Dictate messages and documents on Mac
With Dictation, you can enter text just by speaking, anywhere that you can type it.
On a Mac with Apple silicon, Dictation requests are processed on your device for supported languages—no internet connection is required. When you dictate in a search box, dictated text may be sent to the search provider in order to process the search. Additionally, you can dictate text of any length without a timeout. You can turn off Dictation manually, or it stops automatically when no speech is detected for 30 seconds.
When you dictate on an Intel-based Mac or in a language that doesn’t support on-device dictation, your dictated utterances are sent to Apple to process your requests.
Note: Dictation may not be available in all languages or in all countries or regions, and features may vary. See the macOS Feature Availability webpage to see Dictation languages and on-device processing support. To learn more about how Apple protects your information and lets you choose what you share, click About Ask Siri, Dictation & Privacy at the bottom of Keyboard settings, or see the Apple Privacy website.
If you need to dictate text and control your Mac using your voice instead of a keyboard and trackpad, use Voice Control. See Use Voice Control commands. When Voice Control is on, you can’t use Dictation.
Turn on Dictation
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.)Go to Dictation on the right, then turn it on. If a prompt appears, click Enable.
If you’re asked if you want to improve Siri and Dictation, do one of the following:
Share audio recordings: Click Share Audio Recordings to allow Apple to store audio of your Siri and Dictation interactions from your Mac. Apple may review a sample of stored audio.
Don’t share audio recordings: Click Not Now.
If you change your mind later and want to share or stop sharing audio recordings, choose Apple menu
in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.) Go to Analytics & Improvements on the right, then turn on or off the Improve Siri & Dictation option. See Change Privacy & Security settings.Note: You can delete the audio interactions (which are associated with a random identifier and less than six months old) whenever you like—see Delete Siri and Dictation history.
To dictate using another language, click the Edit button next to Languages, then select a language and dialect. (To remove a language, deselect it.)
To learn more about how Apple protects your information and lets you choose what you share, click About Ask Siri, Dictation & Privacy at the bottom of Keyboard settings, or see the Apple Privacy website.
Dictate text
In an app on your Mac, place the insertion point where you want the dictated text to appear.
Press
if available in the row of function keys, use the Dictation keyboard shortcut, or choose Edit > Start Dictation.Note: Press and release
to start Dictation; press and hold to activate Siri (Siri must be enabled).When a microphone icon
appears above or below a highlighted cursor, or you hear the tone that signals your Mac is ready for dictation, dictate your text.On a Mac with Apple silicon, you can type text even while dictating; there’s no need to stop dictation. The microphone icon disappears while you type, and then reappears after you stop typing, so you can continue dictating.
To insert an emoji or a punctuation mark, or perform simple formatting tasks, do any of the following:
Say the name of an emoji, like “heart emoji” or “car emoji.”
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). The new line or new paragraph appear when you’re done dictating.
For a list of the commands you can use while dictating, see Commands for dictating text.
Note: In supported languages, Dictation automatically inserts commas, periods, and question marks for you as you dictate. To turn this feature off, choose Apple menu
If you set up Dictation for multiple languages and want to switch languages as you dictate, click the language next to the microphone or click
, then choose the language you want to use.For information about setting up Dictation for multiple languages, see Turn on Dictation.
When you’re done, press the Dictation keyboard shortcut or the Escape key. Dictation stops automatically when no speech is detected for 30 seconds.
Ambiguous text is underlined in blue. For example, you may get the result “flour” when you intended the word “flower.” If this is the case, click the underlined word and select an alternative. You can also type or dictate the correct text.
Set the Dictation keyboard shortcut
You can choose a specific Dictation keyboard shortcut or create one of your own.
Tip: If is available in the row of function keys, you can press it to start Dictation or use the keyboard shortcut.
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
Go to Dictation on the right, click the pop-up menu next to Shortcut, then choose a shortcut to start Dictation.
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.
Note: When you choose a Dictation keyboard shortcut, depending on your Mac model, the “Press fn key to” or “Press key to” option in Keyboard settings may change automatically. For example, if you choose Press Fn (Function) Key Twice as the Dictation Shortcut option, the Keyboard settings option changes to Start Dictation (Press Fn Twice) automatically.
For more help with Keyboard options, click the Help button 
in Keyboard settings.
Change the microphone used for Dictation
The microphone source in Keyboard settings shows which device your Mac is currently using to listen for Dictation.
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
Go to Dictation on the right, click the pop-up menu next to “Microphone source,” then choose the microphone you want to use for Dictation.
If you choose Automatic, your Mac listens to the device you’re most likely to use for Dictation.
Turn off Dictation
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
Go to Dictation on the right, then turn it off.