Does Voice Access send your voice to Microsoft?

Microsoft's own pages say Voice Access does its speech recognition on your PC. Setup downloads language files, and after that Voice Access works without an internet connection. That is different from voice typing, which uses Microsoft's cloud for online speech recognition ¹. Microsoft does not, however, say on any page we read that no audio ever leaves the PC. So the honest answer is: on-device, according to Microsoft, and not verified by us.

Microsoft describes Voice Access as on-device recognition

The setup page says that when you choose a language, Voice Access downloads the language files "to be used by on-device speech recognition," and that this step needs an internet connection ². After setup, Microsoft says Voice Access lets you control your PC and write text by voice "without an internet connection" ³.

That is a clear statement about the dependency: after setup, the internet is not part of the process Microsoft describes for using Voice Access. The Voice Access setup guide walks through the first-time steps.

Voice typing and Voice Access use different paths

The cloud statement applies to voice typing by name. Microsoft says voice typing converts speech to text using online speech recognition ⁴, and that online recognition sends voice data to Microsoft only to provide the service and create transcriptions ⁵.

Voice Access is not in that article. We searched Microsoft's speech privacy article on October 16, 2026, and the words "Voice Access" do not appear in it. So the cloud description does not apply to Voice Access by name, but that absence is not a promise either. Microsoft's Voice Access pages describe the on-device engine. They do not describe what data, if any, leaves the PC.

The two Voice Access pages we read, the FAQ and the setup guide, do not mention the cloud, and they do not say what data leaves the PC. Their only privacy wording is about microphone permission. That is why the answer rests on "on-device," rather than "never sends data."

Microsoft does say that use of the microphone by Voice Access is controlled by your privacy settings, so a privacy setting can stop it from hearing you ⁶. That is a control over whether it listens, not a statement about where audio goes. To review it, open Settings, then Privacy & security, then Microphone, as Microsoft's setup page describes.

Fluid dictation is the open question

Microsoft describes fluid dictation as a new Voice Access feature on Copilot+ PCs ⁷. Its voice typing page says fluid dictation in voice typing is powered by small language models that run on the device ⁸.

Microsoft's two pages disagree about which feature fluid dictation belongs to, and neither says where the recognition underneath it runs. The correction step is described as on-device. Until Microsoft says more, treat the recognition step under fluid dictation as unconfirmed, and check it on your own PC.

It depends: the feature, the language and the PC

• Language. Voice Access covers 15 languages and dialects ⁹. If your language is not on that list, Voice Access is not an option for it, whatever voice typing supports.
• A managed PC. An administrator may control these features. We did not verify whether an admin can turn off online speech recognition for Voice Access, since Microsoft's pages do not say so.

What to do

1. Choose Voice Access if on-device recognition is the requirement. Complete the first-time setup while you have an internet connection.
2. Turn off Online speech recognition under Privacy & security, then Speech, so that voice typing cannot send audio to Microsoft while you test.
3. Turn on Voice Access, say a few commands such as opening an app, and dictate a sentence into a text box.
4. While you dictate, watch network activity with a tool you trust. A quiet connection on your PC is evidence for that PC. It is not a guarantee from Microsoft, and it can change with a Windows update.
5. For patient information or other regulated data, do not rely on this page alone. Read our answer on whether Windows dictation is HIPAA compliant.

Our guide to Windows dictation privacy compares the features side by side, and the Windows overview links to the other guides. For the cloud switch itself, see what online speech recognition is in Windows. For a general verdict on Voice Access, read whether Windows Voice Access is any good. If you want an on-device dictation app for Windows, Yap, which we make, is one option, and it is worth comparing on these same privacy points.