One of the most sought after features on devices today is voice search. Most PC and mobile operating systems have an application that makes it easier for us to search using voice commands. This is the case of Google Chrome, which has had the voice search function available for some time. And now with the new “Ok Google” there are many possibilities. Here’s how to turn Google Chrome voice search on or off from PC.
Activate voice search in Google Chrome
To be able to do voice searches on your PC you must have several requirements. Obviously, the first thing is to download and install Google Chrome on your computer and have a microphone connected. After that, follow these steps:
Open the Google home page in Chrome. If you don’t see a little microphone next to the search bar, it’s because this feature is turned off. To activate the voice search you just have to add the corresponding extension to the browser. To do this, click on “Menu” located at the top of the window (the three vertical dots) and then in the “More tools” option select “Extensions”. In this new tab activate Voice Search.
Now when you open the Google home page you will see a small microphone next to the search drawer. When you click it, you’ll see the screen go blank and the microphone button turn big and red. At that point you can start “talking” to Google. In this way, the search engine will analyze your voice command and show you the results found.
If this is your first time running voice search, Chrome will ask you to allow access to your PC’s microphone so the app can hear you. It’s that easy! You can now use voice search from Google on your PC.
On the other hand, if you have Windows 10, you surely know Microsoft’s virtual assistant. You can also have Cortana search Google Chrome when you give her a voice command.
Enable or disable the “Ok Google” function of voice searches on your PC
To access the new “Ok Google” voice search feature on your computer, the first thing you need to make sure is that your Google Chrome browser is up to date. If you want to check it, go to the Chrome menu at the top right of the window, and then select “Info” or “Help” and then “Google Chrome Info”.
In the tab that will open you will be able to see information about the version of Chrome that you have installed on your PC and if there are updates available, if so, update to have access to “Ok, Google”.
After updating your browser, go back to the menu and select the “Settings” option on that tab under the “Search” section. You will need to select Google as the preferred search engine and below you will see a box with the text “Enable Ok Google to start a voice search”, check this box to activate or deactivate the voice search with the “Ok Google” command.
Below the box you will be told which pages you can use the command on, normally it will be in the new tabs and the Google home page in your language.
When you return to the main page, you will see a microphone next to the search box, click on it and speak into the microphone starting with the phrase “Ok Google”, you will see how it can perform many searches with few words. The number of commands available for “Ok Google” is quite extensive and new features are being added every time. Although it is important to note that if you use it on your mobile, you will have many more features. Here you can configure Ok Google on your Android or iOS device easily and quickly. One of its most interesting functions is to send and read WhatsApp messages with the Google Assistant.
You can quickly ask for the answer to many questions, get directions, create reminders, do calculations and much more, without having to use your keyboard. Take advantage of this useful function; you just need to quickly enable or disable Google Chrome voice search on your PC.
