On Mac, you don’t need additional software to enter text by dictating it rather than typing it on the keyboard. The voice dictation function is integrated as standard in macOS. And it is terribly effective!
What if your computer could enter text for you as soon as you ask it to avoid typing it on the keyboard? It is quite possible, thanks to voice dictation. Some professional software, including the famous Dragon, specializes in this area, but modern operating systems like Windows 10 and macOS have included this feature as standard for several years. No need to go through an external application – and paid – to dictate text to a Mac! And it works. The proof: this article was entirely written with dictation!
Like Siri, Apple’s smart assistant, macOS’ built-in dictation uses voice recognition. In both cases, what you say is sent in real time to Apple’s servers over the Internet for analysis. But unlike Siri, which basically answers questions, dictation turns your words into text. This is also its only function, because dictation is not a voice command tool: it is not used to launch an application or close a window, for example.
On the other hand, it is useful and convenient to write for you wherever you can enter text, whether it is to take a quick note, write a document or write a message. You can also use it in a web browser, but it doesn’t make much sense in a spreadsheet.
To be able to use the voice dictation of macOS, you need an Internet connection – ADSL is enough. Older versions of macOS like Mojave had an offline mode to use an “enhanced” version of dictation working locally, without an internet connection. But this mode is gone in recent versions like macOS Big Sur and it required downloading a special file of some 700MB. And, of course, you also need a microphone for the Mac to hear you! No problem with MacBooks and iMacs which always have one associated with their webcam. On the other hand, with a Mac mini or a Mac Pro, you must use an external microphone plugged into the appropriate socket. A webcam microphone might suffice, but you can also use a wired hands-free kit or a headset – which combine earphones and a microphone – or even a Bluetooth system. The ideal is still to invest a few euros in a small lavalier microphone – like those used by TV presenters – to be plugged into an analog mini-jack socket or a USB socket. The cord is usually long enough for you to dictate while sitting comfortably in your seat. You will get better results because audio quality is important for speech recognition.
Then all you have to do is activate the dictation function and configure it, in particular by defining a keyboard shortcut to launch it when you need it.
To use macOS voice dictation, you must activate the function in the settings, but also adjust some settings, such as the language and the keyboard shortcut associated with the trigger.
- To activate voice dictation, pull down the apple menuat the top left, and go to the System Preferencesthen in the section Keyboard.
- Then click on the tab dictation, the rightmost one. Finally click on the button Enabledif it is not done yet.
- An alert tells you that your lyrics will be sent to Apple to be converted to text. Click on Enable Voice Dictation.
- If you are concerned about the information you transmit to Apple in this way, click on the button About Dictation and privacy. Most of the information given on this subject concerns Siri, but we do not learn that the information and recordings sent to Apple’s servers are linked to a random identifier, not allowing Apple to know who you are. Note, however, that dictation – therefore Apple – has access to your contacts to more easily identify proper names.
- Once the voice dictation function is activated, you can choose the language in which you will dictate. To do this, pull down the menu Languages. The language(s) already selected appear.
- Click on Personalize to possibly choose others if you are multilingual yourself. We will see below how to select the dictation language when you need it.
- Once activated, the voice dictation feature is available anywhere in the system or in an application, whenever you need to enter text. To launch it, you need to use a customizable keyboard shortcut that will trigger the listen when you need to enter text.
- To do this, pull down the menu Shortcut. To make it easier for you, choose from one of the basic options offered, like here a double press on the key fn (found on all MacBooks). But you can therefore also use a double press on the key Ordered Where Control of your keyboard.
- Once these few settings have been made, close the window: your Mac is ready to write when you dictate!
Now that dictation is set up, you can use it in any application where you need to enter text.
Start dictation
- To write your first text with dictation, open the Note application, for example, which is used to take notes.
- Then use the keyboard shortcut you defined to launch the dictation function.
- A small window then appears on the side of the application with a microphone icon also acting as a VU meter: a small animation indicates the sound level detected by the microphone.
- A beep also lets you know your Mac is listening. Do not start dictating until you hear this beep. You will sometimes have to wait half a second for the system to activate – at least the first time, after (re)starting your Mac.
- Start talking. The words are displayed one after the other, as you dictate. Don’t be surprised to see the words change as you dictate. This is normal: the software tries to determine the best word according to the context, for example to make the difference between “so much” and “time”.
- When you have finished dictating, press the Playback button once again to stop dictation. Note that if you type on another letter on the keyboard, it will be added to your text, in addition to ending listening.
- Please note that listening does not last indefinitely: after 20 to 30 seconds, even if you are still dictating, listening stops. A beep warns you. You must then restart dictation with the keyboard shortcut to resume text entry.
Change language
If you defined multiple dictation languages during setup, you can switch languages.
- Under the microphone icon, click on the currently selected language (here French) and choose another language from the small menu that appears, for example, English (United States). Changing language to another stops listening: you will therefore have to restart it before you can dictate in the other language.
Correct misinterpretations
You will quickly notice that the text taken from dictation is not perfect. In addition to certain misunderstood words or poorly chosen homophones, spelling or grammatical errors remain – notably errors of agreement.
- When in doubt, the dictation system lets you know by underlining the words in question with a blue dotted line.
- Then click just to the right of the word or group of words concerned to reveal a small bubble offering one or more corrections.
- If a proposal suits you, click on it to replace the incorrectly transcribed text.
- If none of the suggestions correspond to what you dictated, or if you made a mistake while dictating, use your keyboard to correct all or part of a word.
Indicate punctuation
The Mac’s voice dictation feature understands words, but not intonations. This implies that you must indicate to him, during the dictation, the different punctuations desired.
- Thus, to write “Hello what is your name ?”you must explicitly dictate “hello comma what is your name question mark”.
- Similarly, you can say “period” aloud at the end of a sentence. Or say “colon” to add the “:” character. Or, for that matter, say “open quotes” and then “close quotes” for a quote, for example.
- And also, you can dictate “to the line” to, therefore, go to the line or even “new paragraph” to separate two text areas with a slightly larger space.
Improve voice dictation
If the Mac’s dictation works well as standard, a few tips can improve it and limit errors, and therefore corrections.
Thus, the sound quality of the sound recording is essential to ensure a good transcription. The microphones built into Macs are generally of good quality – even excellent quality on recent models. But you have surely already noticed during a videoconference an echo effect linked to the reverberation of the sound of your voice on the walls of the room in which you are. To minimize this echo, don’t hesitate to move physically closer to the Mac so that your mouth is a little closer to the microphone.
Beyond sound recording, voice dictation requires a little practice. If only for the reflex of dictating punctuation. But also to avoid hesitations and unfortunate “uh”. Indeed, the Mac will try to convert all the sounds it detects into words. In other words, it is better, when dictating, to prepare your sentence in your head before starting, unlike the habit you have when typing on the keyboard.
You will see it in use, voice dictation is surprisingly effective. You don’t necessarily need to articulate more than usual. To help him a little more, don’t hesitate to make connections to, for example, help him discover plurals. In other words, don’t hesitate to say aloud “the guest is coming” to get “the guests are coming”.