Short answer: Google Docs voice typing supports voice commands in US English only and only when voice typing is active. Commands cover punctuation, selection, formatting, editing, navigation, lists, tables, and document help — say the command exactly and pause briefly before and after it.
Google Docs voice typing has more commands than most people realise. Used well, you can write, format, edit, and navigate a document without touching the keyboard. Used badly, the commands fight you — get the phrasing slightly wrong and the words end up typed into the document instead of executed. This is the complete reference: every voice command, grouped by what it does, with the exact phrasing and what it does.
Important constraints
Before the list, a few things that will save you time:
- US English only. Voice commands work only when voice typing is set to English (United States). Other English variants and other languages disable the commands entirely — only punctuation and dictation work.
- Google Docs only. These commands work in Google Docs documents. They do not work in Google Slides voice typing for speaker notes (which has a smaller, different set), and they do not work anywhere outside Docs.
- Pause around the command. Google's parser distinguishes commands from dictation by pauses. Pause briefly before saying the command and briefly after. If you say "select word" inside a flowing sentence, it gets typed.
- Chrome only. Voice typing itself is Chrome-only, so commands are too.
Punctuation commands
These insert punctuation marks at the cursor and work in any supported language (not just US English).
| Say | Inserts |
|---|---|
| period | . |
| comma | , |
| question mark | ? |
| exclamation point | ! |
| colon | : |
| semicolon | ; |
| apostrophe | ' |
| quotation mark / open quote / close quote | " |
| hyphen | - |
| dash / en dash | – |
| em dash | — |
| ellipsis / dot dot dot | … |
| asterisk | * |
| ampersand | & |
| at sign / at symbol | @ |
| hash sign / pound sign | # |
| percent sign | % |
| dollar sign | $ |
| open parenthesis | ( |
| close parenthesis | ) |
| open bracket | [ |
| close bracket | ] |
| slash / forward slash | / |
| backslash | \ |
Line and paragraph commands
| Say | What it does |
|---|---|
| new line | Inserts a line break (Shift+Enter equivalent) |
| new paragraph | Starts a new paragraph (Enter) |
| space | Inserts a space (rarely needed; spaces happen automatically between words) |
| tab key | Inserts a tab |
Selection commands
| Say | What it does |
|---|---|
| select [word or phrase] | Selects the literal word or phrase |
| select all | Selects the whole document |
| select none / unselect | Clears the current selection |
| select word | Selects the word at the cursor |
| select next word | Extends selection to the next word |
| select last word | Selects the previous word |
| select next [number] words | Selects forward by that many words |
| select last [number] words | Selects backward by that many words |
| select line | Selects the current line |
| select next line / select last line | Extends selection by one line |
| select paragraph | Selects the current paragraph |
| select next paragraph / select last paragraph | Extends selection by one paragraph |
| select next character / select last character | Selects the next or previous character |
| select from [word] to [word] | Selects an arbitrary range between two anchor words |
Formatting commands
| Say | What it does |
|---|---|
| bold / apply bold | Bold the selection |
| italics / italicize / apply italic | Italic the selection |
| underline | Underline the selection |
| strikethrough | Strikethrough the selection |
| superscript | Superscript the selection |
| subscript | Subscript the selection |
| capitalize [word] | Capitalize the first letter of the word |
| capitalize next word | Capitalize the next word as you dictate it |
| all caps [word] | Uppercase every letter of the word |
| all caps next word | Uppercase the next word entirely |
| uppercase / lowercase | Change selection case |
| text color [color] | Change selection color (e.g., "text color red") |
| highlight / highlight [color] | Highlight selection in a given color |
| font size [number] | Set font size in points |
| increase font size / decrease font size | One step bigger or smaller |
| heading 1 / heading 2 / heading 3 ... heading 6 | Apply heading style |
| normal text / title / subtitle | Apply paragraph style |
| align left / align center / align right / align justified | Paragraph alignment |
| line spacing [single | double | 1.5] | Change line spacing |
| indent / decrease indent | Indent control |
| clear formatting / remove formatting | Strip styles from the selection |
Editing commands
| Say | What it does |
|---|---|
| delete / delete last word | Delete the previous word |
| delete [word or phrase] | Delete the next occurrence of that word or phrase |
| delete last [number] words | Delete the last N words |
| delete line / delete paragraph | Delete the current line or paragraph |
| copy / cut / paste | Standard clipboard actions on the current selection |
| undo | Undo last change |
| redo | Redo last undone change |
| insert link to [URL] | Wrap selection as a hyperlink |
| copy link / delete link | Manipulate the link at the cursor |
| insert table of contents | Insert a TOC at the cursor |
| insert bookmark | Insert a bookmark at the cursor |
| insert equation | Insert an equation block |
| insert footer / insert header | Add document footer or header |
