Voice Guidance: the phone reads your next step aloud
What Voice Guidance is, how an admin enables it per warehouse, how workers turn it on, mute it and set rate and language, the exact sentences the phone says for pick, move, putaway, receive and count tasks, how Voice Picking lets you confirm locations with check digits and pick quantities by saying the number, device notes, and FAQ.
Voice Guidance is a spoken helper for WMS tasks on the phone. While you work a pick, move, putaway, receive or count task, the phone reads the next step out loud — where to go, what product, how many — so you look at the screen less. On top of that there is full Voice Picking — speaking your quantity, check digits and more (see “Voice Picking” below) — and that lives in the Docklify WMS app. In the web version (browser sign-in), voice is guidance only: the phone speaks, and you scan and tap as usual. Everything else stays exactly as before, with the scanner and the screen.
For admins: turn it on for a warehouse#
Go to Master Data → Warehouses, open the warehouse form and find the Voice card. The Voice mode setting has three choices: Off; Voice Guidance (the phone reads each next step aloud; workers still scan and tap as usual); and Voice Picking — everything Guidance does, plus on pick tasks workers can confirm quantities by saying the number (locations are still scanned). Pick the highest mode you want to allow in this warehouse.
- Default is Off. A warehouse where nobody changed this setting behaves exactly as before — no voice anywhere.
- The warehouse setting is a ceiling, not a switch for everyone: it only makes voice available. A worker hears prompts only if they also turn voice on in their own settings (below).
- Turning the warehouse back to Off stops voice for everyone in that warehouse from the next task on.
For workers: your own Voice settings#
- Open WMS → More → Voice settings. Your personal Guidance switch is Off by default — nothing is spoken until you turn it on yourself.
- Speech rate: slide between 0.5x and 2.0x. Start at 1.0x; go slower while you are learning the work, faster once the prompts feel long.
- Voice language: “Follow app” by default, or pick any of the six languages. Pick the language you understand best — it does not have to match the app language.
- Test button: plays a sample sentence right away (it works even before you turn Guidance on) so you can check the voice and volume. Stop button stops whatever is playing.
- Picking mode is not offered on this web page. If your warehouse allows Picking, the page shows a note instead: full voice picking (speaking your answers) is in the Docklify WMS app — here on the web you get voice guidance. Your personal setting can never go higher than the warehouse allows.
- Voice input settings (Hands-free / Push-to-talk) live in the Docklify WMS app's voice settings, together with Picking mode — the web version does not listen at all.
If your warehouse has not enabled voice, the mode switch on this page is greyed out and the page says “Voice is not enabled for this warehouse”. That is expected — ask your supervisor or admin to enable Voice Guidance for the warehouse first; your personal switch alone cannot turn it on.
On task pages, the speaker button (top right) mutes voice for right now: tap it and the current announcement stops at once and nothing more is spoken; tap again to resume. Muting does not change your settings-page choice. If voice is effectively off (warehouse off, personal off), the button shows as a greyed speaker with a slash — it is still tappable, and tapping it tells you exactly which switch is off (the warehouse, or your personal setting) and where to turn it on.
What the system will say#
The tables below are the exact sentences the phone says, in flow order. Placeholders are filled with your task's real values: {location} is the location code, read segment by segment (A-1-1-1 is spoken as “A, 1, 1, 1”); {product} is the product name; {qty}, {lines} and {pieces} are plain numbers; {from} and {to} are locations. If a value is missing for a step, that part is simply skipped — you never hear a placeholder read aloud.
Every task
| Step | What you hear (exact wording) |
|---|---|
| When you start a task | Task started. Go to {location}. |
| When the task is complete | Task complete. {lines} lines, {pieces} pieces. |
Pick (and replenishment, which reuses the pick wording)
| Step | What you hear (exact wording) |
|---|---|
| Going to a pick line | Go to {location}. {product}, pick {qty}. |
| If the line goes into a tote, this is added | Into {tote}. |
| You scanned the right location | Correct. Pick {qty}. |
| You scanned a different existing location | Location {location}. Pick {qty}. |
| Line done, moving to the next line | Done. Next: {location}. {product}, pick {qty}. |
| Going to the last line | Last pick: {location}. {product}, pick {qty}. |
| You skipped a suggested location (Next) | Skipped. Next: {location}. |
| Suggestions are used up | Skipped. No more suggestions. |
Assembly picking (work orders)
Picking components for a work order speaks with the same voice rules. In Guidance mode, opening a component reads out the suggested location, the product and how many to pick — the same “Go to {location}. {product}, pick {qty}.” sentence as a pick task — and a successful pick is confirmed out loud. In the Docklify WMS app's Picking mode, the quantity box also gets a 🎤 button: tap it and say the quantity; what it hears is filled into the box for you to check, and nothing is booked until you tap Confirm pick — a mis-heard number never posts by itself. Lot/batch and serial-number steps are only announced; those values are still always scanned, exactly as on pick tasks.
