Control your Mac and apps using Voice Control
With Voice Control, you can dictate text and speak commands to edit text, navigate the desktop and apps, and control your Mac, performing tasks such as scrolling a document or pressing a button. After you set up Voice Control, you don’t need to be connected to the internet to use it.
Voice Control provides a standard set of commands: Basic Navigation, Overlays & Mouse, Dictation, Text Selection, Text Navigation, Text Editing, and Text Deletion. You can also create your own commands.
Note: When Voice Control is on, you can’t use keyboard dictation.
Turn on Voice Control
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
> System Preferences, click Accessibility, then click Voice Control.Select Enable Voice Control.
The first time you turn on Voice Control, files for the selected language are downloaded to your Mac (you must be connected to the internet) and the feedback window appears on the desktop. When Voice Control is ready to use, the microphone icon
appears in the window and fluctuates to indicate the volume level.
Ask Siri. Say: “Turn on Voice Control.”
Add languages to use with Voice Control
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
> System Preferences, click Accessibility, then click Voice Control.Click the Language pop-up menu, then do any of the following.
Add a language: Choose Add Language or Customize, then select the languages you want to download (you must be connected to the internet).
Remove a language: Choose Customize, then deselect the language you don’t want to use.
If a language supports it, you can add vocabulary terms to ensure that specialized words or phrases are entered correctly when you use Voice Control.
Use Voice Control commands
Voice Control is always listening for commands so there’s no need to get its attention—just say a command. For example:
“Open Mail”
“Click Done”
“Scroll down”
“Move cursor right 5 pixels”
If you’re unsure which commands you can use, say “Show commands” to display the Commands window. The commands listed vary depending on the app you’re working in and what you’re doing. For example, you see formatting commands while in a Pages document, but not while in System Preferences.
Most Voice Control commands are enabled by default. You can disable commands or create your own commands to suit your needs. You can also keyboard dictation commands that macOS provides for punctuation, typography, formatting, and more.
Tips for using Voice Control
If you downloaded additional languages to use with Voice Control, you can quickly switch languages in the feedback window—click the Language pop-up menu in the window, then choose a language.
Numbers are always shown for menu commands, so it’s easy to choose a command. For example, say “Click Edit menu” to open the menu, then say the number for an Edit menu command.
If you take a break and don’t want words you say to be interpreted as commands, say “Go to sleep” or click Sleep in the feedback window. When you want Voice Control to listen for commands again, say “Wake up” or click Wake up in the feedback window.
If the microphone icon
in the feedback window doesn’t respond to your voice or Voice Control doesn’t recognize your commands, try these solutions.
Turn off Voice Control
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
> System Preferences, click Accessibility, then click Voice Control.Deselect Enable Voice Control.
Ask Siri. Say: “Turn off Voice Control.”