Create Start Speech Recognition Shortcut in Windows 10

Windows provides both a device-based speech recognition feature (available through the Windows Speech Recognition Desktop app), and a cloud-based speech recognition service in those markets and regions where Cortana is available. In addition to the context menu, you may want to create a shortcut to start Speech Recognition directly from the Desktop context menu.

Windows Speech Recognition lets you control your PC with your voice alone, without needing a keyboard or mouse. There's a special wizard to help you get started. You need to plug in your microphone, and then configure Windows Speech Recognition. Speech Recognition is a nice addition to the dictation feature of Windows 10.

Speech Recognition is only available for the following languages: English (United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India, and Australia), French, German, Japanese, Mandarin (Chinese Simplified and Chinese Traditional), and Spanish.

From our previous article, we have learned the command that is used to start the Speech Recognition app. The command looks as follows:

C:\WINDOWS\Speech\Common\sapisvr.exe -SpeechUX -Startup

We can use it to create a shortcut to start Speech Recognition directly with one click.

To create a Start Speech Recognition shortcut in Windows 10, do the following.

1. Right click the empty space on your Desktop. Select New - Shortcut from the context menu (see the screenshot).
2. In the shortcut target box, type or copy-paste the following:

   C:\WINDOWS\Speech\Common\sapisvr.exe -SpeechUX -Startup

   

3. Use the line "Start Speech Recognition" without quotes as the name of the shortcut. Actually, you can use any name you want. Click on the Finish button when done.
   
4. Now, right click the shortcut you created and select Properties.
5. On the Shortcut tab, you can specify a new icon if you wish. You can use the icon from the %windir%\system32\Speech\SpeechUX\sapi.cpl  file.
6. Click OK to apply the icon, then click OK to close the shortcut properties dialog window.

Now, you can move this shortcut to any convenient location, pin it to taskbar or to Start, add to All apps or add to Quick Launch (see how to enable Quick Launch). You can also assign a global hotkey to your shortcut.

That's it.

Related articles:

• Add Speech Recognition Context Menu in Windows 10
• Enable Speech Recognition in Windows 10
• Run Speech Recognition at Startup in Windows 10
• Disable Online Speech Recognition in Windows 10
• How to Use Dictation in Windows 10