Did you know that you can dictate email and text messages on your Mac just like you can on your iPhone/iPad? Perhaps you’ve seen a little microphone at the bottom of the keyboard on your iPhone/iPad, which you can use to dictate your messages. When using this, your device listens to you speak, and then converts your speech into typed words. It’s really convenient during those times you can’t easily press those little keys with your big fingers.
Even though your Mac’s keyboard is bigger and more suited to typing, you can do the same thing on your Mac. You have to first turn On the dictation feature. Open your System Preferences (silver gears icon) –> Keyboard –> Dictation. Now click the On button. Note the Language (probably defaults to English but can be changed), and also note the Shortcut. The Shortcut is what will begin the dictation process. The Shortcut probably defaults to Press Fn (Function) Key twice (but can be changed as well).
Close out of the System Preferences, and create a new email message. Click in the body of where you would normally type your message. Find your Function key which is likely at the bottom left of your keyboard. Press the Function key twice (fairly quickly), and look for a microphone image to appear on the screen near where you’re ‘typing’, and then begin speaking. You’ll see your speech appear on the screen as typed text right before your eyes! Insert your punctuation by speaking it at the right moment. Say “comma,” or “period,” at the end of a sentence. You’ve got about 30 seconds to speak before your Mac automatically stops listening. Press the function key twice again, and continue your dictation. When you’re all finished, click the Done button below the microphone. Don’t forget to speak clearly, and turn any background music down low.
Give it a try! You can use this trick anywhere on your Mac where you might otherwise type, including email and text messages, Subject lines, Search boxes, etc. Enjoy!
P.S. I typed most of this Blog post using dictation, although I had to go back and correct a few things, so expect at least a few errors along the way.