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Edit text by voice on a Mac: fix, rewrite and delete without typing

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To edit text by voice on a Mac, use Voice Control for selecting, replacing and deleting, such as Replace cat with dog, or a dictation app that takes spoken fixes. Apple's standard Dictation has no spoken delete: it underlines words it was unsure of in blue so you can click one and pick an alternative. In YapToText, say scratch that right after a dictation lands to take it back, or select any text, tap Right Option and say the change.

My hands make typing difficult, and I dictate every day. Fixing a sentence I had already written used to mean going back to the keyboard. This page sorts the built-in ways and YapToText's ways to fix text by voice on a Mac by the job, from one wrong word to a whole paragraph in the wrong tone, and says plainly what each tool cannot do and what I have not tested. I built YapToText, so read its sections with that in mind.

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. Pick the right tool for the fix
  3. Fix a word in Apple's Dictation
    1. Step 1: Read for blue
    2. Step 2: Pick the alternative
  4. Select, replace and delete with Voice Control
  5. Take back or fix a YapToText dictation that just landed
  6. Rewrite any selection with Quick Edit
    1. Step 1: Select the words
    2. Step 2: Tap Right Option and say the change
    3. Step 3: Tap it again
  7. Redo a whole dictation with Regenerate
  8. If a spoken fix types the words instead
  9. What each one cannot do
  10. The short version
  11. Questions

Steps

  1. Right after a YapToText dictation lands, dictate scratch that within 30 seconds to take it back.
  2. To fix one word, dictate replace, the wrong word, with, the right word, within 30 seconds.
  3. For older or bigger changes, select the text in any app.
  4. Tap Right Option, say the change, such as make this shorter, and tap Right Option again.
  5. In Apple's Dictation, click a word underlined in blue and choose the alternative.
  6. With Voice Control on, say Replace followed by the old word, with, and the new word.

Pick the right tool for the fix

Three tools, three different ideas of editing. Apple's Dictation adds words and leaves the fixing to you. Voice Control edits the text on screen by command. YapToText edits what it just typed, and rewrites any selection you point it at. Match the tool to the size of the fix, not the other way round.

Checked October 3 and 5, 2026, against Apple's Mac User Guide. Voice Control's commands vary by macOS version and language.

The fixApple's DictationVoice ControlYapToText
Take back what you just saidNo spoken command; press DeleteShow numbers, then Delete and the number of a line or wordSay scratch that as its own dictation, within 30 seconds
Swap one wordClick a blue-underlined word and pick an alternativeReplace cat with dogSay replace, the wrong word, with, the right word, within 30 seconds
Capitalscaps on before a phrase for Title Case, or all caps on for ALL CAPSUppercase and the number of a line or wordSelect it, tap Right Option, say capitalize this
Rewrite a sentenceNo command for itNot stated in Apple's guide; check the Commands listSelect it, tap Right Option, say make this shorter or fix the grammar
Redo a whole dictation in another styleNo command for itNot statedRegenerate in the menu bar panel, or the Redo last dictation shortcut

Apple says standard Dictation is not available while Voice Control is on, so those two are one or the other. YapToText runs its own speech model, so that rule is not about it, and the Voice Control section shows how the two sit side by side.

Fix a word in Apple's Dictation

Apple's Dictation lists commands for punctuation, layout, capitals and symbols, and none for delete or backspace. What it gives you instead is a hint about where it might be wrong. Blue underlines are Apple's Dictation telling you where to look.

Step 1: Read for blue

  • You: Stop Dictation and read what landed.
  • macOS: Underlines in blue the words it was unsure of.
  • Check: Any blue word is the first one to doubt.

Step 2: Pick the alternative

  • You: Click the underlined word and choose the alternative, or type or dictate the right word.
  • macOS: Swaps the word in place.
  • Check: The underline is gone and the sentence reads right.

On a Mac with Apple silicon, you can also type while Dictation keeps listening, so Delete works without stopping it, and Dictation picks up again when you stop typing. That still means a hand on the keyboard. For capitals, say caps on before a phrase and caps off after it, and Apple's full list is on the Mac dictation commands page.

Select, replace and delete with Voice Control

Voice Control, under System Settings, Accessibility, lets you speak commands to move around the Mac and to dictate and edit text, and it is the built-in way to edit by voice. Its standard commands come in groups that include Text Selection, Text Navigation, Text Editing and Text Deletion. Replace cat with dog is the one Voice Control editing command worth learning first.

