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Windows Speech Recognition commands
Applies to Windows 10
Windows Speech Recognition lets you control your PC by voice alone, without needing a keyboard or mouse. The following tables list commands that you can use with
Speech Recognition.
If a word or phrase is bold, it's an example. Replace it with similar words to get the result you want.
For info on how to set up Speech Recognition for the first time, see Use speech recognition.
Notes
Any time you need to find out what commands to use, say "what can I say?"
Speech Recognition is only available for the following languages: English ﴾United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India, and Australia﴿, French, German, Japanese,
Mandarin ﴾Chinese Simplified and Chinese Traditional﴿, and Spanish.
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Common Speech Recognition commands
To do this Say this
Open Start Start
Open Cortana Press Windows C
Note
Cortana is only available in certain countries/regions, and some Cortana
features might not be available everywhere. If Cortana isn't available or is
turned off, you can still use search.
Open Search Press Windows S
Perform an action in an app Right‐click; Press Windows Z; press ctrl B
Select an item by its name File; Start; View
Select an item or icon Click Recycle Bin; Click Computer; Click file name
Double‐click an item Double‐click Recycle Bin; Double‐click Computer; Double‐click file name
Switch to an open app Switch to Paint; Switch to WordPad; Switch to program name; Switch
Switch to an open app Switch to Paint; Switch to WordPad; Switch to program name; Switch
application
Scroll in one direction Scroll up; Scroll down; Scroll left; Scroll right
Insert a new paragraph or new line in a document New paragraph; New line
Select a word in a document Select word
Select a word and start to correct it Correct word
Select and delete specific words Delete word
Show a list of applicable commands What can I say?
Update the list of speech commands that are currently available Refresh speech commands
Turn on listening mode Start listening
Turn off listening mode Stop listening
Move the Speech Recognition microphone bar Move speech recognition
Minimize the microphone bar Minimize speech recognition
Commands for dictation
To do this Say this
Insert a new line in the document New line
Insert a new paragraph in the document New paragraph
Insert a tab Tab
Insert the literal word ﴾for example, insert the word "comma" instead of the Literal word
punctuation mark﴿
Insert the numeral form of a number ﴾for examples, insert 3 instead of the word Numeral number
three﴿
Put the cursor before a specific word Go to word
Put the cursor after a specific word Go after word
Don't insert a space before the next word No space
Go to the start of the current sentence Go to start of sentence
Go to the start of the current sentence Go to start of sentence
Go to the start of the current paragraph Go to start of paragraph
Go to the start of the current document Go to start of document
Go to the end of the current sentence Go to end of sentence
Go to the end of the current paragraph Go to end of paragraph
Go to the end of the current document Go to end of document
Select a word in the current document Select word
Select a word range in the current document Select word range; Select word through word
Select all text in the current document Select all
Select a number of words before the location of the cursor Select previous 20 words; Select previous 10 words
Select a number of words after the location of the cursor Select next 20 words; Select next 10 words
Select the last text you dictated Select that
Clear the selection on the screen Clear selection
Capitalize the first letter of a word Caps word
Capitalize all the letters of a word All caps word
Make all the letters in a word lowercase No caps word
Change the next number of words to uppercase Change next 10 words to uppercase
Change the next number of words to lowercase Change next 10 words to lowercase
Delete the previous sentence Delete previous sentence
Delete the next sentence Delete next sentence
Delete the previous paragraph Delete previous paragraph
Delete the next paragraph Delete next paragraph
Delete the selected or last dictated text Delete that
Commands for the keyboard
To do this Say this
Press a key or key combination Press keyboard key; Press A; Press capital B; Press Shift plus A; Press Ctrl plus A
Press certain keyboard keys without saying "press" first Delete; Backspace; Enter; Page Up; Page Down; Home; End; Tab
Notes
You can also use the ICAO\NATO phonetic alphabet. For example, say "press alpha" to press A or "press bravo" to press B.
