Guides

How to dictate in Slack on a Mac, from the message box to a thread

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To dictate in Slack on a Mac, click into the message box, press your Dictation shortcut or the Microphone key to start Apple Dictation, say your message, and send it. Slack's own voice feature is something else: the microphone icon in the message field records an audio clip, which arrives as audio, and you can add a transcript to it with the Generate transcript icon.

YapToText, the free app I built, types into Slack the same way Apple Dictation does, keeps your voice on your Mac, and can press Return for you once the words land. I built it because my hands make typing difficult, and a chat box is where a dictation tool has to be quickest. This page covers all three: dictating, clips and the settings that make chat by voice feel natural. If something already broke, the fixes for words that do not land in Slack are further down.

Download YapToText on the Mac App StoreDownload for free. No account, nothing locked, macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon. Source on GitHub.

On this page: 11 sections
  1. Steps
  2. Dictate a Slack message with Apple Dictation
    1. Step 1: Turn Dictation on once
    2. Step 2: Dictate into the message box
    3. Step 3: Read it, then send
  3. Dictate a Slack message with YapToText
    1. Step 1: Click into the message box
    2. Step 2: Tap Right Command and talk
    3. Step 3: Tap it again
  4. Let Auto mode keep it sounding like you
  5. Reply in a thread by voice
    1. Step 1: Open the thread
    2. Step 2: Decide where the reply goes
    3. Step 3: Dictate the reply
  6. Send it the moment it lands
    1. Step 1: Check Slack's Enter key preference
    2. Step 2: Add Slack to After a dictation lands
  7. Slack's audio clips and transcripts
  8. If the words do not land in Slack
    1. If YapToText's words do not land, or send at the wrong time
  9. What each one cannot do
  10. The short version
  11. Questions

Steps

  1. Click into Slack's message box, or open a thread with the Reply in thread icon and click into its reply box.
  2. Press your Dictation shortcut or the Microphone key to start Apple Dictation, or tap Right Command to start YapToText.
  3. Say your message.
  4. Press Esc or the same key to stop Apple Dictation, or tap Right Command again to have YapToText type the message.
  5. Read the message, then press Enter to send it, or let YapToText press Return for you.

Dictate a Slack message with Apple Dictation

Apple Dictation is free and already on your Mac, and Apple says it works anywhere you can type, so it fills Slack's message box the way a keyboard would. For a quick reply in Slack, Apple Dictation is enough.

Step 1: Turn Dictation on once

  • You: Choose Apple menu, System Settings, then click Keyboard in the sidebar. Go to Dictation, turn it on, and click Enable.
  • macOS: May ask whether to share audio recordings to improve Siri and Dictation. Not Now is a fine answer.
  • Check: Dictation stays on. Note the keys in the Shortcut pop-up menu, because that is what you will press in Slack.

Step 2: Dictate into the message box

  • You: Click into the message box at the bottom of the channel or DM. Press the Microphone key if your keyboard has one, or your Dictation shortcut, and say your message.
  • macOS: Highlights the cursor and makes it pulse, or plays a tone, when it is ready.
  • Check: The words appear in the box as you speak. Press Esc, the Microphone key or the shortcut to stop.

Step 3: Read it, then send

  • You: Read the message. Words Dictation was unsure of are underlined in blue; click one to pick an alternative.
  • Slack: Sends it with Enter, the Return key on a Mac keyboard, or with Command Enter, depending on your Enter key preference.
  • Check: The message is in the channel, and it says what you meant.

Line breaks need care in a chat box. Apple says the spoken "new line" works like pressing Return once, and in Slack, Enter either sends the message or starts a new line, depending on your preference. I have not tested whether a spoken new line sends a Slack message early, so for a message with paragraphs I would set the preference to start a new line first. That is caution, not something I measured; the section on sending a message the moment it lands shows where the preference lives.

Apple Dictation stops after 30 seconds without speech, which matters when you stop to think in the middle of a long update; the 30-second limit page explains why. The text below Dictation in Keyboard settings says whether your voice is processed on your Mac or sent to Siri servers.

Dictate a Slack message with YapToText

YapToText is the free Mac app I built for dictating into every app, and Slack is one of the chat apps it knows by name. It runs Whisper on your Mac, so your message is heard on your Mac and nowhere else, and it needs no account. It needs an Apple silicon Mac with macOS 14 or later, and it is free on the Mac App Store. Click the message box, tap, talk, tap, and the message waits for you to send it.