Move and Quick Move
| Step | What you hear (exact wording) |
|---|---|
| Picking done — where to take it | Move to {to}. |
| Picking done, but the task has no fixed drop location (for example a Quick Move) | Picked. Scan the drop location. |
| Move complete | Done. Moved from {from} to {to}. |
Putaway and Quick Putaway
| Step | What you hear (exact wording) |
|---|---|
| Putaway starts | Putaway started. Scan the pallet first. |
| A location is suggested | Suggested: {location}. Or choose another. |
| Put away — the phone confirms where it actually went | Done. Put away to {location}. |
Receive
| Step | What you hear (exact wording) |
|---|---|
| Receiving starts | Receiving started. Scan the dock location first. |
| All receiving submitted (direct or by pallet) | Receiving complete. {lines} lines, {pieces} pieces. |
| You close the receiving task | Task complete. {lines} lines, {pieces} pieces. |
Count
| Step | What you hear (exact wording) |
|---|---|
| Going to a count line — location and product only, never the system quantity | Count {location}. {product}. |
| After you enter your counted number, it is read back to you | You counted {qty}. |
Errors are spoken too, in the same words as the red message bar on your screen — for example a wrong location, a quantity that does not fit, or a pallet that is not where it should be. An error announcement has top priority: it interrupts whatever is being said. If voice is muted, off, or your device has no voice pack, errors still show on screen exactly as before — only the speaking stops.
If the same error happens again within a few seconds — for example you scan the same wrong location twice — it is spoken only the first time, so repeated mistakes do not talk over you. A different error is always spoken right away.
While muted, nothing is spoken at all — no step prompts, no summaries, no errors. Your work on screen does not change in any way.
Voice Picking: walk a pick line end to end by voice#
Where this happens: full Voice Picking is a Docklify WMS app feature. On the web (browser sign-in), pick tasks give you the spoken guidance only — you will hear the prompts in this section, but you confirm with the scanner and the screen, not by speaking. Everything below describes the app experience.
Voice Picking works on pick tasks only (order, cluster, wave and zone picks). You can walk a pick line end to end by voice: the phone sends you to the location, you confirm you are there by saying the two check digits printed on the location label, then you say how many you picked. The source pallet is confirmed by voice too, with its own check digits printed next to the LPN (see the steps below); the Pick-to tote/LPN is still scanned exactly as before — it anchors the stock, so it stays on the scanner. Move, putaway, receive and count tasks do not listen; they keep the spoken guidance only. On a pick line, a voice bar with a 🎤 shows while the phone is listening — first for the check digits, then for the quantity.