Say: To Voice Control, in Dictation mode, while you edit text.

Replace cat with dog

What happens: Apple's example: the word cat in your text becomes dog. Use your own words in place of cat and dog.

  • Numbered text. Say Show numbers, then a command such as Delete or Uppercase followed by the number of a line or a word.
  • Selecting. Apple's guide for macOS Ventura describes Select followed by a phrase, in Dictation mode, to select a phrase of one or more words.
  • Everything else. In System Settings, Accessibility, Voice Control, click Commands for the full set on your version of macOS. With Voice Control on, Show commands lists the ones that fit what you are doing.

Voice Control is also a way to select text before handing it to YapToText. Say Command mode first, so Voice Control does not type your YapToText dictation a second time. That is how the pieces fit, not a test result: the Voice Control test pass for YapToText has not been run. The Mac Voice Control commands page has the practical list, and hands free typing on a Mac has the whole daily setup.

Take back or fix a YapToText dictation that just landed

YapToText is the free dictation app I built. It runs Whisper on your Mac, types into any app, and needs an Apple silicon Mac with macOS 14 or later; it is on the Mac App Store. Right after a dictation lands, your next dictation can fix it instead of adding to it. No key is needed beyond the one you dictate with. Say the fix as its own dictation, within 30 seconds, and YapToText edits instead of typing.

Say: As the whole next dictation, right after the words land.

scratch that

What happens: YapToText removes the text it just typed, instead of typing the phrase.

Say: As the whole next dictation, to fix one word or phrase.

replace Tuesday with Thursday

What happens: Tuesday becomes Thursday in the dictation that just landed.

  • The exact whole phrase. Only the exact phrase, said as the whole dictation, counts as a fix.
  • 30 seconds. The fix has to come within 30 seconds of the text landing.
  • The switch. Fix a dictation by speaking again, in the Corrections by voice card on the Quick Edit page, on by default. It needs Insert text automatically, also on by default.
  • Corrections that stick. Fix the same mishearing twice and the Home page asks "Make this correction stick?", and Add it puts the fix in a dictionary named Learned, which also primes Whisper. Only fixes of up to three words are learned.
YapToText's Quick Edit page: the Quick Edit key on Right Option, Corrections by voice, pop-up position and colors.
Figure 1. Fix a dictation by speaking again lives in the Corrections by voice card on the Quick Edit page, on out of the box.

YapToText has no spoken delete or backspace command beyond these two. And if After a dictation lands presses Return for an app, scratch that cannot take back a message that has already been sent. The spoken punctuation guide covers the rest of what you can say while dictating.

Rewrite any selection with Quick Edit

For anything older than 30 seconds, or bigger than one word, there is Quick Edit. It works on text you can select in most apps, whoever wrote it. Select, tap Right Option, say the change, tap again.

Step 1: Select the words

  • You: Highlight the words, by mouse, by keyboard or with Voice Control.
  • YapToText: Nothing yet. If nothing is selected when you tap, the card says Select some text first and waits up to 12 seconds.
  • Check: The words are highlighted.

Step 2: Tap Right Option and say the change

  • You: Tap Right Option and say what you want, such as make this shorter.
  • YapToText: Opens the Quick Edit card, which says Listening for your edit and shows your words in quotes.
  • Check: Your instruction is in quotes on the card.
The Quick Edit card with a live waveform, the text Listening for your edit, and the spoken instruction make it sound more formal underneath
Figure 2. Over a selection, Right Option opens this card, and what you say is an instruction, not text to type.

Step 3: Tap it again

  • You: Tap Right Option again.
  • YapToText: Applies the change on your Mac and replaces the selection. Esc cancels while it says Applying your edit, and leaves your text as it was.
  • Check: The card says Done. Any other message says why nothing changed.

A few things to say: fix the grammar, make it sound more formal, capitalize this, change this to hearing aids. Exact case changes and exact swaps skip the AI and are instant. With the right spelling of a word selected, add this to my dictionary adds it to your first dictionary. The Quick Edit guide has the full list, the card's messages and the options.

To replace a selection with new words instead of an edit, just dictate over it with Right Command. Intelligent Insert shapes the new words like the ones they replace: the first letter's case and the closing mark follow the selection.