Step 1: Click into the message box

  • You: Click into the message box at the bottom of the channel, the DM, or a thread you have open.
  • YapToText: Nothing yet. It types into the app in front, never into its own window.
  • Check: The cursor is blinking in the message box, not in Slack's search field.

Step 2: Tap Right Command and talk

  • You: Tap Right Command once and say your message the way you would say it to the person.
  • YapToText: Opens the floating panel with your voice as a wave and your words as they form.
  • Check: The wave moves when you speak. If it stays flat, the app is not hearing your microphone yet.

Step 3: Tap it again

  • You: Tap Right Command again.
  • YapToText: Finishes the transcript on your Mac, pastes it into the message box and puts back whatever you had copied before.
  • Check: The message is in the box. Read it, then press Return, or let YapToText press it for you.
YapToText's floating dictation panel on a Mac: a live waveform, the sentence being typed, and cancel, pause and stop buttons.
Figure 1. Your Slack message forms in the panel while you talk; tap again and it lands in the message box as text, not as a clip.

By default there is no silence timeout, so a pause to find the right word does not end the dictation; it listens until you tap the key again. While it listens, Space pauses and Esc cancels, and a canceled dictation is still saved to History, so nothing you said is lost. The keys and shortcuts guide covers holding the key instead of tapping it, or using another key altogether.

Two more things make Slack in particular go better:

  • Names your team uses. Add colleagues' names, channel words and project names to Dictionaries. They shape what Whisper hears, not just what it types, and the Dictionaries guide shows how.
  • Fixes by voice. Right after a dictation lands, your next dictation can fix it instead of adding to it, as long as sending is left to you.

Say: As your next dictation, within 30 seconds of the last one landing.

scratch that

What happens: YapToText removes the text it just typed instead of typing the phrase. Saying "replace" one word "with" another fixes a single word the same way. Only the exact whole phrase counts, and both need Insert text automatically, which is on by default.

Let Auto mode keep it sounding like you

Auto mode, on by default, reads what you said and where it is going. Messages, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger and Teams lean toward a casual message, and the lean only breaks ties: what you said comes first. In Slack, a short or casual message stays exactly as you said it.

  • A quick reply. Six words or fewer, or a short message with casual words like gonna or lol, is typed exactly as spoken.
  • A longer update. Ordinary sentences get a careful pass that fixes misheard words, punctuation and capitals, and keeps your wording, tone and slang.
  • A letter. Open with a greeting such as "Dear Jessica" and close with a sign-off such as "Best regards", and it becomes an email in any app, Slack included.

For a light cleanup that drops filler words and keeps the casual tone, press 6 while you talk, which is Message in the default order of modes. With Auto on, the pick lasts for that one dictation. To steer the result with words instead, end the dictation with an instruction:

Say: At the end of a dictation in Slack, while Auto mode is on.

make it shorter

What happens: The phrase is not typed. Auto mode rewrites the message as short as it can be without losing meaning. "Make it friendly", "make it formal" and "as a bullet list" work the same way.

An instruction makes Auto rewrite even a message it would otherwise have left as spoken. I have not checked how Slack displays every kind of bullet a list comes out with, so read a dictated list once before you send it. To answer a particular message, select the message you are answering before you start, and your dictation is written to fit. The app nudges Auto mode; what you said decides. The Auto mode guide lists every phrase it follows, and the modes guide explains what Message mode does.

YapToText's Modes page: Auto on top, then Raw Transcription, Clean Up, Note, Email, Message and Code Comment, numbered 2 to 7.
Figure 2. Message is number 6 on the Modes page, so pressing 6 while you talk gives one Slack message a light cleanup and leaves Auto on for the next.

Reply in a thread by voice

A thread reply is dictated the same way as any message; the only difference is where you click. Open the thread first, then click into its reply box, and the words go there.

Step 1: Open the thread

  • You: Hover over the message you want to reply to, then click the Reply in thread icon.
  • Slack: Opens the thread with a reply box of its own.
  • Check: The cursor is blinking in the thread's reply box, not in the channel's message box behind it.

