Mac Speech to Text: The Basics, and Some PRO TIPS!

[@valueshooters]

if only every video on youtube was this effective, thank you m8

[@lucasmacinhome]

Great to hear! Cheers! :)

[@tommycampbell8411]

I have had my Mac for 2 years and never knew this. And it WORKS - wonderful. Cheers - albeit I know that you don't drink.

[@lucasmacinhome]

Hahaha - thank you! Cheers to you. :)

[@2milk645]

This actually works. Credits to this guy taking time of his life to help us try this voice command typing

[@lucasmacinhome]

Hey, thanks. Thank you for the gratitude that seems rare in the online world these days. :) - Lucas

[@christabedwin]

Thank you! Short, sweet, and exactly what I needed with no extra words. Subscribe button!

[@isabeauiqbal9565]

Thank you! I just tried this. It is INCREDIBLE. Love it and will save me so much time. Thank you Lucas!

[@lucasmacinhome]

Awesome! So great to hear. :)

[@KrazyRyder27]

I appreciate the quick and fast video this is awesome thumbs up

[@lucasmacinhome]

Thank you! Thumbs up to you for commenting with a compliment!

[@MichelaQuilici]

Dictation function! Say what!? Amazing. MacEpiphany!

[@lucasmacinhome]

Hahaha awesome! Cheers! :) - Lucas

[@leonardrichards2052]

Thank you, Lucas! Just the process I was looking for! The same as on my iPhone. Keep up the excellent work!

[@lucasmacinhome]

Awesome, thank YOU! :)

[@ianmeechan2040]

Thank you so much. I damaged both my shoulder joints so cannot type without extreme pain while they heal. The voice commands helped me continue with my degree assignment essays without the pain. Great video. :)

[@lucasmacinhome]

Amazing, that's great to hear. Thanks for letting me know! It helps with the motivation to keep making videos. :) - Lucas

[@WriteNow79]

Dude this awesome. This is going to help write my book so much.

[@lucasmacinhome]

Love it! Cheers

[@trarcade]

Thank you very much! That helped a lot. Even now I'm writing this comment with voice command. Keep up the good work.

[@lucasmacinhome]

Awesome, thank you! Nice work dictating!

[@MelvinAlc]

Wow thank you for the advice I was looking for this and you're the only person that has the Right instructions thank you very much

[@lucasmacinhome]

Awesome compliment, thank you! :)

[@earlhouse8338]

You just helped me out in a major way!!! Thanks

[@lucasmacinhome]

Awesome, great to hear :)

[@rustedwings9]

Your videos are THE best! Thank you so much!

[@sunshinesone]

This is great.. I sprained my hand,, but I can keep.can keep working ..

[@lucasmacinhome]

Hurray! Love that.

[@thasboy]

Finishing my dissertation this way.

[@lucasmacinhome]

Heck yeah! :)

[@SuperMahyawa]

I almost cried reading this. I just finished my master’s dissertation and graduated (thankfully) but I had no idea this would work for longer texts. I mean, I knew my mac pro had speech dictation but for some reason I thought it was only for short messages!

[@samvan7787]

This is great and thanks for the tips. Can you tell me how to set up such that when I say "show commands" the side commands bar actually show up. My Mac does not. Thanks 👍

[@lucasmacinhome]

I think they got rid of it in the latest macOS Monterey... I just tested on my Mac. I went into macOS Help and found them all under "Commands for dictating text on Mac" -- maybe worth printing that page out.

[@css867]

You are my hero.

[@lucasmacinhome]

Well thank you! :)

[@talkflix9318]

BRO YOU JUST ROCKED MY WORLD! SHOW COMMANDS!! 😃

[@lucasmacinhome]

Hahaha awesome. You're welcome!!!

[@emmadaena]

Great tool, only that I couldn’t active the show commands option. Any suggestions?

[@ericcomox3755]

hi My mom's 101. she's hard of hearing. she likes to hear our voice but cannot comprehend what we are saying. is there a software or ? that will transcribe my voice to text on her device?

[@WendyDewarHughes]

Just what I needed. Thanks for the concise explanation.

[@bniee8359]

Very Cool , Thank You

[@lucasmacinhome]

You're welcome!

[@NhungNguyen-vh3pp]

OMG. It super super awesome. thanks so much

[@lucasmacinhome]

You're welcome! 😊

[@paystation4pro15]

I keep on doing it in google docs but the icon doesn't work and it doesn't translate when I speak. I followed the steps too.

