[]Use Voice Control commands to interact with your Mac
After you turn on Voice Control on your Mac, you can speak commands to navigate the desktop and apps, interact with whats on the screen, dictate and edit text, and more.
Note: When Voice Control is on, you use Voice Control to dictate text; standard macOS Dictation isnt available. If you just want to enter text using Dictation, without controlling your Mac with your voice, see Dictate messages and documents on Mac.
Start using commands
To use Voice Control on your Mac, just say a command.
[] Voice Control: Say, for example, Open Mail, Scroll Down or Click Done.
When you say commands in quick succession such as Scroll up, Move cursor right 5 pixels, Press OK pause about half a second between commands.
[A command suggestion is shown at the top of the desktop. To the right, the Voice Control icon is shown in the menu bar and the Voice Control menu is open.]Pause or resume Voice Control
Pause Voice Control when you dont want words you say to be interpreted as commands or dictation. Resume Voice Control when youre ready for it to listen for commands and dictation again.
[] Voice Control: Say Stop listening or Start listening.
See what commands you can use
Display a list of the available commands, which vary depending on the app youre working in and what youre doing. For example, when writing a document, you see text formatting commands.
[] Voice Control: Say Show commands.
[The Voice Control Commands window next to a Pages document. The Commands window lists commands for working with text.]To browse the full list of supported commands and see examples of how to use them, choose Apple menu 
[] > System Settings, click Accessibility [] in the sidebar, click Voice Control, then click Commands. (You may need to scroll down.)
Label onscreen items
When youre not sure what to call something, you can display a name or number next to each item on the screen. You can then use the items name or number to interact with it.
[] Voice Control: Say Show names or Show numbers. You can also say Show text numbers or Hide text numbers to display or remove number overlays in a text input area.
[The top-left corner of the Mac desktop showing a number next to each item in the menu bar. Below the menu bar, the Notes app is open and numbers are shown next to buttons and content in the app.]To interact with an item, say its name or number, or say a command such as Click followed by the items name or number.
Say Hide names or Hide numbers to turn the overlay off.
Show a numbered grid on the screen
You can make it easier to interact with a precise area of the screen by superimposing a grid.
[] Voice Control: Say Show grid. To display a grid only over the active window, say Show window grid.
[The Mail app open on the Mac desktop, with a grid superimposed. Each cell in the grid is labelled with a number. The Voice Control icon is located in the menu bar.]Interact with a location on the grid: If a number is at the location you want to interact with, say any command such as Click followed by the grid number. The grid disappears after you say the command.
Drill down on an area of the grid: If you need to further refine the location, say a grid number to show a more detailed grid in that area.
[A grid is shown in the top-right corner of the screen, where Numbers and Keynote documents are located. Each cell in the grid is labelled with a number.]You can drill down multiple times. When an area cant be drilled into further, the numbers are no longer framed and saying a number performs the Click command.
Tip: When item names, numbers or a numbered grid are shown, you can drag and drop an item using the names or numbers of the item and the drop location. Say Drag <item name or number> to <location name or number>.
Say Hide grid to turn the overlay off.
Enter text
When working in a text input area, you can dictate word by word (using Dictation mode) or character by character (using Spelling mode). To avoid mistakenly entering a Voice Control command as text, have Voice Control respond only to commands (with Command mode).
When youre in a text input area and label onscreen items with numbers, numbers are shown next to each line of text. Select a line or another section of the text to display a number for each word in the selection; select a single word to show a number for each character in the word. To interact with a text item (such as a line or a word), say a command, like Delete or Uppercase, followed by the items number.
Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Dictate word by word. Any words you say that arent Voice Control commands are entered as text. Dictation mode is on by default. |
| Dictate character by character. Spelling mode is helpful when you need to enter a password, a web address or another sequence of characters that wouldnt be recognised as a word in Dictation mode. When Spelling mode is on, To increase accuracy when entering letters, you can use the letters phonetic alphabet code word (for example, say Alfa Bravo Charlie to enter abc). Note: Spelling mode isnt available in all Voice Control languages. |
| Voice Control responds only to commands. Words and characters that arent commands are ignored and arent entered as text. Command mode is helpful when you need to say a series of commands and dont want them inadvertently entered in a text input area. When Command mode is on, |
Voice Control: Say Swift mode. | Voice Control writes Swift code. Pronounce just as youd read it out loud. Voice Control understands Swift syntax and handles formatting automatically like where spaces appear, whether expressions correspond to operators or should have medial capitals. |
![[]](https://help.apple.com/assets/69DD569682238CF8EC0621E2/69DD569982238CF8EC0621E9/en_GB/c3fdc62492cd63e79f2554926d6fbef0.png){kind=link}
![[]](https://help.apple.com/assets/69DD569682238CF8EC0621E2/69DD569982238CF8EC0621E9/en_GB/f2ddaf2372ae6e57ee2ed63459e612ee.png){kind=link}
![[A command suggestion is shown at the top of the desktop. To the right, the Voice Control icon is shown in the menu bar and the Voice Control menu is open.]](https://help.apple.com/assets/69DD569682238CF8EC0621E2/69DD569982238CF8EC0621E9/en_GB/8529aafa2c7ea8a66f58a922767a8468.png){kind=link}
![[]](https://help.apple.com/assets/69DD569682238CF8EC0621E2/69DD569982238CF8EC0621E9/en_GB/2f77cc85238452e25cb517130188bf99.png){kind=link}
![[The Voice Control Commands window next to a Pages document. The Commands window lists commands for working with text.]](https://help.apple.com/assets/69DD569682238CF8EC0621E2/69DD569982238CF8EC0621E9/en_GB/44076676a1c71ce4215e066e9f5ba534.png){kind=link}
![[The top-left corner of the Mac desktop showing a number next to each item in the menu bar. Below the menu bar, the Notes app is open and numbers are shown next to buttons and content in the app.]](https://help.apple.com/assets/69DD569682238CF8EC0621E2/69DD569982238CF8EC0621E9/en_GB/ec4c03c3ed3b72e5dec7db1bcd156b61.png){kind=link}
![[The Mail app open on the Mac desktop, with a grid superimposed. Each cell in the grid is labelled with a number. The Voice Control icon is located in the menu bar.]](https://help.apple.com/assets/69DD569682238CF8EC0621E2/69DD569982238CF8EC0621E9/en_GB/549743dac4d543a380e4cbf91467357d.png){kind=link}
![[A grid is shown in the top-right corner of the screen, where Numbers and Keynote documents are located. Each cell in the grid is labelled with a number.]](https://help.apple.com/assets/69DD569682238CF8EC0621E2/69DD569982238CF8EC0621E9/en_GB/c253a5b6a3be1670d5bf04e766421a72.png){kind=link}
![[the Spelling mode icon]](https://help.apple.com/assets/69DD569682238CF8EC0621E2/69DD569982238CF8EC0621E9/en_GB/660372f9ce2115ee1237fbc8339a5f45.png){kind=link}
![[the Command mode icon]](https://help.apple.com/assets/69DD569682238CF8EC0621E2/69DD569982238CF8EC0621E9/en_GB/4b64e79700bdfd7f4ff72083ccd6d13f.png){kind=link}
Commands for working with text are shared between Dictation mode and Spelling mode. For example, while editing text in Dictation mode, you could say Replace cat with dog; to do the same thing in Spelling mode, you could say Replace Charlie Alfa Tango with Delta Oscar Golf.
Tip: On your Mac, you can see a list of dictation and text editing commands you can use. Choose Apple menu [] > System Settings, click Accessibility [] in the sidebar, click Voice Control (you may need to scroll down), then click Commands. Click the Dictation mode or Spelling mode command to see a list of characters you can enter and what to say to enter them.
Use Voice Control with VoiceOver
To use Voice Control with VoiceOver on your Mac, just say a command.
[] Voice Control: Say, for example, VoiceOver rotor, VoiceOver read all or VoiceOver select first item.
To see a list of the Voice Control commands you can use with VoiceOver, choose Apple menu [] > System Settings, click Accessibility [] in the sidebar, then click Voice Control. (You may need to scroll down.) Click Commands, then scroll to the set of Accessibility commands.
Open Voice Control settings for me
Tip: If you use Voice Control with VoiceOver, try using headphones to help ensure Voice Control hears only you speaking.