What voice commands do
A voice command is a word or a short phrase that VoiceKeyboard does not type. A sign goes in instead (comma, period, question mark, quotes, brackets), or a key is pressed (new line, new paragraph, Send). Commands work with every recognition engine.
Say “thanks comma see you new line” and the app types “Thanks, see you”, then breaks the line.
Switch them on
- Open SETUP and go to the Commands page.
- Tick On at the top right of the “Voice commands” plate. It is off on a new install.
- Dictate as usual. Changes apply at once.
Voice commands are part of Pro. On Free, ticking On opens the note “Voice commands are part of Pro.” and the switch goes back off. If Pro ends, the commands stop working, and the switch shows off. See Free and Pro.
Which language's commands work
Built-in commands come for English, Russian, Spanish, Japanese and Hindi. The ones that work are those of your dictation language, the lit key in the LANGUAGES row. While you dictate in English, “comma” types a comma; the Spanish “coma” stays a word. With AUTO, the commands of every language in My languages work. A dictation language without built-in commands, German for example, gets only the commands you add yourself.
The list on the Commands page shows the built-in commands and your own. The selector above it, “Language of the built-in commands”, chooses whose built-in commands the list shows: it opens on your dictation language (or, when that language has no built-in commands, on the interface language, else English), and you can switch it to look at or set up another language's commands. It does not change which commands work while you dictate. The buttons All, Built-in and Mine filter the list.
Each row has its own switch, the words to say (other ways to say it in grey) and what goes in. These are the English commands:
| Say | What goes in |
|---|---|
| new line, next line | a line break (Shift+Enter) |
| new paragraph, next paragraph | an empty line (Shift+Enter twice) |
| comma | , |
| period, full stop | . |
| question mark | ? |
| exclamation mark, exclamation point | ! |
| colon | : |
| semicolon | ; (off until you switch it on) |
| open quote, begin quote / close quote, end quote, unquote | “ and ” |
| open bracket, open paren / close bracket, close paren | ( and ) |
| send message, press enter | Enter (off until you switch it on) |
| tab key, press tab | Tab (off until you switch it on) |
| delete last word, scratch word, delete word | erases the last word (off until you switch it on) |
Words are matched whole and without regard to capitals. When two commands overlap, the longer phrase wins. A command you switch off is typed as its words, whole: the shorter commands inside it do not take them.
Signs anywhere, keys only at the end
The Commands page puts the rule in one line: signs work anywhere in a phrase, keys only at its end. A phrase is what the engine finishes after you pause.
- Signs. “milk comma bread comma eggs period” types “Milk, bread, eggs.” A sign replaces the punctuation the engine may have put around the word, sticks to the word before it (an opening quote or bracket sticks to the word after it), and after a period, ? or ! the next word starts with a capital.
- Keys. “see you tomorrow new line” types “See you tomorrow” and breaks the line, with no period after it. “new line is ready” types “New line is ready.”, because the command is not at the end.
A key is pressed only when the phrase is final, never while the engine is still changing it, so a line break or Enter is not pressed by mistake and taken back. Until then the words that may become a key command at the end of the phrase are held back and not typed.
“Literally” cancels a command
Say “literally” right before a command and the command's words are typed instead: “say literally comma” types “Say comma.” It works before keys too: “literally new line” types the words “new line”.
The option is under “How it listens” on the Commands page and is on by default; the More link on that row opens this page. The escape words of the other languages work too, whatever you dictate in: буквально, literalmente, 文字通り, शब्दशः. With the option off, “literally” is typed as an ordinary word and the command after it still works. Before a command that is switched off, “literally” stays an ordinary word as well.
Keys only when said alone
This option, also under “How it listens”, is off by default. When it is on, a key command (new line, new paragraph, Send, Tab, delete word) works only when it is the whole phrase: pause, say “new line”, pause. “Hi new line” then types the words “Hi new line”; “new line” after a pause breaks the line. Signs are not affected.
Switch it on if your sentences sometimes end with words that are also a command. With it off, “the answer is on the next line” ends in a line break, because “next line” is a command at the end of the phrase.
New line does not send, Send does
New line and New paragraph press Shift+Enter (New paragraph presses it twice), so a chat does not send the message. Only the Send command presses Enter. It is off until you switch it on: in the list, find “send message” and flip the switch on its row. Then “send message” at the end of a phrase presses Enter.
Add your own commands
The row under the list adds one: what to say → the kind → what to insert → Add (Enter works too). The kinds are Text, New line, New paragraph, Send (Enter), Tab and Delete word. The “what to insert” box is used only for Text; the other kinds press their key.
- “my email” → Text →
anna@example.com - “signature” → Text → “Best regards, Anna”
Several ways to say the same thing go in one box, separated by commas: “my email, email address”. A command you add works in every dictation language: its row shows the ALL tag and “mine”, and it has its own switch and a ✕ to remove it. A text command works anywhere in a phrase, like a sign; a key kind works only at the end. If your phrase and a built-in one are the same length, yours wins.
Try it
Type a phrase the way you would say it, and the box below shows what gets typed: a capital at the start, a period at the end, keys as signs (↵ new line, ⏎ Enter, ⇥ Tab, ⌫ delete word).
In version 1.0.3 and later, Try it uses exactly the commands dictation uses: those of the dictation language, or with AUTO those of My languages and the dictation language. The selector above the list does not change it, and the sample phrase is in the dictation language. A note under the result says why a phrase may do nothing:
- Commands are off. The result is dimmed and shows what the commands would type, with the note “Commands are off — turn them on at the top to get this.”
- The words are another language's command. The note names the language whose commands work and its own word, for example “Commands of the dictation language (English) work now: say “comma”.” With AUTO it lists your languages; for a dictation language without built-in commands it says to add your own.
Before 1.0.3, Try it used the language chosen above the list and showed the result even with the commands off.
If a command does not work
- Nothing happens, the command is typed as words. Check that On is ticked at the top of the Commands page; that you are on Pro (on Free the switch does not stay on); that you dictate in the language of the command (Russian commands do not work while you dictate in English); and that the command's own switch in the list is on (semicolon, Send, Tab and delete word start off).
- You are not sure why. Type the phrase into Try it (version 1.0.3 and later). It uses the same commands as dictation, and the note under the result says whether the commands are off or the words belong to another language, and which word to say instead.
- A key comes out as words. You said it in the middle of a phrase (keys work only at the end), or “Keys only when said alone” is on and there was no pause before it.
- The word “comma” is typed and “literally” is gone. The engine heard an escape word right before the command. If that happens when you did not mean it, switch off “Literally” cancels a command.
The other SETUP pages are on SETUP: every setting in one place.