StarkyThe Mac voice command cheat sheet
The commands worth knowing, grouped by what you are trying to do. Every one of these was checked against a real installed command set rather than written from memory.
How to use this page
- Do not try to learn it all. Take the first table, use it for a week, come back.
- These are Talon community set commands, the set most people run and the one Starky ships with. Apple's built-in Voice Control uses different wording for the same ideas.
- A vertical bar means either word works.
go line end | tailmeans you can say either. - Angle brackets mean you supply something.
focus <app>means say the name of a running application.
Every command below was read out of a real installed command set rather than recalled, because the obvious guess is wrong surprisingly often. It is go page down, not page down. It is clear line, not delete line. Getting these right is the difference between a system that feels responsive and one that feels broken.
Start and stop listening
Learn these before anything else. Knowing you can silence the system instantly is what makes everything else safe to try.
| Say this | What happens |
|---|---|
go to sleep | Stops listening for commands. The single most important one on this page. |
wake up | Starts listening again. Say it twice if once does not land. |
talon sleep | Another way to the same place, useful if go to sleep misfires for your voice. |
sleep all | Puts everything to sleep, including any noise controls. |
Moving around
The commands you will say most often, by a wide margin. Worth being fluent in these before learning anything clever.
| Say this | What happens |
|---|---|
scroll down / scroll up | Move down or up the page. |
go page down / go page up | A full screen at a time. |
go top / go bottom | Jump to the start or end of the document. |
go line start / head | Cursor to the beginning of the line. |
go line end / tail | Cursor to the end of the line. |
line mid | Cursor to the middle of the line. |
go way left / go way right | To the far edge of the line. |
go way up / go way down | To the start or end of the file. |
find it | Open the find bar. |
next one | Jump to the next match. |
Writing
Dictation is a mode. In it, what you say is typed rather than obeyed. The commands below are the ones that matter around the edges of writing.
| Say this | What happens |
|---|---|
phrase <your words> | Types your words literally, even if they are also a command. The escape hatch worth knowing on day one. |
new line below / slap | Start a new line underneath. |
new line above | Start a new line above the current one. |
padding | Insert a space. |
indent more / indent less | Change indentation. out dent also works for less. |
phrase first. It is the voice equivalent of putting something in quotation marks, and it turns the most common frustration of week one into a non-event.
Selecting, copying and fixing
This family is built from two vocabularies that combine, which is why it is larger than it looks. An action, then a thing to act on.
Actions: select, copy, cut, paste, clear, go before, go after.
Things: all, line, word, paragraph, line start, line end, file start, file end.
Which gives you, among many others:
| Say this | What happens |
|---|---|
select all | Select the whole document. |
select line | Select the current line. |
select word | Select the word at the cursor. |
clear line | Delete the current line. |
clear word | Delete the word at the cursor. |
copy line | Copy the current line. |
copy that / cut that | Copy or cut what is selected. |
paste that | Paste. pace that works too, because paste and pace sound alike. |
undo that | Undo. The one you will use most. |
redo that | Redo. |
clone line | Duplicate the current line. |
file save | Save. |
Learning the two vocabularies rather than the twenty phrases is the trick. Once you have them, you can construct commands you have never said before and they work, which is the moment the whole system starts to feel less like a list and more like a language.
Clicking without a mouse
Two mechanisms, good at different things.
A grid divides the screen into numbered squares. Say a number to zoom into that square, then a number again to narrow further, until you are on the thing you want. It works absolutely anywhere, including apps that expose nothing useful.
| Say this | What happens |
|---|---|
mouse grid | Show the numbered grid over the screen. |
grid <number> | Zoom into that square. Repeat to narrow. |
grid reset | Back to the full grid. |
grid close | Hide it. |
touch | Left click. |
righty | Right click. |
control mouse | Toggle hands-free pointer control. |
Labelled hints put a small label on every clickable thing in a web page, so you can name the one you want directly. This is much faster than a grid when it is available, which in practice means in a browser.
| Say this | What happens |
|---|---|
click <label> | Click the labelled element. |
hint more / hint less | Show more or fewer labels. |
hint bigger / hint smaller | Change the label size, useful if they are hard to read. |
Apps and windows
| Say this | What happens |
|---|---|
focus <app> | Switch to a running application by name. |
launch <app> | Open an application. |
open <website> | Open a site you have a name for. |
snap <position> | Move the window, for example to the left half of the screen. |
snap last | Put it back where it was. |
full screen | Toggle full screen. |
zoom in / zoom out / zoom reset | Change the zoom level. |
The six to learn first
If you take nothing else from this page:
go to sleepandwake up, so you are always in control.scroll downandscroll up, which is most of reading.undo that, which makes everything else safe to attempt.phrase, for when it will not stop obeying you.
Everything else can wait until the day you need it, and that is genuinely the right way to learn this.
Common questions
Are these the same as Apple's Voice Control commands?
No. This page covers the Talon community set, which is what most serious voice control users run and what Starky ships with. Apple's built-in system has its own wording for many of the same ideas, and you can see its full list in System Settings under Accessibility.
What if a command does not work for my voice?
Rename it. This is normal and it is not a failure on your part. Some phrases simply do not land reliably for some people, and a command you cannot say is worse than no command at all. Any decent tool makes renaming easy.
How do I find commands that are not on this page?
There are thousands, and this page is deliberately the small useful slice. Searching them is the skill worth building rather than memorising more.
Can I add my own?
Yes, and most people do within the first week, usually for a phrase they say constantly or a name the system keeps mishearing.
