Dictate text
- In an app on your Mac, place the insertion point where you want the dictated text to appear.
- Press the dictation keyboard shortcut or choose Edit > Start Dictation.
- When the feedback window shows a microphone icon with a fluctuating loudness indicator, or you hear the tone that signals your Mac is ready for keyboard dictation, dictate your text.
- Note: For best results, speak for no more than 40 seconds at a time.
- To insert a punctuation mark or perform simple formatting tasks, do any of the following:
- Say the name of the punctuation mark, such as “exclamation mark.”
- Say “new line” (equivalent to pressing the Return key once) or “new paragraph” (equivalent to pressing the Return key twice). After you say “new line,” the dictated text appears when you’re done dictating.
- For a list of the commands you can use while dictating, see Commands for dictating text.
- If you set up keyboard dictation for multiple languages and want to switch languages as you dictate, click the language in the feedback window, then choose the language you want.
- For information about setting up keyboard dictation for multiple languages, see “Turn on keyboard dictation,” above.
- When you’re done, press the dictation keyboard shortcut, the Return key, or click Done in the feedback window.
Ambiguous text is underlined in blue. If the text is wrong, click it and select an alternate. You can also type or dictate the correct text.
Set a different keyboard dictation shortcut
By default, you press the Fn (Function) key twice to start or stop keyboard dictation. If you like, you can choose a different dictation keyboard shortcut.
- On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Keyboard, then click Dictation.
- Click the Shortcut pop-up menu, then choose a different shortcut.
- To create a shortcut that’s not in the list, choose Customize, then press the keys you want to use. For example, you could press Option-Z.
Change the microphone used for keyboard dictation
The pop-up menu below the microphone icon in the Dictation pane of Keyboard preferences shows which device your Mac is currently using to listen.
- On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Keyboard, then click Dictation.
- Click the pop-up menu below the microphone icon, then choose the microphone you want to use for keyboard dictation.
- If you choose Automatic, your Mac listens to the device you’re most likely to use for keyboard dictation.
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-dictation-mh40584/mac