Windows Voice Typing Commands and Punctuation

Windows voice typing understands a short set of spoken commands for editing, stopping and pressing keys, plus spoken names for punctuation marks. The commands most people need from the English (United States) table are "Stop listening" to end a session, "Delete that" to remove the text you just dictated, "Select that" to select it, and "Press Enter" for a new line. Voice Access, Microsoft's newer hands-free tool, accepts a much larger set, including "Correct that" and "Delete previous word", which voice typing does not list. This page gives both command sets, the punctuation names, and the Windows 10 commands from Microsoft's own tables, with the Voice Access-only commands marked. For setup, see the guide to Windows voice typing.

Voice typing has a short command set, Voice Access has the full one

Voice typing covers the everyday edits: stop, delete, select, undo and a few key presses. Microsoft's voice typing page says you use its commands "to quickly edit text by saying things like "delete that" or "select that"" ¹. To end a session, you say a command such as "Stop listening" or press the microphone button on the voice typing menu ².

Voice Access is the fuller tool. Microsoft's Voice Access command list groups its commands under headings such as Dictate text, Select text, Edit text, Format text, Navigate text and Dictate punctuation marks, and it can control the rest of the PC. Voice Access is available in Windows 11, version 22H2 or later ³, and it works without an internet connection ⁴. Voice typing needs one: you need an internet connection, a working microphone and the cursor in a text box ⁵.

The voice typing column comes from the English (United States) table on Microsoft's page. Voice typing supports six English locales: English (Australia), English (Canada), English (India), English (New Zealand), English (United Kingdom) and English (United States) ¹¹. Microsoft gives a separate command table for each language, so the phrases can differ between them. To read the table for your own language:

1. Open Use voice typing to talk instead of type on your PC on Microsoft's support site and scroll to Voice typing commands.
2. Change the dropdown to your desired language, as Microsoft's page instructs.
3. Read the Voice typing command and What you can say columns for that language, and test each phrase in your app.

Voice Access also has modes that decide whether your speech is read as commands, as text, or both. Its default mode handles both, "Commands mode" responds only to commands, and "Dictation mode" types everything as text. Say "Commands mode" or "Dictation mode" to switch, and use the default mode when you want both. Voice Access can also format the text you dictate. "Caps" followed by text capitalizes the first letter of each word, "No space" followed by text inserts it without a space before it, and "Uppercase that", "All caps that", "Lowercase that" and "No caps that" change the last dictated text. The English (United States) voice typing table lists none of these formatting commands, so they are one more reason to use Voice Access when you want to edit or format by voice. The Voice Access command list has the full set.

The rule of thumb: if you want to edit a word that is not the last thing you said, Voice Access is the tool that has a command for it. Voice typing edits the last dictated text and the current selection.

Automatic punctuation adds punctuation for you, spoken punctuation gives you control

Voice typing has two ways to get punctuation into your text. The Automatic punctuation setting ( automatic punctuation) lets it insert punctuation "based on what you're saying" ¹². You can also say the name of the mark. Microsoft's Windows 11 page says that its voice typing commands "insert punctuation marks" ¹³, and its table shows the phrase to say for each mark.

Microsoft's page does not list which marks the automatic setting inserts on its own. If the setting matters to you, dictate a test sentence in your app and check the result. When you need a specific mark, say its name.

The names are the ones Microsoft gives in its English (United States) table ¹⁵. Voice Access uses nearly the same names, and its Dictate punctuation marks table adds a few spellings that voice typing does not: "Exclamation point" alongside "Exclamation mark", "Full stop" alongside "Period", "Apostrophe-s" for the possessive ending, and "Begin single quote" and "Open single quote" for the opening single quote. If one name does not work, try the other from the same table. Other languages use their own words. On Windows 10, the dictation section says that you can dictate most numbers and punctuation "by saying the number or punctuation character" ¹⁶, which is a simpler rule than a fixed list of names.

On a Copilot+ PC, fluid dictation goes further. Microsoft says it "automatically corrects grammar, punctuation, and filler words as you speak" ¹⁷. It is a Copilot+ PC feature available in all English locales ¹⁸, and it is covered in our guide to fluid dictation on Copilot+ PCs. The spoken punctuation names still matter there, because you use them when you want a specific mark rather than the correction. For the wider comparison of punctuation across tools, see dictation punctuation and the spoken punctuation entry.

Say a symbol's name to type it: quotes, brackets, dashes and emoticons

Voice typing maps more than punctuation marks. The English (United States) table also lists names for quotes, brackets, dashes, slashes and emoticons, so you can type a symbol without finding it on the keyboard. The names below are from Microsoft's table, and the marks are the ones it inserts.

Two groups are easy to confuse. "Hyphen" and "minus sign" give the short mark, while "n-dash" and "m-dash" give two longer dash marks that are not interchangeable. Check the result in your text when you need a range or a break. The emoticons are typed as text, so check how they look in the app you dictate into.

Spoken key presses handle new lines, tabs and backspaces

Key presses are the commands that move the cursor or delete one character at a time. Voice typing lists them as "Press" phrases in the English (United States) table, and Voice Access lists the same keys in its own table.

