You may not have noticed, but this week Microsoft released a really interesting new update to Word. (I know, really interesting might be a stretch, but hey, I like this stuff!)
There's a new button which appears on the right-hand side of the ribbon bar in Word now, titled Dictate.
The ability to dictate text has been part of Word for several years, but you had to go into the settings and enable it, download dictionary files and generally faff around to set it all up.
However, this version of dictate really works with no setup!
It requires you to be connected to the Internet, and you need to be in a quiet room with no distracting background noise, but given those caveats, the dictation function works almost flawlessly.
It's even clever enough to turn itself off if you stop speaking for more than 10 or 15 seconds. And if American English isn't your native language, there's a little drop-down arrow on the right-hand side of the button which allows you to choose your own language and improves the accuracy of the dictation text returned as you speak.
Dictating text straight into Word does take a little while to get used to, but there's something magical about sitting just talking to your screen and seeing the words appear on the blank page.
Why not give it a go - you might be surprised at the freedom and difference in your tone and style of writing if you dictate rather than typing.