How to use Voice access in Windows 11
Transcript:
To start using your voice to operate your Windows computer, you'll need to enable Voice access. As a minimum, you'll need the Windows 11 operating system. If you don't have Windows 11, you may be able to upgrade for free at microsoft.com.
If you're using an external microphone, have this plugged in because I'm going to show you how to configure the settings.
I recommend using an external microphone, but this is not essential. You can also use the one that's built into your computer. Finally, make sure you are somewhere quiet with minimal background noise.
In this session, we'll go through enabling Voice access on your computer, setting up your microphone and configuring some key settings like automatic punctuation. Don't be tempted to skip these steps. They will only take a few minutes, and it will make your experience of learning how to use Voice access much smoother.
I recommend you watch this video all the way through so you understand what the setup process involves. Then, come back and follow the steps in each section one by one.
Enable Voice access for Windows
First, let's enable Voice access. On your computer open system settings. You can do this by pressing the Windows key and the letter I at the same time. Alternatively, you can type ‘settings’ into the search bar.
From here, navigate to accessibility from the menu.
Scroll down and select the ‘Speech’ section.
This is where you'll find Voice access.
Slide the Voice access toggle on and follow the setup wizard.
Choose when to start Voice access
You can choose whether to start Voice access before or after you sign in to your computer. If you choose to start it before you sign in. This will help you to sign in to your computer using Voice access. If you choose to start Voice access after you sign in, you will need to use your mouse and keyboard.
Once you have Voice access enabled, a bar will appear at the top of your screen. This allows you to access settings and online help. I'll be referring to this as the Voice access bar throughout this video series.
You'll also see the Voice access icon.
Set up your microphone
Now we'll go through microphone setup, which is essential for Voice access to work effectively. The setup wizard guide you through microphone configuration.
If you're using an external microphone, position it about six inches from your mouth during setup. Speak in your natural voice.
The more you use Voice access, the smarter it will become at recognising your voice.
The setup will test your microphone and help calibrate it to your voice.
It's worth remembering that when you log in to your computer, you may need to tell it which microphone you want to use. You can do this via the Voice access bar. Go to settings and choose ‘Select Default Microphone’. From here you can choose an existing microphone, add a new one and manage settings.
Now let's configure some helpful features that will improve your experience of using Voice access. The two settings we'll look at are automatic punctuation and profanity filter. Once Voice access is enabled, you can say “Open Voice Access settings”. To access these configuration options.
Automatic punctuation and profanity filter settings
Automatic punctuation will add full stops and commas based on your natural speech pattern.
This is especially helpful for dictating text. You can toggle this on and off depending on your preference. The profanity filter prevents Voice access from typing certain words even if you say them. You can adjust this setting at any time. That's the basic setup complete. Voice access is now ready to use. In the next video, we'll explore the different ways you can ask Voice access to start and stop listening to you.
You can watch these videos in any order depending on what you want to learn. Each video focuses on a specific set of commands, so feel free to jump to the next topic most relevant to you.