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Use your voice to type the words

Take advantage of speech to text in Book Creator

Dan Kemp avatar
Written by Dan Kemp
Updated over a week ago

With Book Creator you can dictate text rather than typing. 

Dictating your book is fun, and also really useful for students who may not be able to type.

  1. Click the + button and choose Text.

  2. Instead of typing, click the record button in the top left of the text box.

  3. Speak clearly and the text will appear as you speak.

  4. Click the red stop button when you're finished.

  5. Click Done to add the text to your page.

Here's a great example of it being used in the classroom.

Dictate in multiple languages

You can even dictate in other languages besides English! Just choose the language from the dropdown menu before you start talking. There are 120 languages to choose from.

A recording of a blank page in Book Creator. The user clicks on the yellow plus button in the top right of the page. The text box appears and the user clicks on the dropdown menu next to the microphone icon. A list of languages is displayed and the user selects Spanish. The user then types 'en la biblioteca' in the textbox.

Controlling Student Access

As a teacher you can control speech to text at the classroom library level by a toggle in the library settings. The feature is enabled by default but can be switched off at any time.

A screenshot of the library settings showing the speech to text option switched on.

Giving permission for your browser to use the microphone

The first time you try to record your voice, your browser will ask for permission to access the microphone. You'll need to click Allow to continue.

A screenshot of a pop up box showing a request to use the microphone. "app.bookcreator.com wants to use your microphones". There are 2 buttons: Block and Allow.

If you're not asked for permission, or if something's not working, you might need to unblock the microphone for Book Creator to use.

In Chrome, go to Settings > Advanced > Privacy & Security > Content Settings ... and click on Microphone. If you find Book Creator is blocked, click on the trash can icon to unblock it - the next time you use Book Creator, you'll be asked for permission again.

Dictation in Book Creator for iPad

On the iPad, dictation is built into the iPadOS, so it works slightly differently. First, enable dictation on your iPad by going to Settings > General > Keyboard, then turn on Enable Dictation.

In Book Creator, open a text box and you'll see there is a Microphone icon next to the space bar in the keyboard. Tap on that and you can start talking to dictate text.

View Apple support for more tips on dictating in multiple languages and adding punctuation or formatting text with your voice.

A screen recording of the iPad app. The user opens a text box and then clicks on the microphone icon next to the space bar in the keyboard. Then you can see that the user is using speech to text to type in "Here I am dictating with my voice".

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