How to dictate on a Mac

Dictation turns what you say into text wherever you can type: Mail, Messages, Notes, Pages, a browser. This guide covers setting it up, the shortcuts, the voice commands for punctuation, and how to get accurate results. The steps are for macOS Ventura and later, including macOS 27 Golden Gate.

Turn on Dictation

1. Choose Apple menu › System Settings.
2. Click Keyboard in the sidebar.
3. Go to the Dictation section and turn Dictation on.
4. Click Enable. macOS may ask whether to Share Audio Recordings with Apple to help improve Siri and Dictation. You can say no; it’s optional.

The Dictation section of System Settings › Keyboard (illustration; your choices may differ).

Each of those settings matters later: Languages for what you’ll speak, Microphone source for which mic listens, Shortcut for the key that starts dictation, and Auto-punctuation, which adds commas, periods and question marks for you.

Start and stop dictating

1. Click where the text should go, like a message box, a document or a search field.
2. Start Dictation. Press the Microphone key in the top row of your keyboard if it has one, use your Dictation shortcut, or choose Edit › Start Dictation from the menu bar.
3. Speak. When the cursor pulses and you hear a short tone, your Mac is listening, and words appear as you talk.
4. Stop. Press Esc, the Microphone key or your shortcut again. Dictation also stops by itself after 30 seconds of silence.

On a Mac with Apple silicon you can keep using the keyboard while you dictate, so you can fix a word without stopping. Apple also says you can dictate text of any length without a timeout.

Change the Dictation shortcut

If your keyboard has no Microphone key, or you’d rather use a different key, pick a shortcut in System Settings › Keyboard › Dictation › Shortcut. The menu includes choices like these:

Choosing a shortcut can change what the Fn or Globe key does on its own (the “Press fn key to” or “Press Globe key to” setting in Keyboard settings), so check that setting if Fn starts behaving differently.

Punctuation, new lines and capitals

With Auto-punctuation on, in supported languages, macOS adds commas, periods and question marks as you talk. You can also say punctuation and formatting out loud. These are the most useful commands from Apple’s list:

Apple’s full list also has symbols like “at sign” and “hashtag”, currency, math signs and more. It’s linked under Sources at the end.

Choose a language and microphone

Languages

In Keyboard › Dictation › Languages, add the languages you speak; macOS downloads what each one needs. If you set up more than one, switch while dictating by clicking the language shown next to the cursor or by pressing the Globe key. Dictation isn’t available in every language or region.

Microphone

In Keyboard › Dictation › Microphone source, Automatic lets your Mac listen to the device you’re most likely to use. If it picks the wrong one, choose the mic you actually talk into: the built-in microphone, a headset or an external mic. In a noisy room, a headset mic helps the most.

Tips for better results

• Speak at your normal pace and volume. Apple’s advice is to sit as you normally would and speak clearly, not too quietly or too loudly.
• Keep the microphone clear. Clothing or a hand over the mic muffles your voice.
• Cut background noise and echo, or use a headset microphone.
• Pause between thoughts. Shorter sentences come out cleaner, and you can fix a word with the keyboard straight after.
• Say punctuation when it matters. Auto-punctuation is a good guess; saying “comma” or “new paragraph” is exact.

Is Mac dictation private?

Apple processes much of Dictation on the Mac itself. To see how yours works, read the note under the Dictation settings in System Settings › Keyboard: it says whether your voice input and transcripts are processed on your device and not sent to Siri servers. If they aren’t, Dictation may need an internet connection.

Sharing recordings with Apple is your choice. If you agree to Share Audio Recordings, Apple stores and reviews samples of your Dictation audio and transcripts to improve its features, tied to a random identifier rather than your Apple Account. You can change it any time in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements, with the switch called Improve Siri & Dictation (or Improve Siri & Apple Intelligence on newer versions of macOS).

Dictation or Voice Control?

Dictation types what you say. Voice Control, in System Settings › Accessibility, goes further: you can click buttons, scroll, open apps and dictate, all by voice, without a keyboard or mouse. The two don’t run together. When Voice Control is on, you dictate through Voice Control, and standard Dictation isn’t available.

If you’d like to control your Mac by describing what you want done, rather than one command at a time, see voice control for Mac.

When a dictation app helps

For most people the built-in Dictation is all they need, and it costs nothing. A separate dictation app is worth a look if you want something it doesn’t do, like:

• Holding one key to talk and letting go to paste.
• A history of what you dictated, so a sentence that landed in the wrong place isn’t lost.
• Your own vocabulary for names and terms that keep coming out wrong.

If you use both, give each its own key: Octaflow uses the right Command key, so don’t set Apple’s shortcut to Press Right Command Key Twice.

Questions

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