Step 2: Decide where the reply goes

  • You: If the reply should also appear in the channel or DM, check the box below the reply box now, before you dictate.
  • Slack: Sends the reply back to the main view as well as the thread when that box is checked.
  • Check: The box is the way you want it. If YapToText presses Return for you, there is no moment to check it afterward.

Step 3: Dictate the reply

  • You: Tap Right Command, say the reply, and tap it again. With Apple Dictation, press your Dictation shortcut instead.
  • YapToText: Types the reply at the cursor, in the thread.
  • Check: The reply reads right, then send it.

The rule is the same everywhere in Slack: the words land wherever the cursor is blinking.

Send it the moment it lands

In a chat app, the last step after dictating is pressing Return. YapToText can press it for you, per app, in Settings, Advanced, Text output, under After a dictation lands. Automatic sending saves a key press, not a mistake.

Step 1: Check Slack's Enter key preference

  • You: In Slack, click your profile picture in the sidebar, select Preferences, choose Advanced, and look under "When writing a message, press Enter to".
  • Slack: With Send the message chosen, Enter sends and Shift Enter starts a new line. With Start a new line chosen, Command Enter sends.
  • Check: You know which key sends a message in your Slack.

Step 2: Add Slack to After a dictation lands

  • You: With Slack open, go to YapToText's Settings, Advanced, Text output. Under After a dictation lands, choose Add App, pick Slack, and choose Press Return for Send the message, or Press Command Return for Start a new line.
  • YapToText: Presses that key the moment your words land in Slack, and only in Slack.
  • Check: Dictate a test message to yourself. It should arrive without you touching the keyboard.

It presses the key without a second look, so anything Whisper misheard goes out too, and scratch that cannot take back a message that has already been sent. I keep it on in chats where a message is the whole job, and off in any channel where a wrong word would hurt. If you want to read every message before it goes, leave Slack off this list and press Return yourself. The 1.5 release notes called this feature Send it for me, and for hands like mine it removes the one key press left after dictating.

Slack's audio clips and transcripts

Slack can send your voice as a recording instead of as text. Click the microphone icon in the message field, record, and send the clip. Slack's help center says audio clips run up to five minutes, on all plans, and that you can include a transcript with the Generate transcript icon. A clip sends your voice; dictation sends your words.

A clip suits a message where tone matters, or one that is quicker to say than to read. Dictation suits everything people will skim, search or quote back, because the words arrive as ordinary text. When in doubt, I send words, because a reader can skim them and nobody has to find a quiet room to listen.

Checked October 5, 2026, on Apple's and Slack's own help pages. Plans and features change, so check before you rely on one.

Apple DictationYapToTextSlack audio clip
What arrivesText in the message boxText in the message boxAn audio clip, with a transcript if one is generated
Where your voice goesOn the Mac or to Siri servers; Keyboard settings says whichStays on your MacSent to Slack as the clip
LengthStops after 30 seconds of silenceNo silence timeout by defaultUp to five minutes per clip
SendingYou send itYou send it, or it presses Return for youYou send the clip
CostFree, built into macOSFree, no paid tierAll plans, per Slack's help
RequirementDictation turned on in Keyboard settingsApple silicon, macOS 14 or laterSlack

If someone sends you a clip and you would rather read it, the Generate transcript icon is the place to look. For the other big work chat app, the guide to voice to text in Teams on a Mac covers the same ground.

If the words do not land in Slack

Slack's message box takes typed text like any other, so the fix depends on which tool is doing the typing. Click into the message box before you start, because both tools type at the cursor. For Apple Dictation, climb this ladder, smallest step first:

  1. Click into the message box. Apple's first Dictation step is placing the insertion point where you want the text.
  2. Turn Dictation on. In System Settings, Keyboard, make sure Dictation is on, and press the shortcut shown in its Shortcut pop-up menu.
  3. Tap the Microphone key, do not hold it. Holding it calls Siri when Siri is on.
  4. Pick the microphone by name. Under Dictation, choose your microphone next to Microphone source instead of Automatic, then raise its input volume in System Settings, Sound, Input.
  5. Turn off Voice Control. When Voice Control is on, standard Dictation is not available, and you dictate through Voice Control instead. The Voice Control versus Dictation guide explains the difference.
  6. Check the connection. Apple says Dictation may need an internet connection, and the text below Dictation in Keyboard settings says whether yours does.

