Submitted feedback: Feature Request: a voiceover command to switch voices in the voiceover rotor on mac

By Mert Ozer, 21 March, 2025

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

Hi,

I’m bilingual and frequently switch between two VoiceOver voices. I’d love for Apple to add a command to change VoiceOver voices in the rotor, allowing users to assign it to a keyboard shortcut or trackpad gesture. This would make switching between voices much more efficient, without needing to adjust it manually through the rotor.

We already have commands to change pitch, volume, and speaking rate—adding a command to switch voices would complete the set..

Thank you for considering this request!

Best,
Mert Ozer

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Comments

By mr grieves on Friday, March 21, 2025 - 20:24

You could create an activity for each voice, then use VO+X to switch between them.

I thought with Sequoia there was a way to switch voices using the rotor. I've not set it up myself but I suspect someone on here might know?

[Edit] - sorry reread your post and you want a way to do it without using the rotor. An activity might be easier all the same even if it's not exactly what you were asking.

By Mert Ozer on Friday, March 21, 2025 - 20:24

Using different activities on mac is a bit problematic for me; that is why I didn't do it that way. What I meant by the voices rotor is when you do VO+command+shift+left/arrows. thank you!

By TheBlindGuy07 on Friday, March 21, 2025 - 20:24

I honestly don't understand this feedback, as what you are asking was added in sequoia and ios 18. Aside the pitch, rate volume and braille table you have a voice rotor (the rotor with cmd shift vo arrows).
Edit: never mind I do now.

By Chris on Friday, March 21, 2025 - 20:24

If I understand you correctly, you want a command that can be assigned to go to the next and previous voice in your rotor, similar to the ones for rate, pitch, and volume? This is a good idea, since you can assign keystrokes to those instead of moving the voice rotor. I'm going to suggest this to Apple as well.

By Mert Ozer on Friday, March 21, 2025 - 20:24

Yes, exactly! I also tried assigning different voices to actions. Two issues—first, a language other than the system language (English, in this case) doesn’t appear for the primary voice selection. When I use the voices rotor to switch voices with VO+Command+Shift+Arrow keys, it still changes the default voice for all actions, not just the one I created for voice changing. Also, I checked the voice settings in the action settings, but even then, it affects all actions, not just the one I set for voice adjustment.