| insert footnote | Insert a footnote |
| insert horizontal line | Insert a horizontal rule |
| insert page break | Force a new page |
| insert comment | Add a comment to the selection |
List commands
| Say | What it does |
|---|---|
| create bulleted list / insert bullet | Start a bullet list |
| create numbered list / insert number | Start a numbered list |
| new line | Add another list item (inside a list) |
| indent / decrease indent | Nest or unnest a list item |
Table commands
| Say | What it does |
|---|---|
| insert table | Insert a default 1x1 table |
| insert table [rows] rows by [columns] columns | Insert a sized table (max 20 by 20) |
| insert row above / insert row below | Add a table row |
| insert column left / insert column right | Add a table column |
| delete row / delete column | Remove the current row or column |
| delete table | Remove the entire table |
| exit table | Move the cursor out of the table |
Navigation commands
| Say | What it does |
|---|---|
| go to [or move to] start of document / end of document | Jump cursor to the start or end of the doc |
| go to start of line / end of line | Jump within the current line |
| go to start of paragraph / end of paragraph | Jump within the current paragraph |
| go to next [word] | Jump cursor to the next instance of a specific word |
| go to previous [word] | Jump cursor to the previous instance of a word |
| go to next character / previous character | Step cursor one character |
| go to next word / previous word | Step cursor one word |
| go to next line / previous line | Step cursor one line |
| go to next paragraph / previous paragraph | Step cursor one paragraph |
| go to next heading / previous heading | Jump between section headings |
| go to next misspelling / previous misspelling | Walk through spell-check flags |
Voice typing control commands
| Say | What it does |
|---|---|
| resume / resume with [word] | Resume dictation after a pause; the optional word anchors the cursor |
| stop listening | Stop voice typing entirely |
| pause | Temporarily pause dictation |
| voice typing on / voice typing off | Toggle voice typing |
Help commands
| Say | What it does |
|---|---|
| voice commands help | Opens the voice commands help panel |
| voice typing help | Opens the voice typing help page |
Tricks worth knowing
- Anchor with "resume with." If voice typing has paused and your cursor is somewhere odd, say "resume with [a word from the document]" to teleport the cursor to that word and start dictating there.
- Chained selection. "Select last paragraph" followed by "bold" lets you format without taking your hands off the desk. Pair it with "go to end of document" to navigate back.
- Headings before lists. Saying "heading 2" applies the style to the current paragraph but does not give you a new line. Say "heading 2," then "new paragraph," then start typing the body.
- Color names matter. "Text color red" works; "text color crimson" does not. Stick to the basic color names — red, blue, green, yellow, orange, purple, black, white, gray.
- Capitalize next word vs all caps next word. The former does one letter; the latter does the whole word. Useful for shouting acronyms like "NASA."
What the commands cannot do
Even with all of the above, there are real gaps:
- No "replace [X] with [Y]" — you have to select the word and re-dictate.
- No find-and-replace by voice.
- No comment thread navigation by voice.
- No "scroll up" or "scroll down" by voice.
- No way to teach the system custom commands or shortcuts.
- No way to use these commands in any other Google product or outside Google Docs.
When command memorisation stops being worth it
The voice commands are powerful, but learning them is a real time investment. Most heavy users find they remember a dozen and reach for the keyboard for everything else. That is the honest ceiling of the design: a small set of commands you can rely on, and a hand back on the keyboard for anything precise.
If your goal is to dictate cleanly and let the software handle the cleanup — without having to remember dozens of command phrasings — a different category of tool is probably what you want. Modern dictation apps add a post-processing step that fixes capitalisation, punctuation, filler words, and run-on sentences automatically, so the "format by voice" overhead largely disappears.
Voice Keyboard Pro is built around this idea. You dictate naturally — no need to remember command names — and Smart Rewrite cleans the output into clean prose. The hold-to-talk model means dictation stays on as long as you keep the hotkey down, with no thirty-second cutoff. It is a macOS menu bar app and an iOS keyboard, so it works system-wide, not only inside Google Docs.
It also includes the things Google's command set cannot give you:
- Voice Profile that learns your voice and improves accuracy over time.
- Custom Vocabulary for names, acronyms, and jargon.
- Voice Isolation for dictating in noisy environments.
- Whisper-class AI transcription as default, Apple Speech for offline mode.
On privacy, the server stores only operational pings; no audio and no transcript content are kept. There is an offline Apple Speech mode for sensitive work.
Google's voice commands are a closed vocabulary you have to memorise. A modern dictation app handles cleanup automatically so you can talk like a human.
Free tier with daily limits, Pro at $4.99 per month or $34.99 per year. Bookmark this command reference for when you are inside Google Docs — and try a dedicated dictation app for everything else.