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| Confirm the location: say the check digits | Every location label carries a CHECK line with two digits (for example CHECK 47) — you can also see them next to the suggested location on the pick page. When the phone sends you to a location, it says the digits too (“…say the check digits: four, seven”). When you get there, say the two digits one by one, exactly as printed. The phone answers “Correct. Pick {qty}.” and you go on to the quantity — no scan needed for this step. Scanning the location as before works too, at any time. |
| Wrong digits — you are stopped | If the digits you say are not the target location's, the phone says “Wrong location. Go to {location}, check {check}.” and stays on this step. That is the point of the check digits: walking to the wrong location and saying its digits can never pass, because its digits are different. Two misses in a row and voice steps aside — just scan the location as usual. |
| Confirm the pallet: say its check digits | When the pick comes from a storage location, the pallet is confirmed the same way as the location. The standard pallet label prints a CHECK line under the big LPN (for example CHECK 16), and the pick page shows the same two digits next to the suggested pallet — only while Picking mode is on. The phone asks “Pallet {lpn}. Say its check digits.” Say the two digits one by one. Right digits: “Correct. Pick {qty}.” Wrong digits: “Wrong pallet. Pallet {lpn}, check {check}.” and it stays on the pallet step. Scanning or tapping the pallet works at any time, exactly as before. |
| Skip a suggestion by voice | Say the skip word (below) at the location step or the quantity step. The phone then reads the skip reasons one by one — say the confirm word when you hear yours and the skip is done with that reason recorded, exactly like tapping Next and picking the reason on screen. If nobody set up skip reasons, the phone tells you and you use the screen instead. |
| Say the quantity | Say how many you picked, as one number. In English just say the number (“twenty five”). In Chinese, start with the word for quantity — say “数量二十五” (quantity twenty-five): the extra word makes your number much easier to hear correctly in a noisy warehouse. Do not add a word like “pieces” or “件” after the number. |
| Number matches | The phone says “Confirmed, {qty}.” and fills the quantity in for you. Then press the usual confirm button on the page to finish the line — the voice fills the number, the button still posts the pick. |
| You picked fewer (short pick) | The phone says “Short by {short}. Say 'short' to confirm, or scan to recount.” If the smaller number is right, say the short word (“short” in English, “缺货” in Chinese) and the smaller quantity is filled in. If you miscounted, just count again and say the new total instead. |
| You said more than expected | The phone says that is more than the expected quantity and asks you to say the quantity again. A spoken number is never accepted above the expected quantity — if you really are entering more through the normal flow, type it on screen instead. |
| This location or pallet will not work: change it by voice | Say the change word at the location, pallet or quantity step — “change” in English, “换一个” in Chinese (at the pallet step, say the change-pallet word: “change pallet” / “换托盘”). The phone asks why and listens for a reason word: say the reason in your own words — for example “empty”, “damaged” or “wrong goods”. The reasons are the same skip reasons your admin maintains (Master Data → Reason codes, pick-skip category); the phone matches your words against their names. The skip is recorded with that reason, exactly like tapping Next and choosing the reason on screen, and the phone then sends you to the next suggested location — or, for a pallet, to the next pallet in the same location — and reads out its LPN and check digits so you can confirm by voice as usual. If the phone misses your reason twice, it steps aside and you pick the reason from the on-screen list instead: nothing gets stuck. |
| No more suggestions, or no other pallet | If the suggestions run out, the phone says so and asks you to scan a location barcode — free choice, exactly like the screen flow. If a location has no other pallet, the phone says there is no other pallet and listens for the skip word: say it (and then a reason, as above) to skip the whole location, or just scan or tap to continue on screen. You are never left stuck at a location with nothing to do. |
| The phone did not understand | The phone says “Didn't catch that. Repeat.” and listens again. If it misses twice in a row, it says “Please scan or tap to continue.” and the voice bar shows the same note — from there you simply type or scan as before. Voice never blocks a task: the screen always works. |
If you change to a different location (Next, or by voice), the pallet step follows the location you actually confirmed: the phone asks for the check digits of the first pallet at the new location. If that location has no pallet to confirm, the phone says so out loud — scan a pallet LPN on screen, or say Skip to move on. It never just goes quiet.
The voice bar tells you honestly whether the phone is really listening. While it listens, five small bars move with your voice — they jump when you speak and only sway gently when it is quiet. If the bar says the voice is getting ready, wait for it to finish before you speak. If it says the voice is paused and asks you to tap the screen once, do that: on iPhone the system sometimes suspends the microphone audio, and one tap wakes it — the phone then asks its question again. If it says the microphone is not allowed, allow microphone access for the app in your phone's system settings; if it says the voice model failed to load, check your connection and reopen the task. Check digits appear next to a suggested location or pallet on the pick page only while your effective mode is Picking — with voice Off or in Guidance they are not shown, because scanning is your proof of arrival then.
The words the phone understands are few and fixed: the number itself, plus Confirm, Repeat (hear the question again), Skip (skip this suggestion and pick a reason), Help (same as Repeat), Back (hear the step again — a step you already finished is never undone), Change and Change pallet (this suggestion will not work — switch to the next one; see the steps above) and the short word for confirming a short pick. Saying “repeat” at any voice step replays the current question, so you never have to guess what the phone was asking.
