How do you wake up Voice Access and put it to sleep?

To wake Voice Access, say "Voice access wake up" or "Unmute". To put it to sleep, say "Voice access sleep" or "Mute". Microsoft lists these as the spoken pairs for the sleep and listening states ¹. You can also press Alt+Shift+B to switch between the two states from the keyboard ².

Say "Voice access wake up" to make it listen

In sleep state, Voice Access "does not react to anything you say, except the command to switch it into listening state" ³. That is why a stray word in a meeting does not run a command. Say the wake phrase to start listening, and say the sleep phrase when you are done.

The two phrases are interchangeable. "Unmute" and "Voice access wake up" both start listening, and "Mute" and "Voice access sleep" both stop it. Use whichever you remember more easily. Microsoft's shortcuts guide uses both wake phrases in the same step, and our command list guide follows the same wording.

The phrases are not the ones used by older Windows dictation. Microsoft's FAQ says it introduced unique wake words for Voice Access that do not affect Dragon or Windows Speech Recognition ⁴. If you have Dragon or the older Windows feature open alongside Voice Access, say the phrase that belongs to the app you mean.

Three states decide what the phrases do

Voice Access has three microphone states, and the sleep phrase is not the same as turning the microphone off. This table sets them side by side.

In microphone off state, Voice Access "does not listen to any of your speech". To switch it back on, you have to click the Microphone button ⁵. The keyboard shortcut Alt+Shift+C turns the Voice access microphone off and back on ⁶, so you can use it to toggle the microphone without reaching for the mouse. Microsoft lists Turn off microphone as the spoken command for turning the microphone off, which is separate from the command that closes the feature ⁷.

Closing the feature is a different step

Saying "Mute" does not close Voice Access. It only puts it to sleep, because sleep is one of its states and not an exit. To close the feature, say "Turn off voice access". Microsoft also lists "Stop voice access", "Close voice access", "Exit voice access" and "Quit voice access" as alternatives ⁸. A spoken command needs Voice Access to be listening, so say "Voice access wake up" first if it is asleep. You can also close it from the settings menu.

It depends: when Voice Access starts

You do not have to wake it by hand every time. Voice Access can be set to launch automatically before or after you sign in to your PC ⁹. If you leave it off, you can still start it at any time, which is one difference from voice typing. Voice typing starts only when the cursor is in a text box ¹⁰.

What to do if it does not wake

Work through these checks in order.

1. Look at the bar at the top of the screen. If the microphone is in its off state, click the Microphone button first. A wake phrase does not switch on a microphone that is off ⁵.
2. Say the exact phrase. "Voice access wake up" is the full form, and "Unmute" is the short one.
3. If you have Dragon or Windows Speech Recognition running, check that you are not saying its wake word instead of Voice Access's.
4. If it still does not respond, check which microphone Windows is using under Settings, System, Sound, Input, which is also where Microsoft's voice typing troubleshooting begins ¹¹. AbilityNet's walkthrough says that if your commands are not recognized, "switching to a USB microphone or headset can help" ¹².

For the full set of spoken commands once it is awake, see the Voice Access command list. To build your own phrases, read how to create custom commands in Voice Access. To turn on and use dictation, read how to dictate text with Voice Access, and for whether the feature can run the whole PC, read whether you can control Windows 11 entirely with your voice. Our guide to Voice Access in Windows 11 explains setup from the beginning.