Potok transcribes Russian speech; this site has been translated into English for convenience.
Voice Access in Windows 11 is an accessibility feature that recognizes speech right on the device and lets you control the computer by voice, including dictating text. It appeared in Windows 11 version 22H2 and newer, and according to Microsoft it works even without an internet connection. Russian is not in its list of supported languages.
The term Voice Access in Windows 11 is confused with ordinary dictation, although it is a separate feature with its own set of capabilities. Below are the definition from Microsoft's data and the main difference worth knowing before building voice into everyday work at a computer.
Voice Access in Windows 11: what it is according to Microsoft
Voice Access, according to Microsoft, is an accessibility feature of Windows 11 that lets you control the computer and dictate text by voice. Formally it is a built-in function of the operating system (category os-feature), and not a separate program that needs to be installed: it appears right in Windows 11, starting with version 22H2, and earlier builds do not have it.
The key feature is how exactly it recognizes speech. According to Microsoft, Voice Access uses modern on-device recognition and works even without an internet connection. The list of supported languages is limited: English, Spanish, German, French, Chinese, Japanese and Italian. Russian is not among them. It is worth knowing this at once: if an article or a hint in the system describes voice commands in Russian, it does not refer to Voice Access.
| Term | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Voice Access | a Windows 11 accessibility feature for controlling the computer and dictating text by voice, working locally on the device | unlike voice input (Win+H), Voice Access works without the internet |
| System language settings | an OS settings section that determines the default language of the interface, input and speech recognition | for accurate dictation the recognition language must match the language of speech |
| Autocorrect in the messenger | a feature of a specific app that changes part of the entered or pasted text by its own rules | autocorrect in the messenger can distort the dictated text after it is inserted |
| Keyboard input simulation | a way of inserting text in which the program imitates key presses instead of copying through the clipboard | input simulation is useful where pasting from the clipboard is forbidden or unavailable |
How it differs from voice typing (Win+H)
Voice Access and voice typing are not the same thing, although both names have the word voice. Voice typing (Win+H) recognizes speech through the Microsoft cloud and is needed first of all for quickly inserting dictated text into a field; how the term works is covered in detail in the article about voice text input.
Voice Access works differently: recognition runs locally, on the device itself, and according to Microsoft keeps working even without the internet. Besides, it controls not only text insertion but the whole computer. Windows 10 has neither Voice Access nor Russian voice input: only Win+H dictation with a language limitation is available there.
What Potok has to do with it
Potok (potok.now) has no relation to Voice Access: it is a separate cloud service, recognition runs on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet; it has no offline mode, for which Voice Access is known. Potok does not control the computer with voice commands: it only inserts the dictated text into the field where the cursor is.
Frequently asked questions
Yes: according to Microsoft, Voice Access recognizes speech on the device itself and keeps working even without an internet connection, unlike voice typing (Win+H), which uses the Microsoft cloud.
How to start
Potok is available for Windows, macOS and Linux. For two weeks everything is open for free, after that 2500 words per week without paying. Potok is a cloud service: speech is recognized on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet.
Download PotokA voice message from a messenger or a call recording can be forwarded to the bot @potok_now_bot, and it sends back the text. The bot is part of the same subscription as the Potok app.
Built-in dictation and Potok
| Tool | Where it works | Russian language | Where speech is recognized |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows voice typing (Win+H) | Windows 10 and 11 | Windows 11 only | Microsoft cloud, does not work offline |
| macOS Dictation | macOS | yes | on the device or on Apple servers |
| Potok | Windows, macOS, Linux | primary language | cloud, servers in Russia, does not work offline |
Primary sources: support.microsoft.com · support.microsoft.com · support.apple.com