How to control and dictate on Windows 11 by voice

Windows 11 has two built-in ways to run your PC without touching the keyboard or mouse. Voice access lets you control the whole system by voice — open apps, click, scroll, and dictate — while voice typing (Windows logo key + H) drops speech-to-text into any text box. Both are already installed; you only turn them on. The older Windows Speech Recognition is retired on current Windows 11, so this guide sticks to the tools Microsoft still supports.

Turn on Voice access in Windows 11#

Voice access needs Windows 11, version 22H2 or later. To switch it on, open Start, go to Settings > Accessibility > Speech, and turn on the Voice access toggle. Microsoft’s Voice access overview explains what it can do.

The first time it runs, voice access downloads a speech model for your language, so you need an internet connection for that step. After that, recognition runs on your device and works offline. You confirm a microphone (a headset works better than a far-off desktop mic), then you can start right away or take the short interactive guide. The set up voice access page has the full walkthrough.

Once it is listening, say voice access sleep to pause it and voice access wake up to resume. Voice access is currently available in English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, and Japanese.

Control your PC with voice commands#

Commands are plain phrases: name the thing, then say what to do with it. The table below covers the ones you will use most; Microsoft’s full voice access command list has the rest.

Task	What to say
Pause or resume	voice access sleep, voice access wake up
Open an app	open Edge, open Word
Switch apps	switch to Photos
Manage the window	minimize window, maximize window, close window
Click an item	click Start, double-click, right click
Scroll a page	scroll down, scroll up, stop scrolling
Turn it off	turn off voice access

If commands feel sluggish or the toolbar stutters, the microphone is rarely the problem — a slow Windows PC drags every feature down the same way.

Dictate text by voice#

With voice access running, put your cursor in any text field and speak; the words appear as text. Say punctuation out loud — period, comma, question mark — or let voice access add it for you, since it can punctuate automatically. To fix a mistake, say correct followed by the word, and use spell out when you need to enter an unusual name letter by letter.

For quick dictation without the full command layer, use voice typing instead. Press Windows logo key + H in any text box, wait for the “Listening…” prompt, and speak; say stop listening when you are done. One difference matters: voice typing sends audio to Microsoft’s online speech service, so it needs an internet connection, while voice access does its recognition on the device. Microsoft’s voice typing guide covers the punctuation and language settings.

The old Windows Speech Recognition is gone#

If you are hunting for the classic tool under Control Panel > Ease of Access, that is why you cannot find it. Microsoft’s voice recognition guide states that “Voice access replaced Windows Speech Recognition (WSR) for Windows 11 22H2 and later versions in September 2024,” and that WSR “is available in older versions of Windows.” In practice, that makes Voice access the built-in option on any up-to-date Windows 11 machine.

The classic tool still ships on Windows 10, so if you rely on it there, you have it for now — though Windows 10 has reached end of support, which is worth planning around. On Windows 11, treat Voice access and voice typing as the replacements and do not expect the old Speech Recognition to return.

Start with voice typing if you only need to dictate a message or two; it is one shortcut away and nothing to set up. Move to Voice access when you want to run the whole machine by voice, and give the built-in guide a few minutes so the core commands stick.