[@lucasmacinhome]

I don't think Apple speech recognition works in Google Docs... you might need to use Pages or TextEdit and copy paste into Google Docs.

[@carolinecuif762]

Very cool, thank

[@lucasmacinhome]

You're welcome! :)

[@nikolmckail3263]

This is like absolutely awesome. And I just used it to write this comment! Bam!

[@jcl3253]

Hi do you know how to stop mac from turning off audio output when keyboard dictate is on?

[@MaryDuffyArt]

I need this more than most (as I was born without hands or arms). I cannot get it to work efficiently at all . . . . only about 10% of the time . . Do you have any tips for trouble shooting when it doesn't work? I cannot believe I am the only one getting dud results. I have been a Mac user for a long time ( over 30 years). I need a solution to work for me as good as Dragon did (before it stopped supporting Mac)

[@lucasmacinhome]

Hi Mary! Sorry for the slow reply. The built in Mac speech to text will work best under these conditions: The Mac has good internet. The macOS is clean / stable (as close as possible to how the macOS comes when you first buy a Mac). You are using apps that support it, like the Apple ones (TextEdit, Apple Mail, Pages, Safari, etc). You have as recent a macOS as possible in your Mac. If you need more help with it we can definitely book a remote screen sharing session. I charge 72.50usd per half hour for my time helping and consulting. Just email me anytime! - Lucas [e-mail]

[@jonahthescientist1120]

Hi. I have an mp3 audio recording that I want transcribed to text. If I shout into my MacBook while using the dictation/microphone FnFn on MS Word, the translation works as you show in the this video. But sometimes words are skipped. When I use my hand held Sony Digital Voice recorder to playback the mp3, holding it next to my Mac mic, nothing gets transcribed. It's like it doesn't hear it. So if I buy a microphone like the Blue Yeti at Amazon, and hold my Sony mp3 player next to it, do you think because of the better microphone the FnFn dictation will actually work? kind regards

[@lucasmacinhome]

I haven't had great luck with doing transcription that way... But it also sounds like you might have some issues with your microphone so getting a new one wouldn't hurt. You shouldn't have to shout at your Mac. For transcribing an mp3 I would recommend rev.com, they did a great job on a couple transcription jobs for me.

[@jonahthescientist1120]

@@lucasmacinhome I got a Blue Yeti Microphone and it works very well with the Mac. I have a Sony recorder but I now need to get something that has has more volume. Let's see if that helps also. Thanks

[@arbrador]

I use dictation all the time. But I am noticing that if I do a lot of talking say, three sentences, after about two sentences the dictation does not remember what I spoke and it does not type out the final sentence or two. Is there a limit on how many words or sentences one can do in one dictation session? Or does one need to stop the dictation and restart it in order to include a large amount of text?

[@寸心知]

It is very good. Thank you very much.

[@lucasmacinhome]

You're welcome! :)

[@h.h.1266]

It only works for a couple of minutes then shuts off. Can't write anything longer than a few sentences. Any workarounds?

[@karenbowman7537]

My dictation function cuts off on its own after I speak a few sentences--doesn't stay on like yours did. I have to keep pressing the fn key. Can I do something to fix that? ... It also doesn't understand my words as well as your demo. And I'm not drunk.

[@lucasmacinhome]

Haha! I'm not sure what would be interrupting the speech dictation but I could definitely help figure it out, and if we can talk then I might be able to hear how you'd need to tweak your spoken word to make it understand you better. Just email [e-mail], we bill in 15 minute increments and I would be happy to help. - Lucas

[@cameashapowell1961]

Thank you very much

[@lucasmacinhome]

You're welcome!

[@peternight7941]

Awesome video now this was written by my voice thank you

[@perkypegasus1072]

Thank you so much! This a Game changer for me.

[@lucasmacinhome]

Awesome! :)

[@nadrahkhan8350]

I have tried using dictation a few times but couldn't figure out how to put in full stops, new line etc. I've been offered Dragon software to use with a windows laptop but that would mean waving bye-bye to Mac which I do not want to do :( This video is reassuring - thank you. BUT I'm still struggling with my initial problem which was dictating commands. When I say 'show commands' it doesn't show me anything...just types 'show commands' instead... how can I fix this?

[@lucasmacinhome]

Aha - that has moved in the new macOS Catalina. Now you need to go into System Preferences -> Accessibility and Enable Voice Control. Then you can say Show Commands.

