In the meantime, if you need a more robust dictation features consider either Nuance’s Dragon Dictate for Mac or an online service like SpeakWrite. The Dictation feature works in most Mac applications including Word 2008, Word 2011, Pages, Keynote and many others.ĭictation is a handy feature and I suspect that Apple will improve it over time.

Follow the directions above to begin dictation.

This will download the software onto your computer.

Check the box to Use Enhanced Dictation.

Make sure the Dictation feature is turned on.

With the introduction of OS X 10.9 Mavericks earlier this month, Apple provided a way to download the dictation software to your computer so that no internet connection is necessary and to allow continuous dictation. It does this so it can better understand personal names that you might use. Apple also notifies you that it sends a copy of your contacts to its servers. The first time you select the Dictation feature, you’ll be asked if you want to enable Dictation. The system does not have the ability to learn words, so if you use technical, legal or medical jargon that is not in the system’s vocabulary, you’ll find yourself repeatedly correcting the same mistakes. This feature is far from perfect and far from completely reliable, but it does an impressive job, especially since it’s a free feature. The Dictation feature requires an Internet connection since your Mac records your voice, then sends the recording to its servers where the recording is run through a voice recognition program.

Edit the text, as needed, using your keyboard then send the email message.Wait a few seconds for the resultant text to appear on your screen.Dictate up to 30 seconds and then click the Done button. A microphone icon will appear on screen.Go to the Edit menu and select Start Dictation.Position your cursor in the main body of the email message.

Fill in a recipient’s email address and a subject.Open Mail and click the New Message button.

To start this new dictation feature, do the following: Fewer people seem to have noticed that Apple added some of these voice recognition capabilities to the Mac. Many people have learned that they can use Siri on an iPhone or iPad to dictate text messages, email messages and for other purposes. You can dictate emails and other documents if you have OS X Mountain Lion or newer installed on your Macintosh.

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