Let me ask you a question?
How fast can you write? Can you write more quickly than you speak?
Probably not. Everybody knows it, and it’s a fact, and this is why companies like Microsoft Google and Apple have been giving out features on speech recognition technology.
Apple has a dictation app. Microsoft also offers a similar feature, and Google has the speech to text feature built into almost every software or service, where user input is required.
There is a voice typing feature in a popular keyboard app called Gboard, and they have a voice typing feature in Google Docs as well.
While the voice typing feature in Gboard can be used only for a smaller piece of text, that is, replying to a WhatsApp message, or sending someone a text message.
But, the voice typing feature in Google Docs is pretty amazing, partly because it also takes care of the grammar in sentences.
In the past, I have shared a couple of articles about how voice typing can help you write faster.
As much as three times faster than your average typing speed, in this article, we will specifically talk about Google docs.
I am currently writing this article in Google Docs, using the voice typing feature. I have noted down the time to see how much time will it take me to finish the first draft.
I will also tell you how we can make the best use of it for better productivity.
Where to find voice typing and how to activate it in Google Docs
You can find the voice typing feature in Google Docs under the Tools menu. There is also a Keyboard shortcut for it so that I can launch it quickly.
Once you have enabled the feature, you can either click on the Mic icon, which appears on either side of the document. You can use even use the keyboard shortcut to activate it.
When you are using for the very first time, the browser would require your permission to let Google Talk access your microphone. Once you do that you are good to go.
How to write complete documents faster?
Writing articles faster doesn’t only mean typing more quickly. It also means that you have to work on thinking about perfect words, forming better sentences, keeping the flow as well.
When you are typing on a keyboard, you get time to form your sentences. You take a pause whenever you feel like, you go back and delete the word or replace it with an even better world.
But, in voice typing, you will have to change your workflow a little bit to make the best use of voice typing feature.
Here are the following things I would recommend you to do for finishing up your documents faster.
Start speaking into your microphone.
What it means is, start writing right away, without having to worry about how well Google Docs voice typing feature is converting your voice into text, because it is not perfect.
Don’t worry about the typos and voice typing not working correctly.
Although it will recognize 99% of the words, if you have a better mic, and you are in a quiet place, there would still be 1% of typos and mistake that you will need to rectify, that you can do after finishing up the first draft.
Write your first draft using voice typing.
The first draft should always be about putting everything you want to put in the document, by forming sentences and paragraphs, and overall layout of whatever you are writing.
Once you have gone through it, turn off the voice typing feature, and start going through the article from the beginning.
To fix typos and grammar use Grammarly Chrome extension
Writing the first draft using voice typing also helps you proofread better since it feels like you are reading the document for the first time with a fresh pair of Eyes.
When you are typing something using your keyboard, you see the words, and the first draft is almost near perfect. So, you don’t put much effort into finding typos and grammatical errors.
You can also install the Chrome extension for Grammarly that will allow you to to check the proper formation of the sentences, give you synonyms of common words.
After the second draft, you will find how much time you have saved, and apart from the time, you also save yourself from going through intensive labor of tiring your fingers by typing nearly a thousand words.
By the way, it took me 14 minutes to write the first draught this article, another 10 minutes to proofread it.
You can give voice typing feature in Google Docs a try for yourself.
