Disclosure: this article is published by Relay. Author Raymond Zhu is a founding member. It is documentation-based, not a hands-on test. Steps were checked against Apple’s macOS 27 Mac User Guide on October 29, 2026; menus can differ on older versions of macOS. Sources: Apple: Use Dictation on Mac, Apple: Commands for dictating text, Apple: Keyboard settings.
Dictation is built into every Mac.
Mac Dictation turns speech into text wherever you can type: an email, a document, a search field or a chat box. It comes with macOS, so there’s nothing to buy or install. Apple’s Dictation guide covers the current version, macOS 27.
It enters text at the insertion point, so click where the words should go before you start. On a Mac with Apple silicon you can keep typing while Dictation is listening, which helps when you want to fix a word without stopping.
Turn Dictation on in Keyboard settings.
Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Keyboard, then turn on Dictation and click Enable. macOS asks whether you want to share audio recordings with Apple.
In the same section, the Shortcut pop-up menu sets how you start Dictation. Pick one of the listed options, or choose Customize and press the key combination you want. The default depends on your keyboard and settings, so check what that menu shows on your Mac.
If you like using the Globe or Fn key, Keyboard settings include a “Press Globe key to” option with Start Dictation (press the key twice). On some Macs, depending on the model, choosing “Press Fn (Function) Key Twice” as your Dictation shortcut switches that setting for you.
Sources: Apple: Use Dictation on Mac, Apple: Keyboard settings.
Start and stop dictating.
There are three ways to start. On keyboards that have a Microphone key, press and release it; pressing and holding it activates Siri instead. You can also use your Dictation shortcut, or choose Edit > Start Dictation in the app you’re using.
To stop, press Escape, the Microphone key or your shortcut. Dictation also stops by itself after 30 seconds without speech. Apple says you can otherwise dictate text of any length without a timeout, so long notes are fine as long as you keep talking.
When Dictation isn’t sure about a word, it underlines it in blue. Click the underlined word to see alternatives, which is often faster than retyping it.
Sources: Apple: Use Dictation on Mac.
Say punctuation and formatting out loud.
Dictation follows spoken commands. Apple’s commands list includes punctuation by name (“period” or “full stop”, “comma”, “question mark”, “quote” and “end quote”), layout (“new line”, “new paragraph”, “tab key”) and capitalization (“caps on” and “caps off” for title case, “all caps”).
There are commands for symbols too, such as “at sign”, “hashtag” and “dollar sign”, plus “numeral” and “roman numeral” for numbers. To insert an emoji, say its name, such as “heart emoji”; this works in some languages only. The list doesn’t include editing commands such as deleting or selecting text, so do those with the keyboard or trackpad.
If you’d rather not say every comma, turn on Auto-punctuation under Keyboard > Dictation. In supported languages it adds commas, periods and question marks for you. You can still say a punctuation mark when you want a specific one.
Sources: Apple: Commands for dictating text, Apple: Keyboard settings.
Switch languages and choose a microphone.
To dictate in more than one language, go to Keyboard > Dictation > Languages, click Edit and add the ones you use. While you’re dictating, switch by clicking the language indicator next to the cursor or by pressing the Globe key and choosing a language.
The Microphone source setting in Dictation decides which mic is used. Automatic picks the one you’re most likely to use, but if you have a headset or USB mic connected, choosing it directly removes the guesswork. Whether you need an extra mic at all is covered in external microphone vs headset vs Mac microphone.
Sources: Apple: Use Dictation on Mac, Apple: Keyboard settings.
Check where your speech is processed.
Keyboard settings show whether your dictation is processed on your Mac or sent to Apple, which depends on your Mac and the language you dictate in, so check there for your own setup. Apple’s Dictation guide also notes that dictating into a search box may send text to the search provider.
With Apple Intelligence in macOS 27, Apple says Dictation uses an on-device model to improve spelling, punctuation and capitalization. That feature has its own language and hardware requirements, so check the current guide for the Macs and languages it covers. The languages that support on-device dictation are listed on Apple’s feature availability page.
Sources: Apple: Use Dictation on Mac, Apple: macOS feature availability.
Know when you need something else.
If Voice Control is on, standard Dictation isn’t available; Voice Control has its own dictation and is built for operating the whole Mac by voice. Apple Dictation vs Voice Control explains when to use each. If Dictation won’t start or hears you badly, work through Mac Dictation troubleshooting.
Built-in Dictation types what you say. If you want filler words removed, self-corrections resolved or a rough thought shaped into a finished message, compare the options in the best dictation apps for Mac and Apple Dictation vs Relay for macOS. Try Apple’s version first: for many short notes and messages, it’s enough.
Sources: Apple: Use Dictation on Mac.