Common commands in Speech Recognition

Applies to all editions of Windows Vista.
Which edition of Windows Vista am I using?

You can print this topic for quick reference while you're using Windows Speech Recognition.

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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.

NoteSpeech 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