The Mac dictation not working guide goes through each fix in detail.

If YapToText's words do not land, or send at the wrong time

Another ladder, smallest step first:

  1. If the words go to the clipboard. On YapToText's Home page, press Grant next to Accessibility and switch the app on in System Settings, Privacy & Security, Accessibility. Without it, every dictation is copied to the clipboard instead of typed.
  2. If nothing is typed at all. On the Dictation page, in the Delivery card, check Insert text automatically. It is on by default, and off, every dictation goes to the clipboard.
  3. If Slack beeps. Intelligent Insert reads the text around your cursor with a few invisible keystrokes, and some apps answer one with the alert sound. In the same Delivery card, choose Turn off in another app and pick Slack, or lower Alert volume in System Settings, Sound, which silences only alert beeps.
  4. If pasting misbehaves. In Settings, Advanced, choose Add App Override under Per-app method, pick Slack and keep Type character-by-character.
  5. If the message lands but does not send. Match After a dictation lands to Slack's Enter key preference: Press Return for Send the message, Press Command Return for Start a new line.
  6. If a message went out too soon. Remove Slack from After a dictation lands, and press Return yourself from then on.
YapToText's Dictation settings page on a Mac: the Keys, Recording, Microphone and Delivery cards.
Figure 3. The Delivery card on the Dictation page holds two of the fixes: Insert text automatically, and the list of apps where Intelligent Insert is off, where Slack can go if it beeps.

The Intelligent Insert guide and the troubleshooting guide go further.

What each one cannot do

  • Apple Dictation. It stops after 30 seconds of silence, it is not available while Voice Control is on, and whether your voice leaves the Mac depends on what Keyboard settings says.
  • YapToText. It types text. It does not record a Slack clip, format a message with Slack's own formatting, or unsend a message once After a dictation lands has sent it. Its spoken commands are punctuation, emoji and snippets. Auto mode's cleanup needs a cleanup model, which the App Store build includes and the Homebrew build leaves for you to download. It needs an Apple silicon Mac with macOS 14 or later, and nothing is claimed for Intel Macs.
  • Slack audio clips. A clip is audio, up to five minutes, and the person on the other end reads it only if a transcript is generated.

The short version

  • Built in. Click the message box and use Apple Dictation, with pauses under 30 seconds.
  • On device. Click the message box, tap Right Command, talk, tap again, and Auto mode keeps chat sounding like you.
  • Hands off. Add Slack under After a dictation lands, matched to Slack's Enter key preference, and the message sends itself.
  • Voice as audio. Slack's microphone icon records a clip of up to five minutes, with a transcript you can generate.

Click where the words go, say the message, and let one key do the rest. Other apps take dictation a little differently, and the guide to dictating into any app on a Mac goes app by app. If something here does not match what you see in Slack, open an issue on GitHub. Every one gets read.

Download YapToText on the Mac App StoreDownload for free. No account, nothing locked, macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon. Source on GitHub.

About the author. Ryleigh Newman is a developer whose hands make typing difficult and who dictates every day with YapToText, the app this site describes. Facts about other apps come from their own sites, with the date they were read. More about the project.

Sources

Questions

How do I dictate in Slack on a Mac?

Click into the message box, press your Dictation shortcut or the Microphone key to start Apple Dictation, and say your message. With YapToText, tap Right Command, talk, and tap it again, and the words are typed into the box.

Does Slack have voice to text?

Slack's own voice feature records audio clips of up to five minutes, and you can add a transcript with the Generate transcript icon. To type a message by voice, use Apple Dictation or a dictation app such as YapToText.

How do I get a transcript of a Slack voice message?

Slack's help center says you can include a transcript of an audio clip with the Generate transcript icon. Look for it on the clip.

How do I make Enter start a new line in Slack?

Click your profile picture in the sidebar, select Preferences, choose Advanced, and under When writing a message, press Enter to, choose Start a new line. Command Enter then sends the message.

Can a dictated Slack message send itself?

Yes, with YapToText. In Settings, Advanced, Text output, add Slack under After a dictation lands and choose Press Return, or Press Command Return if Slack's Enter key starts a new line for you.

How do I reply in a Slack thread by voice?

Hover over the message, click the Reply in thread icon, and click into the thread's reply box. Then dictate as usual, and the words land in the thread.