Enter does two jobs when you dictate. In Voice Access, the Enter key moves to a new line while you dictate text ¹⁹, and the "New line" command starts a new line and places the cursor at its beginning ²⁰. The Voice Access command list gives both, so you can use the key press or the command, whichever your tool supports.

Backspace is the key to use after a dictation mistake. Voice Access describes the Backspace key as the way "to fix mistakes made during dictation" ²¹. A Backspace press removes one character at a time, so for a whole wrong word, use "Delete that" or "Delete previous word" instead.

Tab moves the focus to the next field in a form or dialog, which is why Voice Access describes it as a way "to quickly navigate through fields on the UI". Space has no equivalent in Voice Access's keyboard table, but voice typing lists "Insert Space" for it. Voice typing also has undo phrases. The English (United States) table lists "Undo that" and "Revert" for undoing a previous change ²², which match the fluid dictation undo phrases in the next section.

"Delete that" and "select that" correct the last thing you said

Most corrections on Windows follow one pattern: you say the phrase that selects or deletes the last dictated text, then you dictate the replacement. Microsoft says that if a word or phrase is selected, "speaking any of the "delete that" commands will remove it" ²³. The English (United States) table lists "Delete that", "Erase that" and "Scratch that" for the same action, and "Select that" to select the last dictated text ²⁴.

The flow below is the order to try for a mistake you can see on screen.

Fluid dictation adds an undo path. Microsoft says that to keep the original sentence or undo a correction, you say "Revert" or "Undo that", or press Ctrl+Z on your keyboard ²⁵. Use this when fluid dictation changed a word you meant to keep.

Voice Access has more correction phrases. "Correct that" corrects the selected text or the last dictated text ⁹, and "Delete previous word" removes the previous or next word ¹⁰. Voice typing has no matching phrase in the English (United States) table, so a word from several sentences back is a job for the keyboard or the mouse when you use voice typing. Our guide to dictation mistakes covers the habits that reduce these fixes in the first place, and the question on correcting voice typing mistakes gives the same order in short form.

Windows 10 dictation commands work only in US English

On Windows 10, dictation commands work only in US English. Microsoft says that "dictation commands are available in US English only" ²⁶. Dictation accepts basic text, symbols, letters and numbers in 13 language variants, US English included ²⁷, but the commands work only in US English. The Windows 10 dictation section also says that "to use dictation, your PC needs to be connected to the internet" ²⁸. Windows 10 reached the end of support on October 14, 2025 ²⁹, so its dictation section describes a system that no longer gets security updates.

The Windows 10 commands are a different set from the Windows 11 ones. The table below comes from Microsoft's Windows 10 dictation section. On that page, a phrase in bold is an example, and you replace it with similar words, so "word" and "paragraph" stand for any unit of text.

The gap between the two systems is clearest when you count the English locales that have a published command set. Each bar below is that number, from Microsoft's pages.

Windows 11 voice typing has six English locales ¹¹, Voice Access has five ³⁰, and Windows 10 dictation has one, US English ²⁶. If you use another English locale on Windows 10, the commands will not work for you, and Windows 11 is the way to get the broader set.

Names, numbers and spellings need spelling mode or the vocabulary command

Names, product codes and unusual spellings are where dictation most often needs help, and Microsoft offers the tools below for these cases. Each one does a different job.

Spelling mode is the first. On Windows 10, you say "start spelling", then the letter or symbol, or use the ICAO phonetic alphabet ³¹. Say "stop spelling" when you are done. Voice Access has a shorter version: "Spell that" spells out the selected text or the last dictated text letter by letter ³².

The vocabulary command is in Voice Access. "Add to vocabulary" improves recognition of complex or hard to pronounce words ³³. Voice typing has no matching command in the English (United States) table.

The Dictate prefix lets you insert a command word as text. In Voice Access, saying "Type" or "Dictate" before a command inserts that command as text in a text box ³⁴. Use it when you need to write "delete that" into a document rather than run it.

Speaking speed is the last setting to check. Voice typing has a wait time before acting setting, which Microsoft says gives more accurate recognition "whether speaking slowly or quickly" ³⁵. Choose the wait time that matches how you speak, and test a few commands after you change it.

If it matters where your speech is processed, read our notes on Windows dictation privacy before you choose a tool. Third-party dictation apps have their own command lists, and the Windows phrases on this page may not work in them. Yap, which we make, is one of those apps, so check its help pages rather than assuming a Windows phrase works there.

Where to go next

If a command does not respond, check the three things voice typing needs before you check the phrase: an internet connection, a working microphone, and the cursor in a text box ⁵. The guide to Windows dictation not working walks through those checks in order. If you want to change the language first, read Windows dictation languages.

Three shorter answers cover the questions people search for most. How to add punctuation with Windows voice typing lists the steps. The dictation commands that work in Windows 10 covers the US English limit. How to correct a mistake with Windows voice typing gives the order to try the fixes in. For the Voice Access commands in full, see the guide to Voice Access commands, and for the Mac equivalents, see Mac dictation commands and punctuation. For the whole subject, start with our overview of dictation on Windows.