You can dictate in almost any Mac app the same way: click where the text should go, press the Microphone key or your Dictation shortcut, and speak. Apple's Dictation guide says you can "speak to enter text anywhere you can type it". What differs is the app around the cursor. Some apps have their own voice button, some have a voice feature that sends audio instead of text, and some have keys such as Return or Escape that do something you did not intend. Find your app below; each link goes to a guide built from that app's own documentation, checked on 1 October 2026.
Publisher note: SuprFlow publishes this guide and is one of the products discussed. Competitor details come from each company's own pages, checked on 1 October 2026. Prices and features change; confirm before you buy.
Does your app have its own voice typing?
"No" means the vendor's documentation, as read for our guide, describes no feature that types your speech into that app. Apple Dictation works in all of them.
| App | Its own voice feature, per its docs | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Word | Yes: Home > Dictate, needs Microsoft 365 and internet | Word |
| Outlook | Yes: Message > Dictate, needs Microsoft 365 and internet | Outlook |
| OneNote | Yes: Home > Dictate, signed in to Microsoft 365 | PowerPoint and OneNote |
| PowerPoint | Documented for web and Windows, not the Mac app | PowerPoint and OneNote |
| Excel, Google Sheets | No | Excel and Sheets |
| Apple Mail | Uses macOS Dictation | Apple Mail |
| Gmail | No button on a computer | Gmail |
| Google Docs | Yes: Tools > Voice typing | Google Docs |
| Pages | Edit > Start Dictation (macOS Dictation) | Scrivener and Pages |
| Scrivener | No; maker points to Mac Dictation | Scrivener and Pages |
| Notion | Voice input for Notion AI prompts, not page text | Notion and Obsidian |
| Obsidian | Audio recorder and community plugins only | Notion and Obsidian |
| Slack, Teams | No button for ordinary messages | Slack and Teams |
| Messages | Audio button sends a recording | Messages |
| Microphone sends a voice note | ||
| Discord, Telegram | No; Discord's voice messages are mobile only | Discord and Telegram |
| No; voice messages from the mobile app only | ||
| Jira, Linear | No | Jira and Linear |
| ChatGPT | Yes: microphone in the message box | ChatGPT and Claude |
| Claude Desktop | Yes: voice shortcut, Caps Lock | ChatGPT and Claude |
| Gemini, Perplexity apps | Yes: Gemini's Mic; Perplexity's hold Fn | Gemini and Perplexity |
| Claude Code, Cursor | Yes: /voice; Cursor's microphone | Claude Code and Cursor |
| VS Code | Yes, marked experimental | VS Code |
| Windsurf (Devin Desktop) | Yes, in Cascade | Windsurf |
| Gemini CLI | Experimental Voice Mode | Gemini CLI and OpenCode |
| Codex CLI | /voice is a spoken conversation, not prompt dictation | Codex CLI |
| Xcode, JetBrains IDEs, Zed, OpenCode | No | Xcode, JetBrains, Zed |
| Warp | Yes: hold Fn | Mac terminal |
| Terminal, iTerm2, Ghostty | No | Mac terminal |
Office apps and email
- Word: Microsoft's Dictate button needs a Microsoft 365 subscription, a signed-in account and an internet connection; Apple Dictation types into Word without them. If the button is missing, see Dictation in Word not working.
- Outlook: Message > Dictate, or Option-F1, for Microsoft 365 subscribers; otherwise Apple Dictation.
- PowerPoint and OneNote: OneNote for Mac has a Dictate button; in the PowerPoint Mac app, click a placeholder or the slide notes and use Apple Dictation.
- Excel and Google Sheets: Return finishes the cell and Escape can cancel it, so stop Dictation first.
- Apple Mail: type the address and subject, dictate the body, and lean on Undo Send.
- Gmail: Google documents voice typing for Docs and Slides, not the Gmail compose window.
- Voice to text for emails: a routine for any mail app and the sending mistakes dictation makes more likely.
Messaging and social
- Slack and Teams: neither documents a dictation button for ordinary messages; one voice feature looks like dictation and is not.
- Messages: Apple's Messages guide says "you can dictate text" in the message field.