Redo a whole dictation with Regenerate

Sometimes every word is right and the shape is wrong: a message that should have been an email, a note that rambles. YapToText keeps the raw transcript of each dictation, so it can rewrite it again. A bad cleanup is never final, because the raw transcript is kept.

  • Regenerate, in the menu bar panel. Click the capybara, then Regenerate. Most recent dictation redoes your last one as any mode with AI cleanup on; if the original is still on screen from the last five minutes, the new text is swapped in right there, and otherwise it goes to your clipboard. Selected text rewrites whatever is selected in the app you were just using and pastes the result over it, and also offers AI Actions such as Summarize or Translate to English.
  • Redo last dictation. A shortcut in Settings, General, Shortcuts, not set until you record one. It runs your last dictation through AI cleanup again and swaps the fresh result in for the words it typed. If that dictation is more than five minutes old or longer than 600 characters, the result goes to your clipboard instead.
  • Regenerate with AI, in History. Reruns cleanup on any entry's raw transcript. Entries cannot be retyped; you regenerate them instead.

Regenerate in the menu bar is the one that needs no key at all, which matters if you click with Voice Control. The menu bar guide covers the panel, and the History guide covers entries. If the words never landed or vanished, that is a different problem, and getting a lost dictation back starts with Command V.

If a spoken fix types the words instead

Climb this ladder, smallest step first:

  1. Make it its own dictation. In YapToText, scratch that and replace X with Y count only as the whole dictation, said right after the last one landed.
  2. Beat the clock. Say the fix within 30 seconds, or select the text and use Quick Edit instead.
  3. Check the switches. On the Quick Edit page, Fix a dictation by speaking again must be on, and on the Dictation page, Insert text automatically must be on.
  4. Check the selection. Quick Edit cannot read a selection while Secure Input is on, which usually means a password field, and it does not start while a dictation is still running or finishing.
  5. Check Voice Control's mode. If Voice Control is on, it may be in Dictation mode, where any word that is not a command is typed. Say Command mode.
  6. Tell me. Open a GitHub issue with the app, what you said and what was typed.

What each one cannot do

None of these reads your mind about which word is wrong; you still have to read what landed.

  • Apple's Dictation. No spoken delete, backspace or rewrite. You click blue words or use the keyboard, and it is not available while Voice Control is on.
  • Voice Control. It edits by command. Apple's guide does not describe rewriting a sentence's tone, and its commands vary by macOS version and language.
  • YapToText. No delete or backspace command. Scratch that and replace work only for 30 seconds after a dictation, and Quick Edit needs a key tap and a selection. Rewrites come from a small model on your Mac, so read a long one before you send it, and Regenerate needs a cleanup model, which the App Store build has inside.
  • Untested. The Voice Control test pass for YapToText has not been run, so I do not call the two fully tested together.

The short version

  • One wrong word, just said. In YapToText, dictate replace, the wrong word, with, the right word.
  • The whole thing, just said. Dictate scratch that within 30 seconds.
  • Anything you can select. Tap Right Option and say the change, or use Voice Control's Replace.
  • Apple's Dictation. Click the blue words, or press Delete.

Say the fix the way you would say it to a person at the keyboard.

If a fix does something this page does not describe, 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

Can you edit text by voice on a Mac?

Yes. Voice Control edits by command, such as Replace cat with dog. In YapToText, select any text, tap Right Option, say the change and tap again, or say scratch that right after a dictation lands.

How do I delete a word with dictation on a Mac?

Apple's Dictation has no spoken delete, so press Delete or use Voice Control, where Show numbers then Delete and a number removes a word. In YapToText, scratch that as its own dictation within 30 seconds takes back what just landed.

How do I correct dictation mistakes by voice?

In YapToText, right after a dictation lands, say replace, then the wrong word, then with, then the right word. Fix the same mishearing twice and the app offers to make the correction stick.

How do I replace a word by voice on a Mac?

With Voice Control on, say Replace followed by the old word, with, and the new word, as in Apple's example Replace cat with dog. In YapToText, select the word, tap Right Option and say change this to the new word.

What do the blue underlines in Mac dictation mean?

Apple's Dictation underlines words it was unsure of in blue. Click one to pick an alternative, or type or dictate the right word.