A Windows 10 and 11 feature you won’t want to forget.
Make it easier and faster to do your daily PC tasks. Speak your text rather than typing it. Windows 10 and 11 both offer a simple key combination for this very purpose.
Hidden Dictation Function in Windows 10 and 11
Open Microsoft Word or WordPad.
Press the WINDOWS key and H key together then let go to open the dictation function. Click the “gear” icon inside the small window at the bottom of the screen for additional settings for the microphone and automatic punctuation. It’s recommended that you select both options. Click the microphone icon in the window to start dictation. Once activated it should turn purple and say listening. You may now commence your dictation. You must have a microphone installed but almost all laptops do. Once you are done the voice to text file can be saved in your Documents or OneDrive folder where it can be copied to another app as needed. I have found using this voice to text feature works well when replying to incoming emails. All you need to do is go online and get into the Reply mode for your email and instead of typing your reply just click the microphone icon and dictate you reply. Your voice will be converted to text just as if you typed your reply.
Any app that normally responds to a text input may respond to this voice to text feature. Experiment!!