May 30, 2026Guide
Mac Voice Commands Cheatsheet: The Ones That Actually Work
A reference of voice commands that work on macOS today with Jarvis, grouped by what you are trying to do, with what each one needs. Short on purpose — every line here is one that works.
By Akshay Aggarwal · Updated July 27, 2026 · 6 min read
Hold Fn, say the phrase, release. That is the whole interface. The tables below are grouped by what you are trying to do, and the third column tells you whether a command works on a fresh install or needs something set up first.
Dictation and editing by voice#
These need nothing beyond the two install-time permissions. Punctuation works either way: speak it naturally, or say it out loud.
| Say this | What happens |
|---|---|
| "Hey Sarah comma I shipped the fix period" | Types Hey Sarah, I shipped the fix. |
| "New line" | Drops to the next line |
| "New paragraph" | Drops down two lines |
| "Scratch that" | Deletes the last thing you said |
| "Capitalize that" | Fixes the casing of the last phrase |
App control#
| Say this | What happens | Needs |
|---|---|---|
| "Open Safari" | Launches the app | Nothing extra |
| "Switch to Slack" | Brings it to the front | Nothing extra |
| "Quit Mail" | Quits the app | Nothing extra |
| "Open Cursor and switch to Slack" | Launches Cursor, then fronts Slack | Nothing extra |
| "Open Spotify and play my focus playlist" | Launches Spotify and starts playback | Spotify connected for playback; opening works out of the box |
Browser#
| Say this | What happens | Needs |
|---|---|---|
| "Open jarvis.ceo in a new tab" | Opens the URL in a new tab | Nothing extra |
| "Search YouTube for Apple Silicon benchmarks" | Opens YouTube and runs the search | Nothing extra |
| "Reload the page" | Reloads the front tab | Accessibility |
| "Close all tabs except this one" | Closes the rest | Accessibility |
| "Bookmark this" | Bookmarks the current page | Accessibility |
Mail and messaging#
| Say this | What happens | Needs |
|---|---|---|
| "Send a message to Sarah saying I'm running five minutes late" | Composes and sends it in Messages | Accessibility |
| "Reply: thanks, will look at this tomorrow" | Dictates a reply into the open message | Accessibility |
| "Go through my inbox and tell me what actually needs a reply from me" | Returns a triaged checklist | Gmail or Outlook connected (early access) |
| "Summarize this thread and pull out the action items" | Summarizes it; any reply it writes is a draft you approve, never auto-sent | Gmail or Outlook connected (early access) |
| "Switch to the design channel" | Jumps to that Slack channel | Slack connected (early access) |
| "Send: shipping the fix in 10" | Posts to the current channel | Slack connected (early access) |
System#
| Say this | What happens | Needs |
|---|---|---|
| "Take a screenshot of this window" | Captures the front window | Nothing extra |
| "Lock my screen" | Locks the Mac | Nothing extra |
| "Set volume to 30 percent" | Sets output volume | Nothing extra |
| "Toggle dark mode" | Switches appearance | Nothing extra |
| "What's on my screen?" | Reads the screen and answers | Screen Recording, asked at point of use |
| "What's on my calendar tomorrow?" | Reads your calendar | Calendar, asked at point of use |
Coding#
| Say this | What happens | Needs |
|---|---|---|
| "Open the file App.tsx" | Opens it in your editor | Accessibility |
| "Find all references to handleSubmit" | Runs the search | Accessibility |
| "Rename this variable to userId" | Renames it | Accessibility |
| "Save and run tests" | Saves, then runs the test command | Accessibility |
| "Review the changes on my current branch and flag anything risky" | Delegates to a coding agent and returns a diff | Early access |
Multi-step chains#
Anything needing more than one step gets a short numbered plan first, so you can see what is about to happen before it happens. These are in early access.
| Say this | What happens |
|---|---|
| "Go through my last 50 emails and list everyone still waiting on a reply from me" | Plans it, reads the inbox, returns the list |
| "Open Notion, find this week's standup, and dictate: shipped the prerender pipeline today" | Runs the chain in sequence |
| "Every weekday at 7am, triage my inbox and draft replies to anything that needs one" | Saves it as a routine and runs it on schedule |
| "Remember that Sarah is my designer and she prefers Figma over Sketch" | Stored in local memory and used next time Sarah comes up |
Hotkeys#
| Key | Does |
|---|---|
| Fn (hold) | Push to talk — release to send |
| Fn, Fn (double-tap) | Toggle hands-free mode |
| Escape | Cancel the current capture |
The trigger key can be changed to Option or Control, or to a combo like Control
- Shift + J that toggles on and off.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to memorise these exactly?
No. Jarvis takes natural language, so the phrasing above is an example rather than a grammar. If a command misses, rephrase it the way you would say it to a colleague.
Which commands work on a fresh install?
Dictation and edit-by-voice, opening apps, files and websites. Typing or clicking inside other apps needs Accessibility permission, which you grant at install. Screen and calendar questions ask for their permission the first time you use them.
Why do some commands need a connection?
Anything that reaches into a service you own — Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Notion, Spotify — needs that account connected once so Jarvis can act there on your behalf. Connections are opt-in and in early access.
Can I change the push-to-talk key?
Yes. The default is holding Fn. It can be set to Option or Control instead, or to a toggle combo like Control + Shift + J. Double-tapping the hold key turns on hands-free mode, and Escape cancels a capture.
Does this work offline?
Dictation does — the speech model runs on your Mac, which is also why there is no network delay between speaking and seeing text. Commands that reach a connected service obviously need that service reachable.
Try it on your own Mac
Jarvis is free and runs on-device. Apple silicon and Intel.
Download JarvisKeep reading
- GuideMac Dictation Not Working? Fix It by SymptomThe causes of broken Mac dictation, ordered by how often they are actually the problem — plus the one behaviour that is documented, deliberate, and cannot be turned off.
- GuideBest Dictation App for MacA ranked list of Mac dictation apps, with what each one loses on. We make Jarvis and it is not first here — the polished paid products are better at the narrow job of turning speech into clean text.
- GuideVoice to Text on Mac: A Practical GuideHow to set up dictation on a Mac in about ten minutes, what the built-in option really does in 2026, when a third-party app is worth it, and the handful of things that actually decide whether accuracy is good.