How to dictate text on your Mac, step by step

There are two main routes: use the dictation that already comes with macOS, or install an app that dictates into any text field with its own shortcut. Here are the steps for both.

Updated: 2026-10-15

Method 1: macOS dictation

1. Open System Settings and go to Keyboard.
2. Find the Dictation section and turn it on.
3. Choose the language you will speak in.
4. Place the cursor where you want to type and use the dictation shortcut you have set up.
5. Speak, and stop dictation when you are done.

Method 2: dictate in any app with Hablaki

1. Install Hablaki and open it from the Applications folder.
2. Follow the welcome: download the voice component and grant microphone and accessibility permissions (and input monitoring, if your Mac asks for it).
3. Put the cursor in a text field.
4. Press F5, speak, and press F5 again. Or hold fn while you speak and release it when you finish.
5. The text appears right where the cursor was.

In Settings you can change the keys and the language, and add your own vocabulary.

Tricks to get what you say written down better

• Say the whole sentence before taking a long pause.
• Speak naturally, not too fast and not too slow.
• Use a nearby microphone and a quiet environment.
• Choose the language carefully before dictating.
• Add proper names and technical terms to the vocabulary.

If something does not work

• The text is not pasted: check that Hablaki has the accessibility permission in System Settings → Privacy & Security.
• It does not detect the key: on some Macs, F5 is Apple’s dictation key. Hablaki captures it, but if that fails you can choose another key in Settings.
• It does not hear you: check the microphone permission and that the right microphone is selected in System Settings → Sound.

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading