Dictate voice commands in Office - the full, searchable list
Here’s the full and searchable list of Word 365 Dictation special phrases, in English. Saying any of these phrases converts the words spoken into the symbol or does a Word command.
For example, say “Full Stop” and . appears in the document. Say “Dollar sign” and get $ .
Say ‘Align Center’ and the current paragraph is centered. Say ‘Indent’ to indent the paragraph or ‘Decrease Indent’ to reduce indentation.
Say “New Paragraph” or “New Line” and Word will create a new paragraph.
The list includes punctuation, general symbols, maths symbols, currency signs and text emoji plus all the voice commands.
Turn talk into text in Word 365 for Windows
Read Aloud in Word for Mac
Dictation and Read Aloud in Office
Discover all about Dictation and Read Aloud features in Microsoft Office across all platforms (Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android).
Dictation command list
- Use the Search box at right to find symbols by name.
- Find commands by name, Undo, Delete, List etc.
- Voice commands by type: formatting, editing, list, comment or dictation.
- Click column headings to sort.
| Say this ... | Get this ... | Type | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Period Full stop | . | Punctuation | |
| Comma | , | Punctuation | |
| Question mark | ? | Punctuation | |
| Exclamation Mark Exclamation Point | ! | Punctuation | |
| New line New Paragraph | New line (Enter) | Punctuation / Command | |
| Apostrophe S | 's | Punctuation | adds 's after the last word. Saying "Peter apostrophe s" types Peter's |
| Colon | : | Punctuation | |
| Semicolon | ; | Punctuation | |
| Open quotes | " | Punctuation | |
| Close quotes | " | Punctuation | |
| Hyphen | - | Punctuation | |
| Underscore | __ | Punctuation | |
| M-dash | — | Punctuation | Em dash |
| N-dash | – | Punctuation | En dash |
| Begin single quote Open single quote | ' | Punctuation | |
| End single quote Close single quote | ' | Punctuation | |
| Backquote Backtick | ` | Punctuation | |
| Left parentheses Open parentheses | ( | Punctuation | For some English speakers, the brackets/parentheses commands might take some getting used to. In Australia, for one, 'parentheses' is rarely used in favour of the term 'brackets' You'll have to adjust your vocabulary to fit Microsoft's definitions. |
| Right parentheses Close parentheses | ) | Punctuation | |
| Left bracket Open bracket | [ | Punctuation | |
| Right bracket Close bracket | ] | Punctuation | |
| Left brace Open brace | { | Punctuation | |
| Right brace Close brace | } | Punctuation | |
| Asterisk | * | Punctuation | |
| Backslash | \ | Punctuation | |
| Forward slash | / | Punctuation | |
| Vertical bar sign Pipe character | | | Punctuation | |
| Paragraph sign Paragraph mark | ¶ | Punctuation | |
| Section sign | § | Punctuation | |
| Ampersand And sign | & | Punctuation | |
| At sign | @ | Punctuation | |
| Copyright sign | © | Punctuation | |
| Registered sign | ® | Punctuation | |
| Caret symbol | ^ | Symbol | |
| Ellipsis dot dot dot | ... | Punctuation | NOT a real ellipsis, just three dots in a row (similar but not the same). |
| Degree sign | ° | Symbol | |
| Percent sign | % | Symbol | |
| Number sign Pound sign | # | Symbol | |
| Plus sign | + | Mathematics | |
| Minus Sign | - | Mathematics | |
| Multiplication sign | x | Mathematics | |
| Plus or minus sign | ± | Mathematics | |
| Division sign | ÷ | Mathematics | |
| Equal sign | = | Mathematics | |
| Less than sign Left angle bracket | < | Mathematics | |
| Greater than sign Right angle bracket | > | Mathematics | |
| Dollar sign | $ | Currency Symbol | |
| Pound sterling sign | £ | Currency Symbol | |
| Euro sign | € | Currency Symbol | |
| Yen sign | ¥ | Currency Symbol | |
| Smiley face | : - ) | Emoji | Remains as text, not converted to full emoji |
| Frowny face | : - ( | Emoji | Remains as text, not converted to full emoji |
| Winky face | ; - ) | Emoji | Remains as text, not converted to full emoji |
| Heart emoji | <3 | Emoji | Remains as text, not converted to full emoji |
| Undo | Editing Command | ||
| Delete | Editing Command | 'Delete' alone removes the last word, punctuation or symbol at the cursor. |
|
| Delete that | Editing Command | Removes the last spoken phrase | |
| Delete last n words | Editing Command | Remove the last n words back from the current cursor. n can be from 1 to 100 words. |
|
| Delete last n sentences | Editing Command | Remove the last n sentences back from the current cursor. n can be from 1 to 100 sentences. |
|
| Delete " " (word or phrase) | Editing Command | Deletes the spoken word or phrase from recently spoken text. | |
| Insert Space | Punctuation / Editing Command | Add a normal (breaking) space | |
| Backspace | Editing Command | Deletes last word | |
| Backspace n | Editing Command | Deletes the last n characters. | |
| Bold | Formatting Command | ||
| Italics | Formatting Command | ||
| Underline | Formatting Command | ||
| Strikethrough | Formatting Command | ||
| <format*> [word or phrase] | Formatting Command | ||
| Superscript | Formatting Command | ||
| Subscript | Formatting Command | ||
| Indent | Formatting Command | ||
| Decrease Indent | Formatting Command | ||
| Clear all formatting | Formatting Command | ||
| Align Left | Formatting Command | ||
| Align Right | Formatting Command | ||
| Align Center / Centre | Formatting Command | ||
| Start List | List Command | commence a bulleted, unnumbered list. | |
| Start Numbered List | List Command | commence a numbered list. | |
| Next Line | List Command | Add a new point / number to the list. | |
| Exit List | List Command | Return to normal, non-list text. | |
| Add Comment | Comment Command | Inserts a comment at the cursor, ready for typing | |
| Add Comment .... | Comment Command | Inserts a comment with the words spoken immediately after the two command words. |
|
| Show Help | Dictation Command | Display help pane open at Dictation items | |
| Pause Dictation | Dictation Command | Pauses dictation / microphone. To resume click the microphone icon or use the shortcut Alt + ` (grave accent sign, often below the ~ at top left of a US keyboard). |
|
| Exit Dictation | Dictation Command | Same as clicking the microphone icon. |
Turn talk into text in Word 365 for Windows
Read Aloud in Word for Mac
Dictation and Read Aloud in Office