macformat.com @macformat DECEMBER 2019 | MACFORMAT | 41Voice Control APPLE SKILLS
HOW TO Enable and edit Voice Control
1
Open Accessibility
Voice Control is an accessibility feature,
so naturally you’ll find it in your Mac’s
Accessibility section. Go to System Preferences
> Accessibility. Scroll down to the Motor
section, and click on Voice Control.2
Download the files
When you click on the Enable Voice
Control checkbox, you may have to wait a
bit for your Mac to download the necessary
system files. The little microphone will appear
in its pop-up when it’s done.3
See what you can say
Click on Commands and you will see the
things that you can say to your Mac and what
those things will do. It’s a very long list that
covers everything from app control to moving
the pointer around.4
Expand your options
You’re not limited by the predefined
commands, as useful as they are. If you’ve
gone through the list and don’t see the feature
you want to use, you can add your own by
clicking on the ‘+’ symbol.5
Add your own
With Voice Control active each item in
a menu gets a number attached to it so you
can simply say its number to select it. From
the Accessibility pane, you can select an app
and create a new command for it.6
Choose the task
Once you’ve chosen an app or Any
Application, you can tell your Mac what to
do. Pick one of the options here or use Select
Menu to specify a particular menu item. You
can also run Automator workflows.Genius tip!
If you are or know a
Mac user who struggles
with small text, you can
supplement Voice
Control with display
tweaks and zooms
in Accessibility.Jargon buster
Dictation is when you
talk into something – in
this case, a microphone
in or connected to your
Mac – so your words can
be turned into text.