If the microphone shows up, speak what you want to be typed and click Done or press the Fn key once. Press the Fn key twice when your cursor is in a text field. Once enabled, you can use Enhanced Dictation the same way you would regular dictation. Enhanced Dictation will take several minutes to download if you haven't done so already. How to enable and use Enhanced DictationĮnhanced Dictation enables you to dictate without an internet connection, and dictate continuously this means that your words will convert to text more quickly since they're being processed locally on your device.Ĭlick the checkbox next to Use Enhanced Dictation. To use those languages, you can switch to the default dictation option at any time by going to System Preferences > Keyboard > Dictation Language and selecting your current language from the dropdown menu.

Open System Preferences from your Dock or Applications folder.Ĭlick the checkboxes next to languages that you wish to add.

Apple has a great starter guide on how to dictate punctuation and formatting, as well.ĭid you know that you can dictate your text in multiple languages? Here's how. It may seem finicky at first, but as you use it more, it'll get better and better. The more you use Dictation, the more it learns how you speak - like your accent and cadence. You can also say phrases like 'caps on' to turn on capital letters.Ĭlick Done under the microphone icon or press the Fn key once when you're finished dictating.

You can speak various punctuation and symbols, including brackets, percent signs, and more.

A microphone will appear on your screen and if it's receiving audio, you'll see activity inside of it.

Click into a text area like a document or the address bar of your web browser.

Dictation accessibility in macOS Catalinaīasic dictation is essentially always enabled by default - you just need to activate it.

How to enable/disable output mute during dictation.

How to enable a sound when a command is recognized.

How to enable the dictation keyword phrase.

How to enable/disable Dictation Commands.

How to change the Dictation keyboard shortcut.

How to enable and use Enhanced Dictation.

All you have to do is set it up and get going. It's among the Mac's many accessibility features. Dictation lets you talk instead of type, and voice-to-text transcribes what you say into words on the screen.

If you have mobility or motor impairments, repetitive stress injuries, or you find typing on a keyboard difficult in any way, there's an alternative.

Recording dictation on mac