Voice Control for MacOS

Voice Control for iOS is a voice control system that can be found in MacOS 10.15 and greater.

There are 2 types of overlays that you can turn on.

• "show numbers" will turn on an overlay that displays a number for every element on the page. This is helpful when an element is missing a name, or if the user does not know how to pronounce a name.
• "show grid" will turn on an overlay that displays a numbered grid over the screen that allows the user to interact with parts of the screen that don't have names or numbers. For example, a user can zoom in on grid a grid number until it is large enough to cover an incorrectly coded icon button without a name or role, then pan the screen so that the number is over the button, and then say "tap <number>" to activate the button.

Differences between voice control software

Because Voice Control only supports names and not roles, all expectations for roles are marked as "not applicable".

Install

Voice Control is built in to MacOS and you can enable it from System Preferences.

How to find your version

1. Open "About this mac"
   • Use search
     1. Press command+space bar to open search
     2. Type "About this mac"
     3. Click "About this mac"
   • OR click the apple icon in the top left corner of the desktop and select "about this mac"
2. Use the version number listed on the dialog

Guides, Documentation, and resources

• Apple documentation

Commands

The following are some common commands.

General

Task	Command	Notes
Activate item by name	"Click <text>"	If there are multiple choices with the same text, they will be labeled by numbers. Say "Choose <number>" to finish.
Activate item by number	"Choose <number>"
Turn on the numbers overlay	"Show numbers"
Hide the numbers overlay	"Hide numbers"
Turn on the grid overlay	"Show grid"
Hide the grid overlay	"Hide grid"
Show hints	Show hints	See command suggestions and hints