Turn on Dictation
- Choose the Apple menu, then System Settings.
- Click Keyboard.
- Go to Dictation and turn it on. If asked, click Enable.
Start and stop dictating
- Start: press the Microphone key if your keyboard has one, use your Dictation shortcut, or choose Edit, then Start Dictation.
- Speak when the cursor pulses or you hear a tone.
- Stop: press Escape, the Microphone key or your shortcut. Dictation also stops after 30 seconds without speech.
To change the shortcut, open the Shortcut menu in the Dictation settings. One of the options is pressing Fn twice.
Punctuation and new lines
In supported languages, Dictation adds commas, full stops and question marks for you. You can turn that off with Auto-punctuation in the Dictation settings. You can also say punctuation names, like "exclamation mark", and say "new line" or "new paragraph".
If it is not working
- Check Dictation is on in System Settings, then Keyboard.
- Check which microphone Dictation uses, in the same settings.
- If Voice Control is on, use Voice Control for dictation instead: standard Dictation is not available while it is on.
All of the above comes from Apple's Dictation guide, checked on 30 Oct 2026.
Is there another option?
Apple Dictation is free and works well. Zefmi is a paid app for people who want an AI clean-up that removes filler words and false starts, but it runs on Windows only for now. A Mac version is coming; see Zefmi for Mac to join the waitlist.
Steps checked against Apple's guide on 30 Oct 2026. Menu names can change between macOS versions.
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