To dictate a blog post in Medium or Substack on a Mac, open the editor in your browser, click into the body, start Apple's built-in Dictation with the Microphone key or your Dictation shortcut, and speak a section at a time. Say "new paragraph" between paragraphs, then edit by keyboard. Neither Medium nor Substack documents a dictation feature for writing. Their voice features go the other way: Medium reads stories aloud to members, and Substack lets you record a voiceover or podcast.
Publisher note: SuprFlow publishes this guide and is one of the products discussed. Competitor details come from each company's own pages, checked on 3 October 2026. Prices and features change; confirm before you buy.
Do Medium or Substack have voice typing?
No. Medium's help pages do not describe a built-in dictation feature as of 3 October 2026; see Using the story editor. Substack's help pages do not describe one either; see Can I use shortcuts in the Substack editor?
Their audio features, so you know what each one does:
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| Medium Listen | Text to speech: stories "voiced by a computer-generated voice", for members with an active subscription, English only. Medium says "it's not possible to narrate your own stories" (About audio) |
| Substack voiceover | You record or upload yourself reading the post; it appears as a player at the top (Add a voiceover) |
| Substack text-to-speech | Readers listen in the Substack app, on select publications, English posts only (Listen to a post) |
| Substack transcript | Auto-generates a text version of an audio post, editable, shown on the episode page on the web (Generate a transcript) |
The Substack transcript is a real alternative if you are recording a podcast anyway: record, let Substack generate the text, edit it. For a written post, dictation is the direct route.
How do you dictate a post with Apple Dictation?
Apple's Dictation guide for macOS 27 says "you can speak to enter text anywhere you can type it." Apple also says you can dictate text of any length without a timeout.
- Turn on Dictation once in System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation. On older macOS versions the wording may differ.
- Open a new story on Medium, or on Substack go to your Dashboard and choose Create → Article (Publish a new post).
- Type the title and subtitle. Click into the body.
- Press the Microphone key or your Dictation shortcut. Speak one section at a time from a short outline. Say "new paragraph" between paragraphs.
- Stop with the same key. Add headings, links and lists with the editor toolbar.
- Read the whole post through before publishing.
Setup is in How to use voice to text on a Mac. See the Mac dictation shortcut guide, Mac dictation commands and Mac Dictation not working. For long pieces, How to dictate an essay on a Mac covers the outline-then-speak method.
When is a push-to-talk dictation app worth it?
Long-form writers often dictate in short bursts between pauses for thought. Holding a key while you speak and releasing when you stop suits that rhythm, and a personal dictionary helps with names and terms you use in every issue.
SuprFlow is one example. It is a menu-bar app for Apple Silicon Macs on macOS 14 or later. Hold the Fn key, speak, release, and it pastes the text into whichever text field has focus. Speech recognition runs on the Mac with an on-device model; optional cloud formatting sends transcript text, not audio, to the provider you pick. Default formatting is local cleanup of punctuation, capitalization and numbers. It costs $125 for lifetime access on up to 5 Macs you own, with no subscription and a 7-day refund on a first purchase (as of 3 October 2026).
Because it pastes at the cursor, it should work in an ordinary text field; test it in a Medium or Substack draft with a harmless sentence. We have not run a controlled benchmark against Apple Dictation. If you write one newsletter a week, Apple's free Dictation is enough.
Which route should you use?
| Medium or Substack built-in | Apple Dictation | System-wide app (SuprFlow as the example) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Types into the editor | Not documented | Yes | Should work; test first |
| Turns your recording into text | Substack transcript, for audio posts | No | No |
| Reads your post aloud | Medium Listen; Substack voiceover and text-to-speech | No | No |
| Cost | Included, Medium Listen needs membership | Free with macOS | $125 once |
| Best for | Audio versions of a post | Drafting occasional posts | Writers who dictate every day |
What goes wrong when dictating into Medium or Substack?
- Return makes paragraphs. Substack says "Press enter to insert a new paragraph" and Shift-Return for "a line break within a paragraph." Medium says Shift-Return makes a single-spaced line break on desktop. Apple's "new line" is "equivalent to pressing the Return key once", so in these editors it starts a new paragraph.
- Accidental formatting. Both editors turn "1." followed by a space at the start of a line into a numbered list, and Substack turns "#" plus a space into a heading. A dictated sentence starting with a number can become a list.
- Mentions notify people. Medium says mentioned users "will be notified in-product and by email."
- Silence. Apple says Dictation stops after 30 seconds without speech. Restart it after a long pause.
What should you check before you publish?
- Names, quotes and figures against your notes.
- Every "not" and every number.
- Paragraph breaks and any lists or headings created by accident.
- Links, which you add by hand.
- On Substack, the audience and email settings. Substack says that "Once a post is emailed, it can't be resent," so read it before you send.
On privacy: Substack says its editor "automatically saves your drafts" with a version history, and gives each draft a secret link you can share. Medium and Substack store what you publish on their platforms. See where dictated text goes after insertion.
Questions people ask
Can I dictate a Substack newsletter on a Mac?
Yes. Click into the Substack editor in your browser and use Apple Dictation or another dictation app.
Does Medium have speech to text?
Medium has text to speech for members, which reads stories aloud. It does not document speech to text for writing.
Can Substack turn my voice into a post?
Substack can generate a transcript of an audio post. For a written post, dictate into the editor.
How do I add a line break without a new paragraph?
Press Shift-Return in either editor. Medium says this works on desktop only.
Related guides
- How to dictate an essay on a Mac
- How to dictate a book on a Mac
- Dictation software for writers on a Mac
- How to dictate LinkedIn posts on a Mac
- How to dictate better
- How to use voice to text on a Mac
Sources
- Medium Help — Using the story editor
- Medium Help — About audio
- Substack — Can I use shortcuts in the Substack editor?
- Substack — How do I publish a new post on Substack?
- Substack — How do I restore a post draft?
- Substack — How do I add a voiceover to my Substack post?
- Substack — How do I listen to a Substack post?
- Substack — How can I generate a transcript of an audio post on Substack?
- Apple — Dictate messages and documents on Mac