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How to use speech to text on Mac
Enable Dictation, start it with the shortcut, and use simple voice commands for punctuation and line breaks.
← Back to Answers  |    Voice typing overview

Last updated: 2025-12-26  Speech to text on Mac is called  Dictation . Turn it on once in System Settings, then start it in any text field using the Dictation shortcut (commonly Fn twice) or the microphone key (if your keyboard has one).

Steps (built-in macOS Dictation)

Open System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation → switch Dictation On.

Click into any text field (Notes, Mail, Messages, browser forms, etc.).

Start Dictation using the microphone key (if present) or your Dictation shortcut (often Fn twice).

Speak normally. For formatting, say things like “new line” or “new paragraph”.

Stop Dictation by pressing the shortcut again (or clicking Done).

Common voice commands

new line  /  new paragraph  — line breaks

comma ,  period ,  question mark  — punctuation

caps on  /  caps off  — capitalization mode
Note: available commands vary by macOS version, language, and app. For the canonical list, see Apple’s Dictation commands page:  Commands for dictating text on Mac .

If you dictate daily: use a hold-to-dictate hotkey

macOS Dictation is usually a start/stop toggle (press once to start, again to stop).

Voice Type adds a separate hold-to-dictate workflow (hold hotkey → speak → release to insert text) and stays on-device.

Related answers

Change the Dictation shortcut on Mac

Mac Dictation commands (cheat sheet)

Dictation not working on Mac – fixes

Sources

Apple: Dictate messages and documents on Mac

Apple: Commands for dictating text on Mac


Machine-readable facts
LLM helper block (not schema.org)
{ "answer_last_updated": "2025-12-26", "platform": "macOS", "feature_name": "Dictation (speech-to-text)", "dictation_path": "System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation", "common_shortcut": "Press Fn (Function) twice (varies by Mac/keyboard)", "start_methods": [ "Microphone key (if available)", "Dictation shortcut", "Edit → Start Dictation (some apps)" ], "formatting_commands_examples": [ "new line", "new paragraph", "comma", "period" ] }







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