As you speak, you'll see the volume control in the microphone go up and down, indicating the strength of your voice. As soon as you do, a small microphone icon next to your cursor will appear. Next, navigate to the menu bar and click Edit > Start Dictation. To start, open up your application of choice - such an email or word processor - and click anywhere where you want to input text.Ģ. The first way to use Dictation is from the menu bar at the top of your screen.ġ. In this guide we'll show you two different ways to enable voice dictation on your Mac: from the menu bar at the top of your screen and with a keyboard shortcut of your choice. If you're always multitasking and need something to help you write up long emails or leave quick comments, use Dictation. Dictation, on the other hand, works in any app or service on your Mac, meaning you could write an essay in Microsoft Word or leave a comment on YouTube in Safari - with only your voice.

Siri does have a voice-to-text feature, but it only works with native applications like Mail and Messages. The tool, known as Dictation, lets you use your voice to type pretty much anywhere on your computer - which Siri can't do. Conveniently, Mac has another voice feature that fills in some of the holes that Siri leaves behind - including voice typing. With just my voice I can quickly search through hundreds of documents for a single file or check for free disk space if I'm running out of storage, but the intelligent personal assistant does have its limitations. Use the shortcut again to turn off Dictation.I hardly ever use Siri on my iPhone, but boy, oh boy, do I take advantage on my Mac.Start speaking-Postbox transcribes your speech into the message.Use the Dictation shortcut to bring up the Dictation panel.Place the cursor in the body of the message.(You can change it if you like using the Shortcut menu.) By default, macOS uses fn + fn as a shortcut to activate Dictation.

Go to Apple menu > System Preferences… > Keyboard > Dictation.

Press Option + Esc (or the custom shortcut you’ve decided to use) to have macOS read the selected text aloud.ĭictation is great for capturing thoughts spontaneously, or for just giving your fingers a rest.

Return to Postbox and select some text in a message.

By default, macOS uses Option + Esc to turn on this feature.

Check Speak selected text when the key is pressed.Go to Apple menu > System Preferences > Accessibility > Speech.

This can be great for listening to messages you’ve received and for proofreading messages you’ve written. Postbox can speak selected text when Speak Select Text keyboard shortcut is used. It can read selected text aloud for you, and you can also dictate your messages. In macOS, Postbox has enhanced speech capabilities.

Speech to text shortcut mac