Windows Speech Recognition commands

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 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.

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 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 Refresh speech commands
available

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" Literal word
instead of the punctuation mark)

Insert the numeral form of a number (for examples, insert 3 Numeral number
instead of the 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 word No space

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 Delete; Backspace; Enter; Page Up; Page Down;
saying "press" first 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.

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

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

÷ 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 File; Start; View

name

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 desktop

show your desktop

Select something if you Show numbers (Numbers will appear on the screen for every item in
don't know what it's the active window. Say an item's corresponding number to select it.)
called

Select a numbered item 19 OK; 5 OK

Double-click a Double-click 19; Double-click 5

numbered item

Right-click a numbered Right-click 19; Right-click 5

item

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 Scroll down 2 pages; Scroll up 10 pages

in pages

Scroll an exact distance Scroll up 5; Scroll down 7

in other units

Go to a field in a form Go to field name; Go to Subject; Go to Address; Go to cc

or app

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

Select an item to drag with the Number of the square where the item appears
mouse (followed by) mark; 3 mark; 7 mark; 9 mark

Select an area in the mousegrid Number of the square where you want to drag the
where you want to drag the item item (followed by) click; 4 click; 5 click; 6 click

Properties

Article ID: 12427 - Last Review: Sep 1, 2016 - Revision: 24

Applies to
Windows 10, Windows 7