About labels: location labels printed before Voice Picking have no CHECK line. Before turning Picking on for a warehouse, reprint its location labels in Utilities → Label Print (the Check column in Master Data → Locations shows every location's digits). A location whose label has no digits can still be picked by scanning it as usual — voice simply has nothing to check against until the label is reprinted. Pallet labels work the same way: the standard pallet label prints its CHECK line under the big LPN, and pallets labelled before pallet voice confirmation have no check digits — you keep confirming those by scanning, exactly as before.
Every voice command#
This is the complete list — the phone understands exactly these fixed words, plus numbers, check digits and reason words. Say the word in the language you picked in Voice settings. Commands work in Picking mode on pick tasks, at the steps listed; anywhere else the phone does not listen. The full list is also your checklist: if a word is not in this table, the phone does not know it.
| Command — what it does | Where you can say it | The words — EN · ZH · ES · PT · FR · JA |
|---|---|---|
| Confirm — choose the skip reason being read out | While the phone reads the skip reasons one by one (after you say Skip) | confirm · 确认 · confirmar · confirmar · confirmer · 確認 |
| Short — confirm a short pick with the smaller quantity you said | Quantity step, after the phone tells you that you are short | short · 缺货 · faltante · falta · manquant · 不足 |
| Repeat — hear the current question again | Any voice step | repeat · 再说一遍 · repetir · repetir · répéter · もう一度 |
| Help — same as Repeat | Any voice step | help · 帮助 · ayuda · ajuda · aide · ヘルプ |
| Skip — skip this suggestion; the phone reads the reasons and you Confirm yours | Location, pallet and quantity steps | skip · 跳过 · saltar · pular · passer · スキップ |
| Back — hear the step again (in the reason read-out: the previous reason). A finished step is never undone | Any voice step | back · 返回 · atrás · voltar · retour · 戻る |
| Change — this suggestion will not work: say a reason word, get the next suggested location (or pallet) | Location, pallet and quantity steps | change / next one · 换一个 · cambiar · trocar · changer · 変える |
| Change pallet — this pallet will not work: say a reason word, get the next pallet in the same location | Pallet step (also understood at the location and quantity steps) | change pallet · 换托盘 · cambiar palé · trocar palete · changer de palette · パレット交換 |
Numbers and codes are not commands, but they are the other half of what the phone understands. Check digits: say the two digits one by one, as printed (for example “zero, one”). Quantity: one whole number, nothing after it — in Chinese start with “数量” (quantity). Reason words: after Change or Change pallet, say the reason in your own words; the phone matches what you say against the names of the skip reasons your admin maintains, so use the key word of the reason — for example “empty”, “damaged”, “wrong goods”. One more fixed word exists in the vocabulary — Done (“完成” / “listo” / “pronto” / “terminé” / 「完了」) — but no step needs it: numbers and check digits confirm by themselves, so you never have to say it.
Confirming a pallet by its tail digits, read-backs, and restarting voice#
At a storage location, the phone now asks for the pallet's tail digits first: “Say the last 3 digits of pallet …”. Say just those digits, one by one (for example “four, five, seven”) or as one number (“four hundred fifty-seven”) — both work. If two pallets at the same location share the same last 3 digits, the phone asks for the last 4 digits instead, and says so. If the tail does not match three times in a row, the phone tells you to scan the pallet or pick it on the screen instead — it never blocks your work. Saying the pallet's printed check digits still works wherever your warehouse uses it.
Sometimes the phone reads your answer back: “You said 65. Is that right? Say confirm, or say it again.” That happens when it heard a valid code or quantity but is not fully sure. If it got you right, say “confirm”. If not, just say the correct digits or quantity — the new answer replaces the old one. The same applies to pallet tails: the phone reads the digits back before it counts them when it needs to be sure.
If a call, Siri or another app interrupts the audio, the voice bar now says the voice is interrupted instead of pretending to listen. Tap the bar (or tap anywhere) to resume — the phone asks its question again. If the bar shows that voice stopped, or the microphone or model is unavailable, tap “Restart voice” on the bar: it rebuilds the voice session from scratch without leaving the task. Scanning and typing always keep working, whatever the voice state.
