Common commands in Speech Recognition

How do I use Speech Recognition?

To use Speech Recognition, the first thing you need to do is set it up on your computer. To learn how to do that, see Set up Speech Recognition. When you're ready to use Speech Recognition, you need to speak in simple, short commands. The tables below include some of the more commonly used commands.

Open Speech Recognition by clicking the Start button , clicking All Programs, clicking Accessories, clicking Ease of Access, and then clicking Windows Speech Recognition.

Note

Speech Recognition is available only in English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese.

Common Speech Recognition commands

Frequently used commands

The following table shows some of the most commonly used commands in Speech Recognition. Words in italic font indicate that you can say many different things in place of the example word or phrase and get useful results.

To do this		Say this
Click any item by its name		File; Start; View
Click item		Click Recycle Bin; Click Computer; Click File
Double-click item		Double-click Recycle Bin; Double-click Computer; Double-click File
Switch to an open program		Switch to Paint; Switch to WordPad; Switch to program name; Switch application
Scroll 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
Make the computer listen to you		Start listening
Make the computer stop listening		Stop listening
Move the Speech Recognition microphone out of the way		Move speech recognition
Minimize the microphone bar		Minimize speech recognition
View Windows Help and Support content about specific tasks		How do I do something? For example, say “How do I install a printer?” and a list of help topics is returned. Note that this command is only available if you are using the U.S. English Speech Recognizer. For more information, see Setting speech options.

Dictation

Commands for working with text

The following table shows commands for using Speech Recognition to work with text. Words in italic font indicate that you can say many different things in place of the example word or phrase and get useful results.

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 the next command; for example, you can insert the word "comma" instead of the punctuation mark		Literal word
Insert the numeral form of a number		Numeral number
Put the cursor before a specific word		Go to word
Put the cursor after a specific word		Go after word
Do not insert a space before the next word		No space
Go to the start of the sentence that the cursor is in		Go to start of sentence
Go to the start of the paragraph the cursor is in		Go to start of paragraph
Go to the start of the document		Go to start of document
Go to the end of the sentence that the cursor is in		Go to end of sentence
Go to the end of the paragraph the cursor is in		Go to end of paragraph
Go to the end of the current document		Go to end of document
Select the word in the current document		Select word
Select the word range in the current document		Select word range; Select word through word
Select all text in the current document		Select all
Select the 1-20 words before the location of the cursor		Select previous 1-20 words; Select previous 10 words
Select the 1-20 words after the location of the cursor		Select next 1-20 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 the word		Caps word
Capitalize all the letters of the word		All caps word
Make all the letters in the word lowercase		No caps word
Change the next number of words to uppercase		Change next number of words to uppercase
Change the next number of words to lowercase		Change next number of 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

Keyboard keys

Commands for keyboard keys

The following table shows commands for using Speech Recognition to press keyboard keys. Words in italic font indicate that you can say many different things in place of the example word or phrase and get useful results.

To do this		Say this
Press any key on the keyboard		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 to say the keyboard keys to press. For example, you can say "Press alpha" to press "a" or "Press bravo" to press "b."
Using Speech Recognition to press keyboard keys will only work with Latin alphabets.

Punctuation marks and special characters

Commands for punctuation marks and special characters

The following table shows commands for using Speech Recognition to insert punctuation marks and special characters. Words in italic font indicate that you can say many different things in place of the example word or phrase and get useful results.

To make this appear		Say this
,		Comma
;		Semicolon
.		Period; Dot; Full stop; Decimal point
:		Colon
“		Open double quote; Open quote; Open inverted commas
”		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; Hash sign
$		Dollar sign
%		Percent sign
^		Caret
(		Open parenthesis; Open paren
)		Close parenthesis; Close paren
_		Underscore
-		Hyphen; Minus sign; Dash
–		En dash
—		Em dash; Double 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
:-)		Press smiley face
:-(		Press frowny face
;-)		Press winky face
™		Trademark sign
¾		Three quarter sign
¼		One quarter sign
½		One half sign
£		Pound sterling sign; pound; pound 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

Controls

Commands for using common controls

The following table shows commands for using Speech Recognition to perform tasks in Windows. Words in italic font indicate that you can say many different things in place of the example word or phrase and get useful results.

To do this		Say this
Click any item by saying its name		File; Edit; View; Save; bold
Click any item		Click File; Click bold; Click Save; Click Close
Double-click any item		Double-click Computer; Double-click Recycle Bin; Double-click Folder name
Right-click any item		Right-click Computer; Right-click Recycle Bin; Right-click Folder name
Minimize all windows to show your desktop		Show Desktop
Click something you don't know the name of		Show numbers (Numbers will appear on the screen for every item in the active window)
Click 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

Windows

Commands for working with windows

The following table shows commands for using Speech Recognition to work with windows and programs. Words in italic font indicate that you can say many different things in place of the example word or phrase and get useful results.

To do this		Say this
Open a program		Open Paint; Open WordPad; Open program name
Switch to an open program		Switch to Paint; Switch to WordPad; Switch to program name; Switch application
Close a program		Close that; Close Paint; Close Documents; Close Internet Explorer (only works with the active window)
Restore		Restore that; Restore Paint; Restore Internet Explorer (only works with the active window)
Minimize		Minimize that; Minimize Paint; Minimize Internet Explorer (only works with the active window)
Maximize		Maximize that; Maximize Paint; Maximize Internet Explorer (only works with the active window)
Cut		Cut that; Cut
Copy		Copy that; Copy
Paste		Paste
Delete		Delete that; Delete
Undo		Undo that; Scratch that; Undo
Scroll 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 a program		Go to field name; Go to Subject; Go to Address; Go to Cc

Click anywhere on the screen

Commands for clicking anywhere on the screen

The following table shows commands for using Speech Recognition to click anywhere on the screen. Words in italic font indicate that you can say many different things in place of the example word or phrase and get useful results.

To do this		Say this
Show the mousegrid		Mousegrid
Move the mouse pointer to the center of any mousegrid square		number—or numbers—of the square; 1; 7; 9; 1, 7, 9
Click any mousegrid square		Click number of the square
Select an item to drag with the mousegrid		number—or numbers—of the square where the item appears; 3, 7, 9 (followed by) mark
Select an area where you want to drag the item with the mousegrid		number—or numbers—of the square where you want to drag; 4, 5, 6 (followed by) click