OS X Mountain Lion: Use Dictation to create messages and documents

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Use Dictation to create messages and documents

Once you turn on dictation in Dictation & Speech preferences, you can dictate text anywhere you can type it by choosing Edit > Start Dictation.

Dictation option in the Edit menu

Note: When you dictate text, what you say is sent to Apple to convert it to text. Other information, such as your contacts, may also be sent to help your Mac understand what you’re saying.

Turn on dictation

  1. Choose Apple > System Preferences, click Dictation & Speech, and then click Dictation.
  2. Select On.
  3. Choose your language and dialect from the Language pop-up menu.

Dictate text

  1. Place the insertion point where you want the dictated text to appear.
  2. Press the Fn (Function) key twice, or choose Edit > Start Dictation.
  3. When you see the microphone icon, speak your text.

    To insert a punctuation mark, such as a period or comma, say the name of the punctuation mark.

    You can also perform simple formatting tasks. For example, say “new line” or “new paragraph” to insert space between lines.

  4. When you’re done, press the Fn key or click the Done button.

    Your spoken text appears.

Unclear text is underlined in blue. If the text is wrong, click it and select an alternate, or type or dictate the correct text.

Choose a different shortcut

By default, you press the Fn (Function) key twice to start dictation. If you like, you can choose a different shortcut.

  1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Dictation & Speech, and then click Dictation.
  2. Click the Shortcut pop-up menu, and then choose a different shortcut.

    To create a shortcut that’s not in the list, choose Customize, and then press the keys you want to use. You can press two or more keys to create your shortcut.

Last Modified: Sep 4, 2015
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