With voice input, you can write texts on your Mac faster and more intuitively – without using your keyboard. The system transcribes your spoken word, making everyday work and barrier-free use easier.
Whether Alexa, Siri or voice messages on WhatsApp – voice has long since become part of everyday life for communication with digital devices. This technology is also becoming increasingly important on computers because it speeds up the writing of texts and makes it easier to use technology.
You can also use voice input on your Mac to speed up tedious typing on the keyboard. According to Apple, the function is available everywhere where text can normally be entered. We’ll show you how to activate the tool on your Mac and then record texts.
Voice input on the Mac – this is how you activate the tool
Dictation on Mac is available in numerous languages. These include German, English, Italian, Greek and Czech. You can find the full list on Apple’s website.
If you want to activate voice input on your Mac, you can do this in System Preferences. Open the section “Keyboard” on the left edge of the window. There you will find the area “Dictation function“.
You can activate the function using a simple slider. Further settings are also possible here. This means you can choose which language you want to dictate in, which microphone you want to use as the source and whether you want to use automatic punctuation.
Apple also gives you the option to choose a shortcut to start voice typing on your Mac. Here you’ll find numerous options in a drop-down menu, such as the microphone button on your Mac.
You can also create your own shortcut. To do this, select the “Customize…” option from the Shortcut drop-down menu and then press the keys you want.
Here’s how you can use voice typing on your Mac
Once you have made all of these settings, you can start using voice input on your Mac. To do this, place your cursor in an app on your Mac where you want to enter text.
Now press your microphone button or your chosen key combination to start the dictation function. Alternatively, you can also use voice input via the menu at the top of the screen. To do this, click on “Edit” and then select “Start dictation“.
Once you have started voice input, you will hear a tone that signals your readiness to dictate. You’ll also see a small microphone in your text field instead of your cursor.
If you use a Mac with an Apple chip, you can continue to use your keyboard while dictating. You don’t have to end the dictation to do this.
You can also insert emoji or punctuation marks when using voice typing on your Mac. Apple offers numerous shortcuts for this, which are listed on this page.
To end your dictation, press your microphone button or your chosen key combination again. A tone will be heard again and your cursor will be back at the location of the microphone icon.
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