Dictation

Overview

Dictation turns speech into text in any app. Press ⌥ Space to start recording and press it again to stop: Keybumps transcribes the recording on this Mac and inserts the text where your cursor was.

Transcribe with Apple Speech, built into macOS, or with a Whisper model you download. Every recording and its transcript stays in Dictation History, Quick Search’s Dictation tab, where you can search, play, and copy them.

Shortcut

⌥Space

Tab in Quick Search

Dictation ⌘4 by default

macOS permissions

Accessibility, Microphone, Speech Recognition

How to use it

1. Put your cursor where the text should go.
2. Press ⌥ Space and talk.⌥Space
3. Press ⌥ Space again. Your words appear where your cursor was.⌥Space

Key features

• Start and stop with ⌥ Space; Escape cancels while it records or transcribes
• Inserts the transcript at the cursor where you started
• Apple Speech, built in, or a downloadable Whisper model: Medium English, or Medium Multilingual and Large v3 Turbo for English and Japanese
• The notch shows a recording timer and live microphone bars while you speak
• Records up to five minutes by default; choose 10, 15, 30, or 60 minutes, or no limit
• Transcribes the whole recording after you stop, so a pause never cuts it short
• Dictation History: search, play back, reveal in Finder, and delete recordings
• In Dictation History, Return or ⌘C copies a transcript, ⌘V pastes it into the app you were using, and Space plays or pauses the recording while the search field is empty. A click selects a recording, a double-click chooses it, and Delete (⌫) removes it
• On macOS 15 or later, translate a transcript on this Mac and hear it in an installed macOS voice

Commands

Open its tab in Quick Search, or use its shortcuts. You can change the shortcuts in Settings › Dictation.

• Dictation tabIn Quick Search, with its default key⌘4

• Start & Stop Dictation⌥Space
• Cancel DictationOnly while Dictation is recording or transcribingEscape

Permissions and privacy

Dictation asks for these macOS permissions while it’s on:

• AccessibilityLets Dictation return text to the original cursor.
• MicrophoneLets Dictation record only while its recording indicator is visible.
• Speech RecognitionLets Apple transcribe Dictation locally on this Mac.

Questions