2/12/2019 Windows Speech Recognition commands - Windows Help
Windows Speech Recognition commands
Applies to: Windows 10, Windows 7
Select Product Version
Windows 10
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 bolded, 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 available only for the following languages: English
(United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India, and Australia), French, German,
Japanese, Mandarin (Chinese Simplified and Chinese Traditional), and Spanish.
Common Speech Recognition commands
To do this Say this
Open Start Start
Open Cortana Press Windows C
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Note
Cortana is available only 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
Right-click; Press Windows Z; press
Perform an action in an app
ctrl B
Select an item by its name File; Start; View
Click Recycle Bin; Click Computer;
Select an item or icon
Click file name
Double-click Recycle Bin; Double-
Double-click an item click Computer; Double-click file
name
Switch to Paint; Switch to WordPad;
Switch to an open app Switch to program name; Switch
application
Scroll up; Scroll down; Scroll left;
Scroll in one direction
Scroll right
Insert a new paragraph or new line in
New paragraph; New line
a document
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?
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Update the list of speech commands
Refresh speech commands
that are currently available
Turn on listening mode Start listening
Turn off listening mode Stop listening
Move the Speech Recognition
Move speech recognition
microphone bar
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
New paragraph
document
Insert a tab Tab
Insert the literal word (for example,
insert the word "comma" instead of Literal word
the punctuation mark)
Insert the numeral form of a number
(for examples, insert 3 instead of the Numeral number
word 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
No space
word
Go to the start of the current Go to start of sentence
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sentence
Go to the start of the current
Go to start of paragraph
paragraph
Go to the start of the current
Go to start of document
document
Go to the end of the current sentence Go to end of sentence
Go to the end of the current
Go to end of paragraph
paragraph
Go to the end of the current
Go to end of document
document
Select a word in the current
Select word
document
Select a word range in the current Select word range; Select word
document through word
Select all text in the current
Select all
document
Select a number of words before the Select previous 20 words; Select
location of the cursor previous 10 words
Select a number of words after the Select next 20 words; Select next 10
location of the cursor 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
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Make all the letters in a word No caps word
lowercase
Change the next number of words to
Change next 10 words to uppercase
uppercase
Change the next number of words to
Change next 10 words to lowercase
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
Delete that
text
Commands for the keyboard
To do this Say this
Press keyboard key; press A; press
Press a key or key combination capital B; press Shift plus A; press
Ctrl plus A
Press certain keyboard keys without Delete; Backspace; Enter; Page Up;
saying "press" first Page Down; Home; End; Tab
Notes
You can also use the ICAONATO 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.
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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
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! 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
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| Vertical bar
:-) Smiley face
:-( Frowny face
;-) Winky face
™ Trademark sign
¾ Three-quarter sign
¼ One-quarter sign
½ 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
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÷ Division sign
¢ Cent sign
¥ Yen sign
§ Section sign
© Copyright sign
Registered sign; Registered
®
trademark sign
° Degree 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
Click Recycle Bin; click Computer;
Select an item or icon
click file name
Double-click Computer; double-click
Double-click an item Recycle Bin; double-click folder
name
Right-click an item Right-click Computer; right-click
Recycle Bin; right-click folder name
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Minimize all windows to show your
Show desktop
desktop
Show numbers (Numbers will appear
Select something if you don't know on the screen for every item in the
what it's called 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 Paint; Open WordPad; Open
Open an app
app name
Switch to Paint; Switch to WordPad;
Switch to an open app Switch to app name; Switch
application
Close that; Close Paint; Close
Close an app
Documents
Minimize that; Minimize Paint;
Minimize
Minimize Documents
Maximize that; Maximize Paint;
Maximize
Maximize Documents
Restore that; Restore Paint; Restore
Restore
Documents
Cut Cut that; Cut
Copy Copy that; Copy
Paste Paste
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Delete Delete that; Delete
Undo Undo that; Scratch that; Undo
Scroll up; Scroll down; Scroll right;
Scroll in one direction
Scroll left
Scroll down 2 pages; Scroll up 10
Scroll an exact distance in pages
pages
Scroll an exact distance in other units Scroll up 5; Scroll down 7
Go to field name; Go to Subject; Go
Go to a field in a form or app
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
Number of the square; 1; 7; 9
mousegrid square
Select a mousegrid square Click number of the square
Number of the square where the
Select an item to drag with the
item appears (followed by) mark; 3
mouse
mark; 7 mark; 9 mark
Number of the square where you
Select an area in the mousegrid
want to drag the item (followed by)
where you want to drag the item
click; 4 click; 5 click; 6 click
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Last Updated: Jan 22, 2019
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