- How to turn off voice dictation on mac how to#
- How to turn off voice dictation on mac full#
- How to turn off voice dictation on mac mac#
Click into a text area like a document or the address bar of your web browser.Dictation accessibility in macOS Catalinaīasic dictation is essentially always enabled by default - you just need to activate it.
How to turn off voice dictation on mac how to#
How to enable/disable output mute during dictation.How to enable a sound when a command is recognized.How to enable the dictation keyword phrase.How to enable/disable Dictation Commands.How to change the Dictation keyboard shortcut.How to enable and use Enhanced Dictation.All you have to do is set it up and get going. It's among the Mac's many accessibility features. Dictation lets you talk instead of type, and voice-to-text transcribes what you say into words on the screen. The voice files will be downloaded to your computer and you’ll be able to access them within any application that uses text-to-speech.If you have mobility or motor impairments, repetitive stress injuries, or you find typing on a keyboard difficult in any way, there's an alternative. Once you’ve selected those voices that you’d like to add to your Mac, just click the OK button. If you’d like something with a more international flair (again, assuming you’re living in the U.S.), try the Serena voice found under the English (United Kingdom) heading. You’ll find, for example, that the Samantha voice sounds quite natural. Select one and click the Play button at the bottom of the sheet to audition it. Click on the Customize command at the bottom of this menu and you’ll find a long list of voices. You’re not limited to using the Alex voiceīut you’re not limited to just these voices. Both the Bruce and Fred voices sound very “computery” as does the Kathy voice (the Vicki and Victoria voices are better, but not entirely natural sounding). If you click on the Speaking Voice menu you see that you can choose from a number of different voices. Just click the Play button to hear a sample. Alex is the default because, for those in the U.S., it’s the most natural sounding voice. The one area of interest here is the Speaking Voice pop-up menu.
How to turn off voice dictation on mac mac#
If you like, you can also ask that your Mac to announce the time. You can additionally choose to have system alerts announced, have your Mac tell you when an application needs your attention, and speak selected text when you press a particular key combination (Option-Escape is the default). In the area below you’ll find options for choosing a voice (Alex is selected by default in the United States) and adjusting the speaking rate. Again, launch System Preferences, choose Dictation & Speech, and click on the Text to Speech tab. Text to Speech is another easy-to-use feature built into Mountain Lion. You can use dictation with any application that supports text input. The few controls found in the Dictation preferenceĭictation isn’t one of those features that works with applications specifically written to allow it. When you do, your stored data and words will be deleted from Apple’s servers.
If you’re uncomfortable with that, simply turn off dictation in this preference. Apple keeps a copy of your words to help improve dictation’s performance. When you finish speaking, your words appear within the application in which you initiated the dictation command. I’ll save you the trip by explaining that when you use dictation, the words you say are sent to Apple’s servers where some powerful technology is applied to the job of quickly turning those words into text (so yes, your Mac needs to be connected to the Internet for this to work).
When you click it you’ll learn something of how this technology works. You’ll also see an About Dictation and Privacy button at the bottom of this pane. You have the options to turn Dictation on or off, select a keyboard shortcut to engage dictation, choose the language you’ll be speaking, and select an audio source (which, if your Mac comes equipped with a microphone, is the internal mic).
How to turn off voice dictation on mac full#
Given how capable dictation can be, you’d think that the Dictation pane would be full of arcane settings and demands that you spend an hour training the Mac to understand you.