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Recipe · Windows 11 Voice Access

Voice control for Modus with Windows Voice Access

The short answer

Windows Voice Access can run Modus by voice, offline, with no extra software. Create a voice shortcut that presses a workflow's hotkey, say the phrase, and the whole desk switches. Opening a modus://activate/ link works too, once Modus ships its link support. Voice Access needs Windows 11, and its custom shortcuts work in English only.

Written by Aaron Elias Zachariah, who makes Modus. Voice Access is Microsoft's; Modus adds nothing to it and never touches your microphone.

Status of this recipe

Draft. It is written from Microsoft's and the community's documentation of Voice Access. We haven't yet run every method end to end on a current Windows 11 build, and menu labels differ a little between builds. The plan is to test each method, film the one that works, and update this page with what happened.

Before you start

  • Windows 11. Voice Access arrived in 22H2. Custom voice shortcuts came later, in build 22631.3374, so update Windows first. They work in English only.
  • A Modus workflow with a hotkey for Method 1. Hotkeys work during the 15-day trial or with a licence. After the trial, one workflow stays free and hotkeys switch off, so use Method 2 or 3 for it.
  • The Modus release with the front door for Methods 2 and 3. It adds Modus.exe activate and modus:// links, and it's what lets anything outside the app ask for a workflow.

Method 1: say a phrase, press the hotkey

The simplest route, and the only one that works with today's release.

  1. Turn on Voice Access

    Press Win Ctrl S, or go to Settings → Accessibility → Speech → Voice access. The first time, Windows downloads a speech model. After that it listens on your PC, with no internet connection.

  2. Open the Voice shortcuts page

    Say “What can I say?” to open the commands page, choose Voice shortcuts in the left pane, then Create new shortcut.

  3. Pick a phrase

    Type it in the When I say box. Choose words you wouldn't use while dictating, such as “study desk” or “work desk”. A phrase that's too common will fire in the middle of a sentence.

  4. Press the workflow's hotkey

    In Perform action(s), choose the action that presses keys and enter the workflow's hotkey, for example Ctrl Alt 1. Apply, then save. One shortcut can chain up to eight actions, but this needs one.

  5. Say it

    The phrase fires the hotkey and Modus does the rest: launches, places, minimizes the others. If Voice Access has gone to sleep, say “voice access wake up” first.

Method 2: open a modus:// link

Skip the hotkey and ask for the workflow by name. This needs the front-door release.

The link looks like this. The name can be the workflow's id or its display name, and spaces become %20:

modus://activate/work
modus://activate/Deep%20Work

Names are forgiving about case and punctuation, and a name that matches two workflows is refused rather than guessed. Links can only activate a workflow. There is no link that lists, captures or changes anything, which makes them safe to hang on a spoken phrase.

  1. Check the link on its own first

    Press Win R, paste the link, press Enter. If the workflow switches, Windows is routing modus:// to Modus and the rest is just Voice Access.

  2. Make the shortcut

    Follow Method 1 steps 2 and 3, then in Perform action(s) choose the action that opens a link and paste the link.

Untested We haven't confirmed that Voice Access's open-link action passes a non-web address such as modus:// on to Windows. If it only accepts web addresses, use Method 3.

Method 3: open a shortcut file

Also for the front-door release, and the fallback if Method 2 doesn't take.

  1. Make a desktop shortcut that activates the workflow

    Right-click the desktop, choose New → Shortcut and paste, with your own user name and workflow id:

    "C:\Users\you\AppData\Local\Programs\Modus\Modus.exe" activate work

    Use Modus.exe here, not the modus command. The command is for terminals, and started from a shortcut it flashes a console window.

  2. Point the voice shortcut at it

    In Perform action(s), choose the action that opens an app or file and select the shortcut.

Untested We haven't confirmed that Voice Access will open a .lnk file the way it opens an app.

Choosing phrases that don't misfire

  • Use two or three words that don't occur in everyday dictation. “Set up my study” is safer than “study”.
  • Give each workflow its own phrase rather than one phrase with a variable.
  • If one fires by accident, rename it. You can turn any shortcut off from the same page without deleting it.

What stays on your PC

Voice Access does the listening, on your PC once its speech model is installed. Modus only receives a request to switch to a workflow, the same as from a hotkey. It never touches the microphone and sends no audio anywhere. It keeps a daily count of activations by route (hotkey, tray, or an outside request such as a link) in a file on your PC, and nothing leaves it.

There's no wake word. Voice Access listens while it's on, and Modus doesn't add one of its own.

Questions people ask

Does it need an internet connection?

No. Once Voice Access has its speech model, it works offline, and so does Modus.

Does it keep working after the trial ends?

The one free workflow does, through Method 2 or 3. Hotkeys switch off when the trial ends, so Method 1 stops working until you buy a licence.

Can I use VoiceAttack or Talon instead?

Probably. Both can press keys or open a link, which are the two things Modus responds to. We haven't tested either.

Can it say what's on my desk, or ask me which workflow?

No. A Voice Access shortcut fires one fixed action. It can't ask a question or read back an answer.

Related guides

Sources

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