[@antoniodemarcus9614]

very good. have suggestions for use commands of LaTex? pls

[@lucasmacinhome]

Sorry no - never heard of that!

[@darwincovington4676]

great clear instructions! Thank You

[@teresamckernan9419]

Hi Lucas, really helpful, my mike shows up when I do double fn, and it looks like it is working, but nothing gets typed. I remember it used to, but it doesn't now....any suggestions?

[@teresamckernan9419]

Jeepers, never mind. I just turned it off and on again in preferences and it works (just like the IT crowd said it would LOL)

[@lucasmacinhome]

Hey thanks for the comment and nice work getting it going! :) Yes for sure the ol' restart or toggle on/off will do wonders. Cheers, - Lucas

[@bjornkristjansson7191]

Very good instruction. Thanks.

[@lucasmacinhome]

You're welcome!

[@sanketkumarsathe6560]

my dictation is not listening to commands in big Sur , what should I do

[@gabriellerose34]

Brilliant, so well explained. can't wait to start dictating!

[@eissaalhafez9649]

What about numbers? When i say any numbers it turn to letters not actual numbers.. how can i solve that?

[@mbaron1702]

I hear the tone but the microphone does not pop up and the text is not typed. Can you help please? I have a late 2011 macbook pro running High Sierra. The microphone in the settings window responds to my voice.

[@lucasmacinhome]

Yes I can probably help with that. I can do remote support - but I charge for the time. Works out to 72.50CAD per half hour. Let me know if you need that! - Lucas

[@cynditjie]

Thanks, that's a great video. I am having trouble with the dictation turning off in the middle of my talking. help.

[@lucasmacinhome]

Cynthia, glad this helped! I am not sure why it is stopping mid dictation. I would need to look into that and test it. I charge for my time helping people one on one - let me know if you want to book something! - Lucas

[@MelvinAlc]

Thank you for the pro tip I needed that

[@lucasmacinhome]

You're welcome! :)

[@fergonga57]

thank you for sharing, you are awesome!

[@2ColdVRMode]

Thank you so much!

[@lucasmacinhome]

You're welcome!

[@Flyjm4xf]

Whenever I press fn, the microphone icon appears, but when I begin to speak, it doesn't write anything...What Should I do? I have a mac model 2015 macOS Mojave

[@lucasmacinhome]

Not sure how to fix that... I would want to do some troubleshooting. The built in Mac speech to text will work best under these conditions: The Mac has good internet. The macOS is clean / stable (as close as possible to how the macOS comes when you first buy a Mac). You are using apps that support it, like the Apple ones (TextEdit, Apple Mail, Pages, Safari, etc). You have as recent a macOS as possible in your Mac. If you need more help with it we can definitely book a remote screen sharing session. I charge 72.50usd per half hour for my time helping and consulting. Just email me anytime! - Lucas [e-mail]

[@patriciamcbride5131]

This is brilliant, thank you so much!

[@guillermo1010]

Thank you

[@lucasmacinhome]

You're very welcome! :)

[@malcytull]

Bloody brilliant, thank you so much for that, I'm going to try it BOOM, MacEpiphany !!

[@lucasmacinhome]

Lol! Awesome, thank you!

[@karinegraham4763]

Simply WOW!! My uni has just given me the Dragon Software; kinda seems pointless now.

[@lucasmacinhome]

Good to hear! Yes I would try both Mac and Dragon speech dictation to find the pros and cons... you might find some benefit to using either one for different tasks.

[@poorboymo]

Great video. When using this function on my MacBook (2020 edition, M1), does the information get sent to Apple? Thank you 🙏🏽

[@evantsou7650]

Wow, that's a useful tool, thanks a lot.

[@lucasmacinhome]

You bet! :)

[@kellymartin8090]

Thank you!

[@lucasmacinhome]

You're welcome! :)

[@3dhawaiirealestate812]

Big MAHALO! I'll never have to type again.

[@lucasmacinhome]

Yahoo! Cheers & Mahalo!

[@davidmartin7616]

This feature works well but....... it only allows me to do about 3 sentences and then it will copy and paste those 3 sentences??? meaning, after about 3 sentences, it duplicates what I just did. How can I fix this?

