To use voice to text on a Mac, turn on Dictation in System Settings → Keyboard, click where you want the words to go, press the Microphone key (or Fn-D), and speak. It is built into macOS and costs nothing. Apple calls the feature Dictation; talk to text, speech to text and voice typing are other names for the same thing. It works the same way on a MacBook, an iMac or a Mac mini with a microphone attached.
These steps follow Apple's Dictate messages and documents on Mac page in the Mac User Guide for macOS 27. The macOS 26 and macOS 15 editions describe the same steps. If your screen differs, open System Settings and search for "Dictation".
How do you turn on Dictation?
- Choose Apple menu → System Settings, then click Keyboard in the sidebar. You may need to scroll down.
- Go to Dictation and turn it on.
- Click Enable.
- If asked whether you want to improve Siri and Dictation, choose Share Audio Recordings or Not Now. Sharing lets Apple store audio of your Siri and Dictation interactions and review a sample. Apple says you can change this later in Privacy & Security → Analytics & Improvements.
- While you are here, check Languages, Microphone source and Shortcut.
How do you dictate on a Mac?
- In any app, click to place the insertion point where the text should go.
- Start Dictation one of three ways: press the Microphone key if your keyboard has one in the function row, use the Dictation keyboard shortcut, or choose Edit → Start Dictation. Apple's keyboard shortcut list gives Fn-D as the shortcut to start or stop dictation.
- Wait for the signal. Apple says to dictate "when the cursor is highlighted and pulsing, or you hear the tone that signals your Mac is ready for dictation".
- Speak. Say punctuation by name where you need it, such as "exclamation mark", and say "new line" or "new paragraph" for breaks.
- To stop, press Escape, the Microphone key, or the shortcut again.
A note on the Microphone key: press and release it to start Dictation. Pressing and holding it activates Siri, if Siri is enabled.
Apple says you can dictate text of any length without a timeout, and that Dictation stops automatically when no speech is detected for 30 seconds.
The Mac dictation shortcut guide explains how to change the key and what to do when it opens the emoji picker.
Where can you use talk to text on a MacBook?
Apple's wording is that you can "speak to enter text anywhere you can type it." That covers the ordinary places you type: an email, a message, a note, a document, a form in a browser.
Two exceptions are worth knowing:
- Search boxes are treated differently for privacy. Apple's note about on-device processing covers "general text Dictation (for example, composing messages and notes, but not dictating in a search box)."
- Some fields do not behave like ordinary text fields. If Dictation works in Notes but not in one app, the app is the variable. Test unusual fields, such as a remote-desktop window, before you rely on them.
Does Mac Dictation add punctuation automatically?
Yes, in supported languages. Apple says "Dictation automatically inserts commas, periods, and question marks for you as you dictate." The switch is Auto-punctuation under Keyboard → Dictation, and you can turn it off.
For other marks, say them: "colon", "open parenthesis", "quote" and "end quote". Apple also lets you say the name of an emoji, such as "heart emoji". The complete list is in Mac dictation commands and punctuation.
How do you fix mistakes?
- Blue underlines. Apple says ambiguous text is underlined in blue, for example "flour" when you meant "flower". Click the underlined word and select an alternative.
- Type over it. On a Mac with Apple silicon, Apple says "you can still use the keyboard while you speak; there's no need to stop dictation." The cursor stops pulsing while you type and resumes when you stop.
- Say it again. Select the wrong text and dictate the correct text.
How do you change the language or microphone?
Language: under Keyboard → Dictation, click Edit next to Languages and select a language and region. With more than one language set up, click the language shown next to the cursor while dictating, or press the Globe key and choose. Dictate in Spanish on a Mac has the details.
Microphone: use the Microphone source pop-up menu in the same section. Apple says that with Automatic selected, "your Mac listens to the device you're most likely to use for Dictation."
What are the limits of built-in Dictation?
| Limit | What Apple documents |
|---|---|
| Silence | Stops automatically after 30 seconds with no speech |
| Languages | Not available in all languages or regions; features vary by language. See Apple's feature availability page |
| Internet | Apple's troubleshooting page says "You may need an internet connection." Keyboard settings tell you whether general text dictation is processed on your device |
| Voice Control | When Voice Control is on, standard Dictation is not available |
| Start and stop | A key press starts it and a key press stops it. Apple does not describe a hold-to-talk mode |
| Your own vocabulary | Apple's Dictation guide does not describe a word list you can edit |
| Editing by voice | Apple's Dictation command list covers punctuation, symbols and formatting, not editing. Voice Control handles editing |
One recent change: Apple announced on 14 September 2026 that Dictation on devices that support its most advanced on-device model "now captures what users say as polished text with greater precision, automatically handling capitalization, punctuation, and formatting." Apple lists that as available on a Mac with M3 or later and at least 12GB of unified memory, and its feature availability page lists "More advanced Dictation" under Apple Intelligence, for English only. On other Macs and languages, expect the behaviour described above.
For privacy questions, including what is sent to Apple, read Is Mac Dictation private?. If Dictation will not start, go to Mac Dictation not working.
When should you consider a dedicated dictation app?
Start with Apple's Dictation. It is free, already installed, and enough for many people.
A separate app is worth testing if one of these is true:
- You dictate many times a day and want push-to-talk. Hold a key, speak, release. The shortcut guide shows which apps work this way.
- Names and jargon keep coming out wrong. Some third-party apps keep a personal dictionary.
- You want to transcribe recordings. Dictation is for live speech; Apple's guide describes no way to give it an audio file. A file transcription app such as MacWhisper does that different job. See How to run Whisper on a Mac.
- You need the same tool on Windows or a phone.
A separate app is not the answer if your microphone is poor, your room is noisy, or you dictate a few short messages a day.
SuprFlow, which publishes this guide, is one of those apps. It is a menu-bar app for Apple Silicon Macs with macOS 14 or later: hold the Fn key, speak, release, and the text is inserted at the cursor. Speech is recognised on the Mac by a downloaded model. It has a personal dictionary and voice snippets. It costs $125 once, with no free tier or trial, and it is Mac only. We have not run a controlled benchmark against Apple Dictation, so we make no accuracy claim. SuprFlow vs Apple Dictation gives a short test you can run yourself, and Best dictation app for Mac covers the free and paid alternatives.
Questions people ask
Is voice to text free on a Mac?
Yes. Dictation is part of macOS. There is nothing to buy or install.
How do I turn on speech to text on a MacBook?
Open System Settings → Keyboard, go to Dictation, turn it on and click Enable. Then press the Microphone key or Fn-D in any text field.
Can I dictate on a Mac without internet?
It depends on your Mac, language and settings. Apple says to check the text below the Dictation switch in Keyboard settings to see whether general text dictation is processed on your device. If it is, a connection is not needed for that.
Why does Dictation stop while I am thinking?
Apple says it stops automatically when no speech is detected for 30 seconds. Press the shortcut to start again.
Related guides
- Mac dictation shortcut: default keys and how to change them
- Mac dictation commands and punctuation
- Mac Dictation not working? Causes and fixes
- Is Mac Dictation private?
- Dictate in Spanish on a Mac
- Best dictation app for Mac
Sources
- Apple — Dictate messages and documents on Mac
- Apple — Mac keyboard shortcuts
- Apple — Commands for dictating text on Mac
- Apple — If Dictation on Mac doesn't work as expected
- Apple — macOS feature availability: Dictation
- MacWhisper — official site
- Apple Newsroom — Siri AI, a profoundly more capable and personal assistant, is here