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# Key Commands

Key commands are global commands that let you tell Dragon Dictate to enter a keystroke, as if you had typed that keystroke manually.

Key commands can help you in situations where you might otherwise have to use the keyboard, when there is no built-in command that lets you say what you want done. And even when there is a built-in command, key commands may be easier to remember; for example, even if you forget the global command for creating a new document in any application (File New), you probably know that its key combination is Command-N, so you can say Press the Key Combo Command N.

When Dragon Dictate types in response to a key command, the typing is directed just as real keyboard typing would be. So, for example, Press the Key Combo Command N is directed to the frontmost application (typically to create a new document), but Press the Key Combo Command Tab is directed to the system (and brings the second application to the front), because that’s how Command-Tab is treated when you type it manually.

### How to Say a Key Command

What you say depends on whether you want to press a single key or a key combination involving modifier keys:

- To press a single key, say Press the Key KEYNAME, where KEYNAME is the name of the key.

- To press a key combination, say Press the Key Combo MODIFIER KEYNAME or Press the Keys MODIFIER KEYNAME, where KEYNAME is the name of the key, and MODIFIER is any combination of modifier key names.

> Key names and modifier key names are shown later on this page.

So, for example:

- To press the Page Down key (in many applications, this scrolls a document down one screenful), say Press the Key Page Down.

- To press the key combination Command-Shift-4 (by default, this is the system command for letting you select an area of the screen and take a screenshot of it), say Press the Key Combo Command Shift Four.

### Modifier Key Names

What You Say
Command
Shift
Option
Control
Caps Lock

### Key Names

- Normal letter and digit names. So, for example, A, B, C, and so forth, as well as One, Two, Three, and so forth.

- International Radio Alphabet letter names. These names are listed in the discussion of Spelling mode commands.

- F-Key names. These consist of the letter “F” followed by a number from 1 to 19. So, for example, F One, F Two, and so on through F Nineteen.

- Any of the following named keys:

What You Say
Left Arrow
Right Arrow
Up Arrow
Down Arrow
Home
End
Page Up
Page Down
Return
Enter
Tab
Space
Escape
Forward Delete