9.1 Fast Letter Typing (Keyboard / Shift)

You can simulate keystrokes with simple voice commands. This is the fastest way to type letters when you do not want dictation.

Key tap confirmation sounds

When Speaking Access presses a key for you, it plays a short key-tap sound to confirm it heard you and executed the command. For single keys you will hear one quick tap. For multi-press commands (example: “Enter Key Three Times”) you will hear multiple taps.

Lowercase letters

To type a lowercase letter where the cursor is, say “Keyboard” followed by the letter.
Examples: “Keyboard A”, “Keyboard B”, “Keyboard C”.

These commands type the letter directly (no extra space after it).

Uppercase letters

To type an uppercase letter, say “Shift” followed by the letter.
Example: “Shift R” types an uppercase R.

If a letter is hard to get

Once in a while a letter can be tricky. If that happens, you can start the command with a word that begins with the letter you want.

For lowercase letters: say “Keyboard” plus a word that starts with the letter.
Example: “Keyboard Cat” types a lowercase c.

For uppercase letters: say “Shift” plus a word that starts with the letter.
Example: “Shift Robot” types an uppercase R.

9.2 What the Voice Keyboard Does

The Voice Keyboard lets you type and press keys using voice commands. It can:

• Type letters and numbers where the cursor is
• Press control keys (Enter Key, Escape Key, Backspace Key, Delete Key, Space Bar, etc.)
• Move with arrow keys and navigation keys
• Press function keys (F1 to F16)
• Type symbols and punctuation (like @, #, ?, and .)
• Tap certain keys multiple times (example: Enter Key three times)

This is most useful for short edits, login fields, passwords, email addresses, forms, and anywhere dictation is not the best tool.

9.3 Control and Navigation Keys

Control Keys (editing and basic actions)

These are your everyday editing keys:

• Enter Key moves the cursor to the next line
• Backspace Key deletes the character to the left
• Delete Key deletes the character to the right
• Escape Key gets you out of many open windows
• Space Bar inserts a space

Navigation Keys (moving around)

These move the cursor without touching the keyboard:

• Up Key, Down Key, Left Key, Right Key moves one step at a time
• Beginning of the line taps the Home Key and moves to the start of the current line
• End of the line taps the End Key and moves to the end of the current line
• Beginning of the document goes to the top of the document
• End of the document goes to the bottom of the document
• Page Up Key / Page Down Key scrolls by page
• Next Key (Tab) moves forward through fields and buttons
• Previous Key (Shift + Tab) moves backward through fields and buttons

9.4 Using Function Keys

Function Keys are available through the Voice Keyboard menu and are grouped into simple pages so they are easy to find.

How to open the Function Keys list

Just say: “Function Keys”

You will see and hear: Function Keys Page One, Function Keys Page Two, and Function Keys Page Three.

Each page contains a short list. For example, Page One shows F1 Key through F7 Key. When you choose one, Speaking Access taps that function key for you.

Examples

• F1 Key is commonly used for Help in many programs
• F5 Key is often used to Refresh in web browsers
• F11 Key often toggles Full Screen in browsers

Tip: If you are not sure what a function key does in a program, try F1 Key first, or ask a teacher which function key is needed for that specific task.

9.5 Symbols, Punctuation, and Multi-Press

Symbols and punctuation

These commands let you type punctuation and symbols without trying to remember keyboard positions like “Shift + 1” or “the fourth key on the number row.”

Just start with the word “Print”, then say what you want.
Examples: “Print Period”, “Print Comma”, “Print Colon”, “Print Question Mark”, “Print At Sign”, “Print Underscore”.

This works for most of the punctuation and symbols you would normally type on a keyboard.

Pressing keys multiple times

Some keys can be tapped repeatedly by voice. This is a fast way to fix small mistakes without re-dictating.

• Enter Key Three Times inserts three new lines
• Backspace Key Five Times deletes five characters
• Space Bar Three Times inserts three spaces
• Down Key Ten Times moves down ten steps
• Windows Undo Three Times undoes three actions

9.6 Note to Teachers

When teaching the Voice Keyboard, start with only the essentials: letters (Keyboard / Shift), Enter Key, Backspace Key, Beginning of the line / End of the line, and a couple of symbols like At Sign and Period for email addresses. Once the student is comfortable, introduce navigation keys, function keys, and multi-press commands.

When demonstrating commands beside a student, say the command inside a short sentence to reduce accidental activations.