Devices and headsets#
- If your device has no text-to-speech, or no voice pack for the language you picked, the phone simply stays silent. Every task works exactly as it does today — voice is an add-on, never a requirement. The Voice settings page warns you when the selected language has no voice pack on the device.
- Bluetooth headsets use the phone's normal audio routing — pair the headset with the phone as usual and prompts come through it. No in-app setup is needed.
- On iPhone, audio unlocks with your tap on Start task, so the first announcement comes right after you start a task — not before.
FAQ#
I turned voice on but hear nothing. Why?
Check four things, in order: 1) Has an admin enabled Voice Guidance for your warehouse (Master Data)? 2) Is your personal Guidance switch on (More → Voice settings)? 3) Is the task page muted — speaker button showing as muted? 4) Does your device have a voice pack for the selected language (the settings page warns if not)? The Test button on the settings page is the quickest check: if the sample sentence plays, sound works and one of the switches above is the reason.
The switch on my settings page is greyed out.
That means your warehouse has not enabled voice yet. Only an admin can open it (Master Data → warehouse form → Voice card). Once the warehouse allows Guidance, your switch becomes tappable — and it still stays Off until you turn it on.
Does it listen to me or record anything?
Only in Picking mode in the Docklify WMS app, and only for numbers and a few fixed words. Guidance mode — and everything in the web version — never uses the microphone. In Picking mode, while a location, quantity or skip-reason step is open, the phone listens on the device itself — and it only recognizes digits and words like “short”, “skip” or “repeat”. Nothing is recorded and nothing is uploaded: the recognition happens entirely on your phone, and listening stops as soon as the step is done.
The voice bar says the voice is paused. What do I do?
In the app: tap the screen once. On iPhone, the system can suspend the microphone's audio while the voice model loads or after other audio plays; the bar then cannot hear you even though it is showing. One tap wakes the audio up, and the phone asks its question again — say your digits or number after that. The moving bars next to the microphone are the proof it is really listening: they jump with your voice. If the bar instead says the microphone is not allowed, allow microphone access for the app in your phone's system settings (Settings → Apps → Docklify WMS → Permissions) and reopen the task. If it says the voice model failed to load, check your connection (the first use of a language downloads about 40 MB) and reopen the task.
I am counting. Will it tell me the system quantity?
Never. Count announcements only name the location and the product — the system quantity is not spoken, so blind counts stay blind. The only number you hear in a count task is your own counted number, read back to you so you can catch a typing mistake.
Can I stop the voice just for this one task?
Yes — tap the speaker button on the task page. It mutes right away and stays muted until you tap it again; your settings-page choice is untouched, so the next time you open voice it behaves as you set it. Muting never blocks your work: everything stays on screen.
Voice in the Docklify WMS App#
The Docklify WMS App (Android) is where full Voice Picking lives: the same three modes, the same warehouse ceiling and personal settings (in the App: More → Voice settings), the same spoken sentences, check digits and command words. This article's Voice Picking section does not apply to the web version — on the web you get the guidance half of everything above. If you know the guidance on the web, the App adds only the speaking half — nothing new to learn.
- Microphone permission: the first time Picking mode is about to listen, the App asks for microphone permission. If you deny it, voice input stays off for that step — scanning and typing keep working as usual. You can allow it later in your phone's Settings → Apps → Docklify WMS → Permissions.
- Recognition runs on your phone's built-in speech recognizer, so it needs that language's speech pack on the device. Without a network connection or an on-device pack, voice input may be unavailable — the status bar on the pick screen always shows the real state (ready, listening, stopped, or why not), and it only ever says it is listening when the recognizer is really running.
- Press-to-talk works the same in the App: hold the button on the voice bar while you speak, let go when done. The mute button on the pick screen silences announcements for the current work, exactly like on the web.
- If a call or another app interrupts the audio (App only): on iPhone, voice pauses, and when the audio comes back the phone asks its current question again; if it does not come back on its own, tap “Restart voice” on the voice bar. On Android there is no interruption signal — a call simply stops the recognition where it stands; your current step is not submitted and your progress is not lost. When you come back, tap “Restart voice” on the voice bar and the phone asks the current question again.