Zoom dictation on Mac: chat + captions (voice typing)                        Skip to main content




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Zoom dictation on Mac
Dictate into Zoom chat on macOS, plus how to think about captions/transcription for meetings.
← Back to Learn  |    Mac Dictation guide

“Zoom dictation” can mean two things:

Voice typing into Zoom chat:  you speak and text appears where your cursor is.

Captions/transcription for the meeting:  Zoom generates text for what’s being said in the call (if enabled/available).

A) Dictate into Zoom chat (speech-to-text)
The fastest approach on macOS is to use system-wide Dictation (or Voice Type). It works inside the Zoom app anywhere you can type.

Enable Dictation: System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation → On.

Open Zoom and click into the chat input field.

Start Dictation (microphone key, or your Dictation shortcut — often Fn twice).

Speak, then stop Dictation to insert the text.

B) Captions / transcription (meeting feature)
Zoom also has captioning/transcription features (availability depends on account settings and meeting configuration). If your goal is “turn the meeting audio into text”, look for Zoom’s automated captions/live transcription settings.

Troubleshooting (mic permissions)

Confirm Zoom has mic access (System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone).

Test mic input in System Settings → Sound.

If Dictation doesn’t start anywhere, use:  Dictation not working on Mac .

If you dictate daily across apps
If you want a consistent hold‑to‑dictate hotkey across Zoom, Slack, email, and docs — with on-device processing — try  Voice Type .

Sources

Apple: Dictate messages and documents on Mac

Apple: Control access to the microphone on Mac

Zoom Support: Enabling automated captions


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