Dictate in any Mac app
Turn speech into your exact words, locally, then paste the result wherever your cursor is.
How Dictation works
Dictation records your voice, transcribes it on your Mac with the selected speech model, copies the text to the clipboard, and can paste it into the active app. Audio is never sent to an external transcription service.
- 1
Press Option–Space to start listening.
- 2
Speak normally. The floating overlay confirms the current state.
- 3
Press Option–Space again to finish, or press Escape to cancel.
- 4
WhisperInk transcribes locally and delivers the result.
Push-to-talk
Hold Control–Option–Space, speak, and release the keys to finish. This is useful for quick inserts when you do not want to toggle recording on and off.
Clipboard and automatic paste
- Every completed result is copied to the clipboard.
- Automatic paste inserts it at the cursor and requires Accessibility permission.
- If the target app or cursor changes during transcription, review where the result will be pasted.
- Dictation history keeps the text locally so you can search, copy, or delete it later.
Floating overlay
The overlay shows states such as Ready, Listening, Transcribing, Pasted, and Needs attention. Choose Auto, Light, or Dark appearance and Classic or Mini layout in Settings. Drag it to a comfortable location or reset its saved position.
Completion sounds
You can disable the completion sound or choose Pop, Glass, or Tink. Preview sounds from Settings before selecting one.