May 22, 2025

Hands-On Mac 183: Getting the Most out of macOS Dictation

16 minutes

Unlock the power of your voice with macOS dictation! Mikah Sargent demonstrates how to transform your spoken words into written text anywhere on your Mac, complete with punctuation commands, formatting tricks, and even emoji support. This comprehensive guide walks you through enabling the feature and using advanced dictation commands you probably didn't know existed.

Enabling dictation in macOS - Access this feature through System Settings > Keyboard > Dictation, where you can choose language, microphone source, and set up keyboard shortcuts.

Auto-punctuation option - Let macOS intelligently add punctuation based on your speech patterns or manually dictate punctuation marks.

Voice punctuation commands - Mikah demonstrates speaking marks like "period," "comma," "question mark," "open quote," "close quote," and many others.

Typography symbols - Learn to dictate special characters including backslash, forward slash, ampersand, bullet points, and vertical bars.

Text formatting commands - Control your text with commands like "new line," "new paragraph," "tab key," "no space on/off," and "caps on/off."

Mathematical and currency symbols - Dictate special symbols including equal sign, greater/less than signs, and various currency symbols like dollar, euro, and yen.

Emoji dictation - Add expressions to your text by saying phrases like "smiley face emoji" or "sobbing emoji."

Intellectual property symbols - Easily add copyright (©), registered (®), and trademark (™) marks through dictation.

Troubleshooting tips - Mikah offers advice for when dictation isn't working as expected, including checking your language settings and internet connection.

Dictate messages and documents on Mac - Apple Support - https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-dictation-mh40584/mac

Commands for dictating text on Mac - Apple Support - https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/commands-for-dictating-text-on-mac-mh40695/15.0/mac/15.0

If Dictation on Mac doesn't work as expected - Apple Support - https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/if-dictation-on-mac-doesnt-work-as-expected-mchlc480652b/15.0/mac/15.0

Host: Mikah Sargent

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