Assistive technologies
In addition to the Ease of Access Center, Windows includes three programs that can make it easier to interact with your computer.
Magnifier. Magnifier is a program that magnifies a portion of your computer screen, making it easier to read. For more information about using Magnifier, see Make items on the screen appear bigger (Magnifier).
Narrator. Narrator is a program that reads the text on your screen aloud. For more information about using Narrator, see Hear text read aloud with Narrator.
On-Screen Keyboard. On-Screen Keyboard is a program that lets you use your mouse or other device to interact with a keyboard on the screen. For more information about using On-Screen Keyboard, see Type without using the keyboard (On-Screen Keyboard).
Windows Speech Recognition makes using a keyboard and mouse optional. You can control your PC with your voice and dictate text instead.
Set up Speech Recognition
There are a few steps you need to take before you can start using Speech Recognition. First, you’ll need to set up a microphone. Then, you can train your PC to recognize your voice.
To set up a microphone
Before you set up Speech Recognition, make sure you’ve plugged the microphone into your PC so the following steps work.
- Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search.
(If you’re using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, and then clickSearch.)You can also open Search with a keyboard by pressing Windows logo key
+Q. - Enter Set up a microphone in the search box, and then tap or click Set up a microphone.
- Follow the instructions on the screen.
Using Speech Recognition
You can use your voice for many tasks, such as filling out online forms or typing letters. When you speak into the microphone, Speech Recognition transforms your voice into text on the screen.
To dictate text using Speech Recognition
- Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search.
(If you’re using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, and then clickSearch.)You can also open Search with a keyboard by pressing Windows logo key+Q. - Enter speech recognition in the search box, and then tap or click Windows Speech Recognition.
- Say “start listening,” or tap or click the microphone button to start the listening mode.
- Open the app you want to use, or select the text box you want to dictate text into.
- Say the text you want to dictate.
To correct mistakes
- You can correct mistakes in three different ways:
- To correct the last thing you said, say “correct that.”
- To correct a single word, say “correct” followed by the word that you want to correct. If the word appears more than once, all instances will be highlighted, and you can choose the one you want to correct.
- In the Alternates panel dialog box, say the number next to the item you want, and then say “OK.”
To add or change words in the Speech Dictionary
Using the Speech Dictionary, you can add your own words, stop a specific word from being dictated, or correct or delete a word in the dictionary.
- Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search.
(If you’re using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, and then clickSearch.)You can also open Search with a keyboard by pressing Windows logo key+Q. - Enter speech recognition in the search box, and then tap or click Windows Speech Recognition.
- Say “start listening,” or tap or click the microphone button to start the listening mode.
- Say “open Speech Dictionary” and do any of the following:
- To add a word to the dictionary, say “Add a new word,” and then follow the instructions.
- To prevent a specific word from being dictated, say “Prevent a word from being dictated,” and then follow the instructions.
Controlling your PC with Speech Recognition
You can use simple, short commands to control your PC. The following table shows some of the most commonly used Speech Recognition commands. Words in bold indicate that you can replace the example word or phrase with similar words and get useful results.
| To do this | Say this |
|---|---|
Open the Start screen | Start |
Open the charms bar | Press Windows C |
Open the Search charm | Press Windows Q |
Show all apps | Apps |
Start working with an app | Right-click; Press Windows Z |
Use an app | Say what you want to do. For example, change to Celsiusin the Weather app. |
Select any item by its name | Click File; Start; View |
Select any item or icon | Click Recycle Bin; Click Computer; Click file name |
Double tap or double-click any 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 available | Refresh speech commands |
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 |
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 available only if you’re using the U.S. English Speech Recognizer. |
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 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 |
Don’t 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 that 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 that 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 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 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 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 |
Keyboard keys
| 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 |
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 |
Windows commands
| To do this | Say this |
|---|---|
Select any item by saying its name | File; Edit; View; Save |
Select any item | Click File; Click Bold; Click Save; Click Close |
Double-tap or double-click any item | Double-click Computer; Double-click Recycle Bin; Double-click folder name |
Press and hold or right-click any item | Right-click Computer; Right-click Recycle Bin; Right-clickfolder name |
Minimize all windows to show your desktop | Show desktop |
Select something if you don’t know what it’s called | Show numbers (Numbers will appear on the screen for every item in the active window. Say an item’s corresponding number to select it.) |
Select a numbered item | 19 OK; 5 OK |
Double-tap or double-click a numbered item | Double-click 19; Double-click 5 |
Press and hold or right-click a numbered item | Right-click 19; Right-click 5 |
Working with windows and apps
| To do this | Say this |
|---|---|
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 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 an app | Go to field name; Go to Subject; Go to Address; Go to cc |
Tap or click anywhere on the screen
| To do this | Say this |
|---|---|
Show the mousegrid | Mousegrid |
Move the mouse pointer to the center of any mousegrid square | Number of the square; 1, 7, 9 |
Tap or click any mousegrid square | Click number of the square |
Select an item to drag with the mousegrid | Number of the square where the item appears; 3, 7, 9 (followed by) mark |
Select an area in the mousegrid where you want to drag the item | Number of the square where you want to drag; 4, 5, 6 (followed by) click |