[@lucasmacinhome]

You're the third or fourth person to say that in the comments on this video... I wonder if there is some bug Apple needs to iron out. I did some googling and found this: softwaretested.com/mac/6-ways-to-deal-with-dictation-text-doubles-in-mac/ which seems to talk specifically about that problem. I would hesitate to install the tweakbit Mac cleaner they recommend, however.

[@vinz9741]

Great video! I only have an issue with dictation, it stops alone very fast (1min or something) anyone knows how to fix that?

[@lucasmacinhome]

From what I can tell that is normal... it doesn't just stay on forever. I've seen that time limit as well.

[@Rustkill2010]

when you enable dictation it says speech is sent to apple and other info as well. good or bad?

[@halwanmuhamad]

after i enable mine with pressing fn key twice, it wont be disable, it's been three days and that thing wont go, do u have any tips?

[@megashley2404]

Wow!!! Thank you!

[@MegaChabuk]

I can't make it work in big sur, maybe you have some good advice her.

[@jamieott7080]

I'm using the voice to text right now; However, There is a problem with it: it keeps capitalizing every word after a comma, So then I have to go back and edit every single word after a comma. How do I stop this? It also does notPut a spaceBetween other forms of punctuationAnd the next word.For example,Here I am;Where are you? Like I noticed you didn't use very much punctuation.

[@lucasmacinhome]

Weird... It isn't doing that for me, so maybe it's a language setting in your Mac? Is your Mac language set to English US?

[@ronb1840]

I have been using this function for a long time on my Mac which is, by the way new within the last two months. Unfortunately, most of what I dictate is duplicated. As soon as I stop dictating the entire sentence is duplicated.I have been using this function for a long time on my Mac which is, by the way new within the last two months. Unfortunately, most of what I dictate is duplicated. As soon as I stop dictating the entire sentence is duplicated. Ironically, I dictated this entire thing and it just duplicated as you can see above. Any ideas on how to remedy this problem?. Thank you

[@lucasmacinhome]

Weird problem... I am not sure how to fix that, off the top of my head. When was the last time you did a clean Mac install? ie. Setting up a new Mac not from backup restore / automatic migration, or erasing the hard drive and installing a clean system.

[@paulwjohnson8571]

Is there functionality to do the dictation with macros (commonly repeated phrases) ?

[@lucasmacinhome]

Very good question! I am not sure... maybe this could pair with text replacement shortcuts (in the Keyboard panel of System Preferences). I will need to test that sometime!

[@theeetharenglishspeakingte7101]

"Show commands" doesn't show up when I speak, please help.

[@DavidInSydney1]

Useful, thanks! Another tip is to enunciate like Julie Andrews. Try supercalifragilisticexpialidocious :o) Can anyone recommend a good microphone to use for dictating on my Retina iMac (2015)?

[@lucasmacinhome]

Hah! Indeed. I wonder if the Mac could transcribe that one! I've found dictation works just fine with AirPods or with the Apple headphones that came with your (older, non-lightning-headphones) iPhone.

[@lvbluestreak]

thanks again

[@rickystroude5091]

Thank you so much! 😊

[@fractalnomics]

I'm writing my book using it and this comment.

[@mastertullab3259]

Macs are best

[@lucasmacinhome]

AGREED

[@seanbaker1800]

Thank you very much for this tutorial. I actually use dictation to write this comment.

[@lucasmacinhome]

Nice work!! :)

[@andresoliva9335]

I tried and tried but couldn’t get it to work for my Mac book air . The mic works but when I open dictation it does hear my voice but doesn’t type. Any advise ?

[@lucasmacinhome]

I'm not sure... I would need to see it. Might need to reinstall the speech to text drivers. Does Siri work?

[@bikramjitsingh1310]

you're the best

[@abhaypande5144]

If you are holding a Tim hortons coffee in one hand and a doughnut in another hand, you can't press fn key twice........

[@lucasmacinhome]

Just use the pinky finger of the hand that's holding the donut. :)

[@natashawaugh8161]

thank you, that was very helpful.

[@lucasmacinhome]

Awesome, thanks for letting me know! :)

[@agridome]

I gave up on this...I’m a professional writer who used MacSpeech Dictate for years......worked great....then they stopped making it.....I’ve never been satisfied with the Apple speech recognition on my Mac

[@karan10]

How can I use Google voice speech to text for Mac ..

[@A_World_Full_of_Lies]

Thank you so much for this!

[@lucasmacinhome]

You're welcome! Glad it helped.

[@DiniVino]

Cool - thanks for the tip and clear instructions!

