Voice typing on Mac: how to type with your voice

Set up voice typing in a minute

1. Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Keyboard, and turn on Dictation.
2. Pick a shortcut from the Shortcut pop-up menu, or choose Customize to set your own.
3. Click where you want the text, press the shortcut, and start talking.
4. Press Escape, the Microphone key, or the shortcut again when you’re done.

Want the full walkthrough, including microphone settings? See how to dictate on Mac.

Voice commands for punctuation and formatting

• Punctuation: “comma,” “period,” “question mark,” “exclamation mark,” “colon,” “semicolon,” “open parenthesis” and “close parenthesis,” “quote” and “end quote.”
• Line breaks: “new line” starts a new line; “new paragraph” starts a new paragraph. Apple says these appear when you finish dictating.
• Capitals: “caps on” formats the next phrase in Title Case and “caps off” returns to normal; “all caps” capitalizes the next word.
• Numbers and spacing: “numeral” formats the next phrase as a number; “no space on” and “no space off” control spacing.
• Symbols: “at sign,” “hashtag,” “dollar sign,” “percent sign,” “ampersand,” and more.
• Emoji: in some languages, say an emoji’s name, such as “heart emoji.”

Apple’s commands list says these commands are always available while you’re dictating text. In supported languages, Dictation also adds commas, periods, and question marks automatically; turn off Auto-punctuation in Keyboard settings if you’d rather say every mark yourself.

Fixing mistakes while you voice type

Apple’s Dictation guide says words your Mac wasn’t sure about are underlined in blue; click one to pick an alternative, or type or dictate the correction. On a Mac with Apple silicon, you can keep using the keyboard while you dictate, so you can fix a word without stopping.

If you want to edit by voice too, Voice Control lets you dictate and edit text and control apps with spoken commands. Apple notes that when Voice Control is on, standard Dictation isn’t available, so pick one or the other.

Toggle vs push-to-talk

Apple Dictation is a toggle: press once to start listening and again to stop. Push-to-talk apps work like a walkie-talkie: you hold a key while you speak and release it to finish.

Morning uses push-to-talk: hold Control + Space, speak, release, and your words paste where you’re typing. Wispr Flow’s help center describes a similar hold-and-release desktop shortcut. Push-to-talk makes it obvious when your Mac is listening, and suits short bursts like replies and prompts; a toggle suits longer stretches where you don’t want to hold a key.

Where voice typing works

Apple says Dictation lets you enter text anywhere you can type it, so voice typing works in Mail, Messages, Notes, browsers, and most third-party apps. A few fields, such as password fields, don’t accept it, and some web apps handle text input in unusual ways. If one app won’t take voice typing, try Notes or TextEdit to see whether the problem is the app or your setup; dictation not working on Mac walks through the other fixes.

Habits that make voice typing faster

• Think, then speak. Pause to form the sentence in your head, then say it in one go.
• Speak in phrases. Whole phrases give the speech model context; word-by-word dictation tends to read worse.
• Don’t fix as you go. Dictate the whole thought, then tidy up with the keyboard.
• Use it where it shines. Emails, messages, notes, and AI prompts suit voice; precise edits and code often stay faster on the keyboard.
• Use a good mic. A headset or external microphone close to your mouth beats a laptop mic across the room.

Is voice typing faster than typing?

For many people raw speaking is faster than typing, but it varies a lot by person, keyboard, and what you’re writing, and real dictation adds a moment for transcription and a quick read-through. Measure your own numbers with the free typing vs speaking speed test.

Privacy when you type by voice

Voice typing means a microphone is listening, so it’s worth knowing where the audio goes. Apple says Keyboard settings show whether general text Dictation is processed on your device. Third-party apps vary: some transcribe on your Mac, others in the cloud. Our guide to on-device vs cloud dictation explains the difference, and what is Whisper AI covers the open model many local apps use.

Where Morning fits

Morning is private dictation for Mac that lives in the notch. It transcribes on-device with local Whisper models, works in the apps you already use, and keeps optional cloud AI off by default. It needs macOS 14 or later, and the download is coming soon.