New features now available in preview builds of the OS

Jan 19, 2022 22:18 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft’s latest preview build for Windows 11 insiders includes welcome voice access improvements that make this feature easier to use, especially with a touch keyboard.

This is because the company has added numbered tear drops over all keys of the touch keyboard, therefore allowing users to perform a series of operations easier.

For example, you can now turn to the touch keyboard for things like spelling words, entering numbers, punctuation marks and symbols, as well as emoji. To show and hide the touch keyboard it’s enough to just say “show keyboard” or “hide keyboard,” while the typing thing is possible with a command like “click number.”

For the time being, however, the commands that are available for voice access with a touch keyboard are still limited.

For example, in addition to the ones mentioned above, users can only use voice access on and off commands, such as “turn off voice access.”

Still in the works

The new voice access feature is a work in progress on Windows 11, with Microsoft polishing the overall experience with the release of new preview builds.

“Voice access is a new experience that enables everyone, including people with mobility disabilities, to control their PC and author text using their voice,” Microsoft explains.

“For example, voice access supports scenarios like opening and switching between apps, browsing the web, and reading and authoring mail. Voice access leverages modern, on-device speech recognition to accurately recognize speech and is supported without an internet connection. Voice access supports English-U.S. language only, so the Windows display language should be set to English-U.S., otherwise voice access may not work as expected.

At this point, there’s no ETA as to when voice access could go live for production devices, but this could happen with the release of the first Windows 11 feature update in the summer.