Speech Recognition commands for the keyboard works only with languages that use Latin alphabets.
Commands for punctuation marks and special characters
To insert this Say this
, Comma
; Semicolon
. Period; Dot; Decimal point
: Colon
“ Open double quote; Open quote
” Close double quote; Close quote; Close inverted commas
' Apostrophe
‘ Open single quote
’ Close single quote
> Greater than sign
< Less than sign
/ Forward slash
\ Backslash
~ Tilde
@ At sign
! Exclamation mark; Exclamation point
? Question mark
# Number sign; Pound sign
$ Dollar sign
% Percent sign
^ Caret
﴾ Open parenthesis; Open paren
﴿ Close parenthesis; Close paren
_ Underscore
‐ Hyphen; Minus sign; Dash
– En dash
— Em dash
= Equal sign
+ Plus sign
{ Open brace; Open curly bracket
} Close brace; Close curly bracket
[ Open bracket; Open square bracket
] Close bracket; Close square bracket
| Vertical bar
:‐﴿ Smiley face
:‐﴾ Frowny face
;‐﴿ Winky face
™ Trademark sign
¾ Three‐quarter sign
¼ One‐quarter sign
Coming
½ soon! Windows help and downloads will be moving to support.microsoft.com.
One‐half sign
£ Pound sterling sign
& Ampersand; And sign
* Asterisk
// Double slash
` Back quote
< Open angle bracket
> Close angle bracket
± Plus or minus sign
« Open angle quote
» Close angle quote
× Multiplication sign
÷ Division sign
¢ Cent sign
¥ Yen sign
§ Section sign
© Copyright sign
® Registered sign; Registered trademark sign
° Degree sign
¶ Paragraph sign
¶ Paragraph sign
… Ellipsis; Dot dot dot
ƒ Function sign
Commands for Windows and apps
To do this Say this
Select an item by its name File; Start; View
Select an item or icon Click Recycle Bin; Click Computer; Click file name
Double‐click an item Double‐click Computer; Double‐click Recycle Bin; Double‐click folder name
Right‐click an item Right‐click Computer; Right‐click Recycle Bin; Right‐click folder name
Minimize all windows to show your desktop Show desktop
Select something if you don't know what it's called Show numbers ﴾Numbers will appear on the screen for every item in the active
window. Say an item's corresponding number to select it.﴿
Select a numbered item 19 OK; 5 OK
Double‐click a numbered item Double‐click 19; Double‐click 5
Right‐click a numbered item Right‐click 19; Right‐click 5
Open an app Open Paint; Open WordPad; Open app name
Switch to an open app Switch to Paint; Switch to WordPad; Switch to app name; Switch application
Close an app Close that; Close Paint; Close Documents
Minimize Minimize that; Minimize Paint; Minimize Documents
Maximize Maximize that; Maximize Paint; Maximize Documents
Restore Restore that; Restore Paint; Restore Documents
Cut Cut that; Cut
Copy Copy that; Copy
Paste Paste
Delete Delete that; Delete
Undo Undo that; Scratch that; Undo
Scroll in one direction Scroll up; Scroll down; Scroll right; Scroll left
Scroll an exact distance in pages Scroll down 2 pages; Scroll up 10 pages
Scroll an exact distance in other units Scroll up 5; Scroll down 7
Go to a field in a form or app Go to field name; Go to Subject; Go to Address; Go to cc
Commands for using the mouse
To do this Say this
Show the mousegrid Mousegrid
Move the pointer to the center of a mousegrid square Number of the square; 1; 7; 9
Select a mousegrid square Click number of the square
Select an item to drag with the mouse Number of the square where the item appears ﴾followed by﴿ mark; 3 mark; 7
mark; 9 mark
Select an area in the mousegrid where you want to drag the item Number of the square where you want to drag the item ﴾followed by﴿ click; 4
click; 5 click; 6 click
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