This article is for people who want to control their PC and author text using their voice with Windows. This article is part of the Accessibility support for Windows content set where you can find more information on Windows accessibility features. For general help, visit Microsoft Support home.
Use voice access commands to edit the text you are working on. You can cut, copy, and paste text, apply bold or italic formatting, and convert text into all caps by using direct voice commands. For a list of voice access commands, go to Voice access command list.
Voice access is a feature in Windows 11 that enables everyone to control their PC and author text using only their voice and without an internet connection. For example, you can open and switch between apps, browse the web, and read and author email using your voice. For more information, go to Use voice access to control your PC & author text with your voice.
Voice access is available in Windows 11, version 22H2 and later. For more information on Windows 11 22H2 new features, and how to get the update, see What's new in recent Windows updates. Not sure which version of Windows you have? See: Find Windows version.
If you want to edit the text that you had just been working on, voice access has different commands for doing so. For example, if you had just dictated the line "working with apps and dictating text" and want to rephrase the line, say "Delete that" and voice access will remove the entire line you had just dictated.
If you want to edit a specific phrase and there are multiple instances of the phrase present, voice access places numbered labels on all matches. You can then select which specific instance you want to edit.
For example, to apply bold formatting to the word "voice," say "Bold voice." Because there are multiple occurrences of the word, voice access shows numbered labels on each occurrence. To edit the word "voice" at the beginning of the second line, say "Click two."
If you want to remove white spaces between the words you just dictated, use the "No space that" command. This is useful when entering usernames or email IDs. For example, if you dictated "Peyton Davis" but you actually wanted "PeytonDavis" without a space, you can just say "No space that" after dictating the text.
Note: You can also use the "No space" command when inserting text. To learn more about the command, go to Dictate text with voice.
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To do this |
Say this |
Example |
|---|---|---|
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Delete the selected text or last dictated text. |
"Delete that" |
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Delete a specific piece of text in a text box. |
"Delete <text>" |
"Delete hello world" |
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Delete previous or next character(s), word(s), line(s), or paragraph(s). |
"Delete previous <number of characters, words, lines, or paragraphs>" or "Delete next <number of characters, words, lines, or paragraphs>" |
"Delete previous word," "Delete next two lines," "Delete previous paragraph" |
|
Delete all text in a text box. |
"Delete all" |
|
|
Cut the selected text or last dictated text. |
"Cut that" |
|
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Copy the selected text or last dictated text. |
"Copy that" |
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Paste text in a text box. |
"Paste" |
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Undo or revert previous action. |
"Undo that" |
|
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Redo or restore previous action. |
"Redo that" |
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Apply bold formatting to a specific piece of text. |
"Bold <text>" |
"Bold hello world" |
|
Apply italic formatting to a specific piece of text. |
"Italicize <text>" |
"Italicize hello world" |
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Underline a specific piece of text. |
"Underline <text>" |
"Underline hello world" |
|
Apply bold, italic, or underline formatting to the selected text or the last dictated text. |
"Bold that" "Italicize that" "Underline that" |
|
|
Capitalize the first letter of a specific word. |
"Capitalize <word>" |
"Capitalize hello" |
|
Insert text at the cursor and capitalize the first letter of each word. |
"Caps <text>" |
"Caps hello world" |
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Capitalize all the letters of a specific word. |
"Uppercase <word>" |
"Uppercase hello" |
|
Change all the letters in a specific word to lowercase. |
"Lowercase <word>" |
"Lowercase hello" |
|
Take action on the selected text or last dictated text. |
"<Action> that" |
"Capitalize that," "Uppercase that," "Lowercase that" |
|
Take action on the next or previous word(s), line(s), or paragraph(s) |
"<Action> previous <number of words, lines, or paragraphs>" or "<Action> next <number of words, lines, or paragraphs>" |
"Capitalize previous two words," "Uppercase next two lines" |
|
Remove all white spaces from the selected text or the last dictated text. For example, if you dictated "Peyton Davis @outlook.com" in your last utterance and then want to remove all spaces to get the output as PeytonDavis@outlook.com. |
"No space that" |
|
|
Insert text at the cursor without any white space before the text. For example, if you have added the text "Peyton" to a text box and then want to insert "Davis," but you do not want to add a space before "Davis." The output will be "PeytonDavis." |
"No space <text>" |
"No space Davis" |
Notes:
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If you have already selected a piece of text with specific selection commands or by other input methods (for example, keyboard or mouse) and then say an editing command using the structure "<Action> that," for example "Delete that," voice access will apply the command to the selected piece of text.
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The "Uppercase" command changes the entire selected text to uppercase. The "Capitalize" command only changes the case of the first letter of every word in the selection to uppercase.
If the editing commands fail, try using the selection commands and then the standard keyboard shortcuts to do the editing (for example, "Press Backspace" or "Press Control B"). For more info, refer to Use the keyboard with voice.
See also
Use voice to work with windows and apps
Technical support for customers with disabilities
Microsoft wants to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. If you have a disability or questions related to accessibility, please contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk for technical assistance. The Disability Answer Desk support team is trained in using many popular assistive technologies and can offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language. Please go to the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk site to find out the contact details for your region.
If you are a government, commercial, or enterprise user, please contact the enterprise Disability Answer Desk.
