Enable Dictation on Mac

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    System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation

    Open System Settings (Apple menu → System Settings). Click Keyboard in the sidebar. Scroll to Dictation and toggle it on. You may be asked to enable it — click Enable. Select your language from the dropdown. Optionally: enable Use Enhanced Dictation for offline dictation (uses more storage but works without internet).

Using Dictation

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    Click in a text field and activate dictation

    Click where you want text to appear (in a document, email, message, search field — anywhere you can type). Press the Microphone function key (fn key twice on most Mac keyboards). A microphone indicator appears. Speak clearly and your words appear in real time. Press the microphone key again, press Escape, or press Return to stop dictating.

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    Dictate punctuation and formatting

    Say punctuation aloud: “comma” inserts a comma, “period” or “full stop” inserts a full stop, “new line” starts a new line, “new paragraph” adds a paragraph break, “open bracket close bracket”, “exclamation mark”, “question mark” all work. Say “cap” before a word to capitalise it.

Change the Shortcut

System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation → Shortcut dropdown. Change from the default (Press fn twice) to a custom key combination if preferred.

Dictation vs Voice ControlDictation transcribes your speech into text in any app. Voice Control (System Settings → Accessibility → Voice Control) is a more powerful feature that lets you control the entire Mac with your voice — opening apps, clicking buttons, navigating menus, and typing. Use Dictation for quick text entry; Voice Control for hands-free Mac operation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Standard Dictation requires an internet connection — audio is processed by Apple’s servers. Enhanced Dictation (enabled in the Dictation settings) downloads a language model and processes dictation entirely on-device without internet. Enhanced Dictation requires downloading a language package (500MB–1GB) but then works offline and with reduced latency. On Macs with Apple Silicon chips, dictation processing is very fast on-device.
Mac dictation is highly accurate for clear speech in a quiet environment — comparable to commercial dictation software. Accuracy improves if you speak at a natural pace (not too fast), enunciate clearly, and use a good microphone (the built-in Mac microphone is adequate; an external USB microphone improves accuracy further). Technical terms, proper nouns and uncommon words may be misrecognised and need manual correction.