Dictation and speech

Question

Level 1

48 points

Dictation and speech

I am new to Macs so please excuse me if this question is on the ignorant side. I discovered dictation and speech in the settings menu. I purchased the suggested Microphone from Apple. I assumed that one would be able to activate the microphone and it would convert the speech to text while I had a pages document open. I understand that the speech goes to Apple and is converted into text and then sent back to the sender. My questoin is where is it going when it comes back? The microphone is working as I can see the audio input level and voice input strength bars moving with the recording of text. Is it possible to send it to pages? I have an Internet connection active when I try it but, I don't know where it is going if any where? NOthing returns to the blank pages document or via email.

Thanks in advance.

Rodger

MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2013), Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Sep 2, 2013 12:31 PM

Reply

Answer 1

matt00

Level 5

4,041 points

Sep 4, 2013 6:43 AM in response to rodgerb4

Hey rodgerb4,

Thanks for the question. It sounds like you are interested in using Dictation with your new MacBook Air. I understand you are currently looking at the dictation settings in System Preferences. If you wish to use dictation in a specific application (and see the awesome result), follow these steps:

OS X Mountain Lion: Use Dictation to create messages and documents

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11428

Dictate text

1. Place the insertion point where you want the dictated text to appear.

2. Press the Fn (Function) key twice, or choose Edit > Start Dictation.

3. When you see the microphone icon, speak your text.

To insert a punctuation mark, such as a period or comma, say the name of the punctuation mark.

You can also perform simple formatting tasks. For example, say “new line” or “new paragraph” to insert space between lines.

4. When you’re done, press the Fn key or click the Done button.

Your spoken text appears.

Unclear text is underlined in blue. If the text is wrong, click it and select an alternate, or type or dictate the correct text.

For additional information, see this article:

Mac Basics: Dictation

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5449

Thanks,

Matt M.

Reply