voice notes / comments in microsoft word 2007

Posted by Allan Wilson on the 24th November, 2009

Many pupils with writing difficulties can benefit from the use of Voice Notes in Microsoft Word to record their answers to questions in a worksheet. Rather than type an answer, a pupil can speak it into a microphone and have the recording saved with the document for the teacher to review later.

CALL produced a free quick guide, Creating Voice Notes in Word (PC), which explains how to do this with Microsoft Word 2003 and Windows XP.

Voice Comments in Word 2007 with Windows XP

It is also possible to use voice notes (also known as voice comments) with Word 2007 on an XP machine. There's a short video that shows this on the Jing Screencasts web site. Basically, you have to add a Voice Comment icon to the Quick Access toolbar at the top of the screen.

This is done by going to Quick Access Toolbar - Customise - More Commands - Choose Commands from.. Commands not in Ribbon - Voice Comment - Add - OK. The icon will now appear on the Quick Access toolbar. If you place your cursor in a document, e.g. on the line below a question, and then click on the Voice Comment icon, the Windows Voice Recorder will open and you will be able to record an answer to the question.

But what about Vista? Try Sticky Notes!

The procedure for Voice Comments in Word 2007 for Vista looks as if it should work exactly the same way - but it doesn't! The Voice Recorder in Vista is different from the equivalent in XP and will not open in Word. Instead, when you click on the Voice Comment icon you will be asked to create a 'Package' from an existing file - whatever that means! It appears that the useful facility to create a Voice Comment in a Word document is no longer possible in the Vista operating system.

Is there another way to add a voice comment to a Word document? Yes! Fortunately, all versions of Vista (except Home Basic) have a utility, Sticky Notes, which can be used to add voice comments to a Word document. Sticky Notes is located in All Programs - Accessories - Tablet PC - Sticky Notes. We suggest that if you want to allow voice comments in a Word document in Vista, you run Sticky Notes, set it so that it is 'always on top' (Tools - Options - Always on Top) and reduce the size of the Sticky Notes window so that only the menu bar and the recording bar are visible, as shown.

To record an answer, click on New Note, then the red Record button and record your answer into a microphone. When you have finished, click on the Stop button, then click on Play to hear your answer. If you are happy with your answer, copy and paste the recording into your Word document. Do this by clicking on Tools, then Copy in Sticky Notes and then clicking in your Word document where you want the comment to go and finally, Paste. This will paste a sound icon into your document, which you can play by double-clicking on it. The icon is labelled with the date and time.