Help › Dictating

Change text by voice

Applies to: Windows

With “Change by voice” you tell Stenowise what should change in a text, such as “make this more formal” or “shorten this to two sentences”. The feature works on Windows.

Change a text

1. Select the text you want to change.
2. Hold down Ctrl + Alt + Space. The on-screen indicator shows “Change” together with “selection”.
3. Say what should change.
4. Release the keys. Stenowise replaces the selected text with the changed version.

Without a selection, the instruction applies to the last dictation, as long as the cursor is right behind it. The indicator then shows “last dictation”.

The feature needs text cleanup, which you switch on under Settings › Privacy. With text cleanup off, the rows are missing from the settings. The selected text and your instruction go to the Stenowise server in the EU. A change counts towards the weekly limit like a dictation.

Undo a change

1. Press Alt + Shift + Z.

Stenowise restores the text as it was before the last change. This goes back exactly one step, and only until you dictate something new.

Limits

• A text can be at most 6,000 characters long.
• Without a selection, Stenowise replaces a dictation directly only up to 300 characters. For a longer dictation, select a shorter part.
• Some fields do not accept the change, Word for example. Stenowise then puts the change on the clipboard, and you paste it with Ctrl + V.

Messages

If Stenowise cannot change the text, a notice gives the reason:

• “No instruction was heard. Hold the key while you speak.”
• “Select the text you want changed, or dictate something first.”
• “The cursor is no longer right behind the dictation. Select the text you want changed.”
• “The dictation is too long to replace in this field. Select a shorter part.”
• “The instruction would change nothing about the text.”

When Stenowise puts the change on the clipboard, the notice reads “Change is on the clipboard”.

Last updated 28 September 2026