[@lucasmacinhome]

You bet! Happy to help, Dini! :)

[@caleblaguna5426]

When old people find out this has been a thing for years and they just find out lolol

[@Sean-xp3js]

This is not working for Google docs can you please help me out with this?

[@lucasmacinhome]

Google might have a free dictating option as part of their system. I would be happy to help with that - I do charge for my consulting and tutoring time. Let me know if you need that! - Lucas

[@shienipierce1]

why when i said " show commands" it only type it, not showing commands like you did?

[@lucasmacinhome]

Yeah that has changed in recent OS's... here's the latest: support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/mac-help/mh40695/mac

[@deddyabe125]

hi, why there is no "use enhanced dictation" option on my system preferesnces ? help me please...

[@lucasmacinhome]

Hey, not sure why that isn't showing up but I might be able to solve it with some remote support (screen sharing). We charge 72.50CAD per half hour. Let me know if you want that! - Lucas

[@janipanibr]

does this work for ipads?

[@nounix]

how do i stop double typing of words and sentences when dictating text from macbook mojave on safari?? this only happens on safari not on chrome, firefox or on text apps on my mac... I'm on Safari nowI'm on Safari now and and this is an example over the problem over the problem I meant over the problem I meant over the problem I meant off the problem. Well you know what I'm. Well you know what I'm it's also deaf it's also deaf I was trying to say well, given what I mean it's completely deaf it's completely deaf well you know what I mean well you know what I mean. This is crazy....

[@lucasmacinhome]

Hey, a few other people have reported this problem in the comments and it seems like an actual glitch in the Mac software... I have not yet had the chance to see it or troubleshoot it. I can help you with it if you want - I just charge hourly for my time - so maybe try AppleCare first and touch base with me if they can't fix it? - Lucas [e-mail]

[@Daniyalkan]

wooow thank you!

[@lucasmacinhome]

You are welcome! :)

[@bimitkumarjain1403]

pressing THE Fn KEY DOES NOT MAKE THE MICROPHONE SIGN TO APPEAR WHAT TO DO

[@lucasmacinhome]

Did you turn on speech recognition per the instructions in my video?

[@blaumausfrau]

Yeah I tried ALL your tips it still doesn’t work. HUGE BUMMER. I have to manually type a WIRED article and I SO wanted the voice to text to work on MacBook but it doesn’t. SHIIIIITTTTT

[@johnmknox]

Why won't it transcribe from a video that is playing?

[@lucasmacinhome]

Not sure - maybe a feature to come in the future?

[@yaknkski]

Is there a way for mac to transcribe an mp3 audio file into text?

[@lucasmacinhome]

Not that I know of, in the system... but rev.com does a great job of that and they don't charge much at all.

[@harshitchauhan8814]

I am unable to see the commands. What should I do?

[@lucasmacinhome]

Not sure what you mean... what specifically are you trying to do?

[@lindsayrapp2445]

mine doesn’t have a dictation option

[@rajatchatterjee3293]

Thats cool. Need one support . Let me know if i can do this with any language... I want Bengali/ Bangla ( India)

[@lucasmacinhome]

I'm not sure, actually... I don't see the option for Bengali in my Mac, so maybe the whole Mac needs to be set to that language. What did Google turn up?

[@SlayQueen22233]

I'm really struggling with text to speech on mac in java i really need some help??

[@lucasmacinhome]

I would be happy to help! I charge 62.50usd per half hour - you can email me to book a session: [e-mail] - Lucas

[@SlayQueen22233]

@@lucasmacinhome this is not a place to do business sir, I thought this is good place but now I think just now ... thnx indeed

[@lucasmacinhome]

@@SlayQueen22233 I've spent over $20,000 creating these videos and paying for editing and getting them online. Why would it not be okay to hope to get a few new paying clients from my efforts? - Lucas

[@SlayQueen22233]

@@lucasmacinhome Thnx indeed sir, I'll look for other resources

[@arlinewarwick574]

When I dictate speech to text my message is duplicated. Does anyone know how to fix this?

[@lucasmacinhome]

I haven't seen that before actually... feel free to email me a screenshot to [e-mail] or we can book a remote consult. It's about $70 per half hour. I would only charge you if I figure it out & fix it. - Lucas

[@respiess]

I've tried this with Google Docs and it doesn't seem to work?

[@lucasmacinhome]

Yeah... didn't work for me either. Works in any other app though.