I think the voice recognition program on my lap top might be by MS, would it still work,if Writer works with Voice Recognition programs in the first place that is?
Also, does Writer do Auto correction and Auto spell check?
Its a hugeeeee download and will eat most of my months data allowance on my MiFi, so am not wanting to waste it by downloading yet another program that wont do what MS Word used to be able to do.
You could try downloading on a computer with fast internet access and transferring the installation file via a USB memory key. Interesting question.
I have used it with both Dragon Naturally Speaking and the voice rec program in Windows 7, it works with both, with certain limitations. I had more problems with the built-in Windows program, and I have had some problems with Naturally Speaking as well, but I suspect my issues had something to do with accent and possibly not a high enough quality mic - but all things considered it worked well for me with Naturally Speaking. So, if you had acceptable dictation results in MS Word then I would think you SHOULD get pretty good results with voice rec in LibreOffice.
Another thing to keep in mind, especially when Microsoft is concerned is that you might see better results and integration with Windows voice rec and their own products such as MS Office. I would suggest doing like the previous commenter said, using a USB thumb drive or something similar at work or the library (if you library allows you to make downloads) to download LibreOffice if you have data limit concerns at home. If you can make the download somewhere like that, it would definitely be worth giving it a try.
To use voice dictation in LibreOffice, when you are doing the install you need to look at each screen during the install process, and make sure to click on the checkbox for the option that says something like “support assistive technology tools” on one of the install screens. Don’t worry too much though if you miss it, I believe you can activate it after the program is installed although I’m not sure on that, but there is an option for it. If you miss it, go into Writer, on the main menu at the top click on Tools. Go down the drop down list to Options at the bottom of the list and click on that. It will open a window, and at the top of the list is an entry LibreOffice, I believe it expands automatically when you open that window. In that list go down to Accessibility and click on that, and on the right of the screen you will see a checkbox for “Support Assistive Technology Tools”. Click the checkbox to check it and restart Writer and you should be good.
Writer has spell checking and auto spell checking, you will find them on that same menu of Options you go for turning on Assistive Technology tools, under the heading Language Settings. There are also buttons on the top row of buttons in Writer for turning on Auto Spell check, and for general spell check to check an entire document. I haven’t used it, but auto correction is supposed to be available, from the main menu in Writer click on format, and go down to AutoCorrect. I hope it works well for you and you like it, LibreOffice is an excellent Office Suite and I have been very pleased with it.
Terrific answer. Thank you very much. I have linked the other speech recognition threads on this forum to this answer. Good to know some of the details about what is required and what works / does not. “I believe you can activate [the Support Assistive Technology Tools] after the program is installed although I’m not sure on that …” Yes. The Windows installer can always be run again to pull in parts missed during a prior install. Could you add in detail about the version of LO you are using?
I’m very sorry oweng, I didn’t think to come back and check this question after posting my answer, so I’m not sure which version of Libre Office I was using at that time. It would have been the current version around the date I made the post, as I always do updates to LO whenever it notifies me that an update is available. I wish I had come back to check the question and seen this request for that very useful information, or thought to post what version I was using in my answer.
@SteveH_66 that date (July 2014) would place the LO version at around v4.2 or v4.3 according to the Release Plan.