Dictation in Microsoft Teams on a Mac

First, the naming confusion: Teams advertises transcription and captions, and neither one is dictation. Those features write down what a meeting said. Dictation types what you are saying now, into the message box, and for that Teams relies on whatever the Mac provides.

The trap: Enter sends in the compact compose box

In the compact Teams compose box, Enter sends and Shift+Enter starts a new line. Do not rely on spoken line-break commands to control that behavior. Speak in sentences with spoken punctuation, review the completed text, and send it yourself.

Format-before-send is the safe mode for long messages

For anything longer than two sentences, open the compose box's formatting view before you dictate. In that expanded editor, Enter behaves like a normal editor's Return instead of a send key, which removes the entire class of early-send accidents while you talk. Send when you press the send button and not before.

Dictate a Teams message

1. Click into the compose box. For long messages, expand the formatting view first.
2. Dictate in full sentences with spoken punctuation.
3. Read the message. Teams messages go to coworkers; the proofread pays rent.
4. Send it yourself.

Where the built-in dictation falls short

Status updates and standup notes are repetitive prose, the exact place dictation earns minutes back every day. The built-in tool stops automatically after 30 seconds without detecting speech and supports spoken punctuation. A hold-to-talk tool that delivers finished text on release, with no Return of its own, fits chat better.

Sources

• Microsoft: Teams help and learning
• Apple: Dictate messages and documents on Mac