1. What is Speech to Text?

Speech to Text (Voice Recognition) is an addon that helps you convert your speech to text. It can recognize a wide variety of languages and related dialects. Simply open the addon UI and press on the microphone icon to start converting your voice to text. Please note that, when the addon is first started, it asks for microphone permission. Please accept the permission to start working with the addon. All the synthesized text is placed in the top textbox area within the UI. Simply copy the text and paste it anywhere you want. This addon has no background activities when it is closed. Moreover, it does not need an internet connection for operation. Please read the below FAQ items to get more info about this addon.

2. How can I work with this addon?

As mentioned above, after the addon is added to your browser, please click on the toolbar button to open the UI. Once the UI is rendered, you can click on the big microphone icon to start the synthesizing process. As long as the addon is working, the microphone icon will flash from red to white color. Clicking on the microphone icon again will stop the recognition operation. Now you can copy the text from the top area and use it anywhere you want. Please note that, before using the addon, make sure to adjust the language and dialect from the dropdown lists. The default language is English and dialect is united states. As mentioned above this addon needs microphone permission in order to operate. Therefore, please make sure you have accepted the permission popup when the UI is first opened.

3. How can I download the source code for Speech to Text?

To download the source code for this extension from Chrome Web Store, it is recommended to use Extension Source Downloader. With this addon, you can download the source code as a ZIP or CRX format to your machine. If you want to download the source code from the Firefox addons store, please open the firefox download link (if available) in the Firefox browser and then right-click on the - Add to Firefox - button and select - Save Link As... - item. Choose the destination folder on your machine and then save the file in XPI format. You can then rename the XPI format to a RAR or ZIP file. Some extensions may have a GitHub repo address, which you can use to download the source code as well. But, it may not be the latest version of the addon. Therefore, downloading the source code from the official web stores is the best option as it always gives you the latest version of the addon.

4. What is the underlying engine behind the voice recognition tool?

This addon uses the standard HTML5 speech synthesis API. This API is currently working in chrome browser. Therefore, this addon is made for Chrome browser only. In the future when the API becomes available for other browsers (Firefox and Opera), this addon will be released for them as well.

5. Where are the settings for this addon?

This addon does not have a separate settings page. All the adjustments are available in the UI. Currently, there is only one setting for the input language. After opening the UI, please adjust the language and dialect. Also note that, all the changes are auto-saved to the memory.

6. Why this addon is available for Chrome browser only?

As mentioned above, since the HTML5 Speech Synthesis API is currently working for Chrome browser, this addon is release for Chrome browser only. In the future, when other browsers support this API, the addon will be released for them as well.

7. How can I copy the final result?

Once the recognition operation is done, please select the text from the top text-area and paste it anywhere you want. In windows machine, you can use (Ctrl + C) keyboard combination to copy the text. In Mac, you can use (Control + C) combination instead. For pasting the text, (Ctrl + V) combination can be used.

8. Why this addon sometimes fails to recognize the voice?

Voice recognition is a very complicated operation. This technology is rather new and still being developed by the internet community. Therefore you might see some bugs, errors or wrong results. In future when the API is being upgraded this addon will be updated automatically since it is using the underlying HTML5 API.

9. Can I use the addon in my mobile browser?

In general this addon works both in mobile and desktop machines. But, since it is working on Chrome browser only, and Chrome does not have a mobile version, currently there is no way to use the addon in your mobile device.