- WhatsApp: its voice message transcripts turn messages you receive into text, not the ones you send.
- Discord and Telegram: Discord's /tts reads typed text aloud; Telegram Premium transcribes received voice messages.
- LinkedIn: read every word before you click Post, because posts can be public.
Notes and writing
- Notion and Obsidian: Notion's voice input is for Notion AI prompts and meeting transcription; Obsidian has an audio recorder and community plugins.
- Scrivener and Pages: Literature & Latte says you can use the Mac's Dictation "to dictate directly into your Scrivener projects".
- Voice to text for notes: Apple Notes can record and transcribe audio in a note on Macs with M1 or later.
- Voice journaling: Journal, Notes and Voice Memos can keep audio alongside the text.
Google apps in a browser
- Google Docs: Tools > Voice typing in Chrome, Edge or Safari, with English editing commands such as "select paragraph". In Chrome, Command-Shift-S starts it.
- Google voice typing vs Apple Dictation: Google's works inside Docs and in Slides speaker notes and captions; Apple's works across the Mac.
Project tools
- Jira and Linear: type the title, assignee and labels; dictate the description. Escape and single-letter shortcuts mean something in both apps.
AI chatbots
- ChatGPT and Claude: both turn speech into a typed prompt, which is different from voice mode, where the assistant talks back. If the microphone fails, see ChatGPT dictation not working.
- Gemini and Perplexity: Gemini, Perplexity, Apple Dictation and some dictation apps can all want the Fn key.
Coding tools and terminals
- Vibe coding by voice: the three routes, and why reading the prompt before Enter matters most.
- Claude Code and Cursor: run
/voice, hold Space and speak; the transcript waits for Enter. - VS Code: Microsoft says desktop dictation uses an on-device speech model by default on Apple silicon Macs.
- Windsurf: Cascade can edit files and run commands, so read the prompt first.
- Xcode, JetBrains IDEs and Zed: no documented speech to text; dictate prompts, comments and commit messages, not symbols.
- Codex CLI and Gemini CLI and OpenCode: Google says Gemini CLI's Voice Mode sends recordings to Google Cloud by default, with a local Whisper backend as the alternative.
- Mac terminal: dictate prompts for an agent, not raw shell commands.
When should you use a system-wide dictation app?
An app's own voice button works only in that app, and several need a subscription or a connection. Apple Dictation is free and works everywhere. A push-to-talk dictation app works everywhere too, started by one held key. SuprFlow, for example, pastes the finished text at the cursor in whichever app has focus; secure fields, remote desktops and some unusual fields can behave differently. Whatever you use, test it in your real app with a made-up sentence before you dictate anything that matters.
Questions people ask
Can I dictate in any app on a Mac?
In almost any app with a text field. Click in the field, start Dictation, and speak. If it works in Notes but not in one app, see the troubleshooting hub.
Why did my message arrive as audio instead of text?
You used the app's own microphone or audio button. In Messages and WhatsApp that records a voice message, so the other person receives audio. Use the Dictation key in the text box instead.
Do I need Microsoft 365 to dictate in Word or Outlook?
Only for Microsoft's own Dictate button. Apple's Dictation types into Word and Outlook without a subscription.
Is it safe to dictate prompts to a coding agent?
Read the prompt before you press Enter. Several of these tools submit on Return, and an agent may change files or run commands based on what it heard.
Related guides
- Mac dictation complete guide
- How to use voice to text on a Mac
- Mac dictation troubleshooting hub
- Mac dictation commands and punctuation
- What is push-to-talk dictation?
Sources
- Apple — Dictate messages and documents on Mac
- Microsoft — Dictate in Microsoft 365
- Microsoft — Dictate your notes in OneNote
- Google — Type & edit with your voice (Docs Editors Help)
- Apple — Send a message on Mac (Messages User Guide)
- Literature & Latte — Write with Your Voice: How to Use Dictation with Scrivener
- Anthropic — Claude Code docs: Voice dictation
- Microsoft — Visual Studio Code docs: Voice support
- Google — Gemini CLI configuration reference
- Warp — Voice input for agents