How to Use Voice Control on Mac – Guide
Apple has released Voice Control, a new system that lets users control their Macs with just their voice. Available on iOS 13 and iPadOS 13, the feature is designed to make using Apple devices easier for those who rely on accessibility features as well as those who want to try out the latest voice commands. Here’s how to get started with Voice Control on Macs running macOS Catalina and how to use it.
Voice Control, the latest saying feature on macOS Catalina, is a major upgrade from Mojave. It uses Siri’s speech recognition engine and processes commands on-device for a seamless experience. Plus, it features number and grid overlays and custom commands to control your Mac with just your voice.
You can use voice control on your Mac, iPhone, or iPad. To activate it, go to Settings> Accessibility> Voice Control or ask Siri to “Enable Voice Control”.
What is voice control on Mac
Mac users can now control their computers with just their voice, thanks to macOS Catalina’s new speech recognition technology. This feature allows users to issue commands and dictate text in documents and emails without the need for a mouse or keyboard.
Voice Control in macOS Catalina lets you control your Mac with just your voice, eliminating the need to open and close apps or issue commands manually. It uses the same voice recognition technology as Siri, but processes everything on-device for a faster and more efficient experience.
Voice commands and dictation are now available on macOS, offering users greater flexibility regardless of their operating system version.
How to Start using voice control on your Mac
Learn how to use voice commands to control your Mac with macOS Catalina.
To enable Voice Control, open the menu, select System > Preferences and choose Accessibility.
To enable voice control, click the Voice control option in the sidebar.
Activate Voice Control by clicking the “Enable” button. If it’s your first time, you’ll need to download a language-specific file from Apple. Once enabled, a microphone icon will appear on the screen, indicating that Voice Control is ready to use.
Voice Control can be paused by clicking Suspend or saying “Go to sleep”. To resume, simply click or say “Wake up”.
How to Use voice control on your Mac
Mac users can now control their applications with their voice, from email clients to word processing dictation and messaging apps.
To get acquainted with Voice Control commands, users can click on the menu, select System Preferences, then Accessibility and Voice Control. Alternatively, they can simply say “Show commands” to view the list of available commands.
You can enable a sound to play when Voice Control recognizes a command, allowing you to check if it heard what you said correctly. To do this, go to the Voice Control preferences.
You can create custom commands for your convenience by clicking the “+” button at the bottom left of the screen.
Types of commands you can use with voice control on your Mac
Basic navigation commands
Voice Control enables users to navigate their device with simple commands. For instance, you can say “Open Pages” followed by “Click New Document” to open a new document, and then “Save Document” to save it. Voice Control takes care of the rest.
You can use your voice to activate Dark Mode, restart your Mac, or compose a new message in Mail.
Number overlays
Voice Control on Macs now allows users to interact with checkboxes, menus and buttons on their screens quickly and easily. Just say “Show numbers” to enable number overlays, then say the corresponding number to click it.
With just a few simple commands, users can now quickly and easily navigate web pages and other complex interfaces. For instance, in a web browser, you can simply say “Search for Guidingtech” followed by “Show numbers” and then click the number one result.
Voice Control can help you differentiate between items with similar names by displaying numbers in menus.
Grid Overlays
Voice Control now allows users to interact with parts of their Mac’s screen that are not clickable or recognized by Voice Control. To do so, simply say “Show grid” and select the desired number from the numbered grid that appears.
Users can quickly and easily conceal the numbers and grid in a game of Sudoku by simply saying “Hide numbers” or “Hide grid”.
Saying
Voice Control now allows you to quickly and easily convert spoken words into text, enabling you to type messages, emails and more without having to manually enter each character. You can also use commands to add punctuation marks, emojis, symbols and edit text.
Voice Control enables users to move between commands and dictation with ease, understanding contextual cues. For instance, you can dictate a message in the Messages app and submit it with one command: “I’m coming. Click Submit.”
Final note
If you have any questions about using voice control on Mac, our guide has the answers. Show your support by sharing it with your friends.
