You can then speak any of the phrases that work with a dictation command. You can then speak the dictation keyword phrase to let your Mac know that the next thing you say after the keyword phrase will be a dictation command. Alternatively, you can turn on the option “Enable the dictation keyword phrase,” which is next to the Dictation Commands button. The default shortcut is “Fn Fn” (press the Fn key twice). To make your Mac listen for Dictation commands, press the keyboard shortcut for starting dictation. Select “Enable advanced commands” to get additional commands. For example, “Undo that” works with several phrases, including “Undo this” and “Scratch that.” Click a command to see which phrases work with that command. Use the checkboxes to turn commands on or off. There’s also another method:Ī list of dictation commands opens. Turn on Dictation, then select “Use Enhanced Dictation.” You can now get a list of commands and select the ones that you want to use. Most dictation commands turn on automatically when you turn on Enhanced Dictation. You can also use dictation commands to tell your Mac what to do, like ”undo that” or ”select the previous sentence.” When you turn on Dictation, you can use your voice to enter text on your Mac. Siri isn’t the same as Dictation, but you can ask the personal digital assistant to compose short messages, such as email and text messages. In macOS Sierra and higher, you can ask Siri to “turn on Dictation” for you. ° The microphone you wish to use your choices will be shown from the pop-up menu below the microphone icon. ° The keyboard shortcut you want to use to start start dictating. Some languages, such as English, have multiple dialects such as my Southern accent. ° Whether to use Enhanced Dictation, which lets you use dictation when you’re not connected to the Internet. Choose Apple () menu > System Preferences, click Keyboard, then click Dictation. Mac support for the product was dropped in October 2018 several years after Apple added “built-in” dictation capabilities for the platform via its own Dictation feature, which converts your spoken words into text. On September 20, 2010, Nuance Communications, which acquired MacSpeech in February 2010, released a new version of the product, renaming it “Dragon Dictate for Mac.” The first version of MacSpeech Dictate was released in March 2008 after being showcased at the Macworld Conference & Expo (anyone remember those?) in 2008 and winning the Macworld 2008 Best Of Show award. Now it’s something you can do with an Apple desktop or laptop right out of the box.īut first a little history. MacSpeech Dictate was a speech recognition program developed for Mac OS X (which is now, of course, simply macOS). Remember MacSpeech Dictate and Dragon Dictate? Once they were the methods you had to use for dictation on your Mac.

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