Change Voice Control preferences for accessibility on Mac
On your Mac, use the Voice Control pane of Accessibility preferences to enable Voice Control so you can edit text and control your Mac by speaking commands to it, select the commands to use, and add custom words or phrases to a vocabulary list.
To change these preferences, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Accessibility, then click Voice Control.
Open the Voice Control pane for me
Option | Description |
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Enable Voice Control | Turn Voice Control on or off. |
Language | The language to use when you speak commands to your Mac. To change the language, click the pop-up menu, then do one of the following:
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Microphone | The microphone to use to speak commands to your Mac. To change the microphone, click the pop-up menu. If you choose Automatic, your Mac listens to the device you’re most likely to use for speaking commands. |
Play sound when command is recognized | Have your Mac play a sound to indicate that it recognized the command you spoke. |
Commands | Show the list of commands you can use to control your Mac and use apps. |
Vocabulary | Specify custom words or phrases to use when you speak to your Mac. For example, if you work with medical or technical documents or apps, you can add medical and technical terms to the vocabulary. This option is not available for all languages. |
Commands
Option | Description |
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Commands list | Standard commands and custom commands you created are shown. Use the search field to find a command. Standard commands are grouped by category: Basic Navigation, Overlays & Mouse, Dictation, Text Selection, Text Navigation, Text Editing, Text Deletion. A checkmark next to a command indicates it can be used. If you don’t want to use a command, deselect its checkbox. |
Preview area | Click a command in the list to show how to say it. There may be multiple ways to say a command. For example, to make a selected word bold, you can say “Bold that,” “Bold this,” or “Bold selection.” |
Add , Remove | Click the Add button to create your own command. To delete a command you created, select it in the Custom section, then click the Remove button . |
Vocabulary
Option | Description |
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Vocabulary list | Words or phrases that you added. |
Add , Remove | Click the Add button to add a word or phrase. To delete an item you added, select it in the list, then click the Remove button . |