Guides

How to talk to text on a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro

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To talk to text on a MacBook, click where you want the words, press the Microphone key, F5 in the top row, and speak when the cursor pulses. Press Esc when you are done. That is Apple's Dictation, the speech to text built into macOS, and it is free.

If F5 does nothing, check that Dictation is on, and if your keyboard has no Microphone key, a shortcut does the same job. The steps are the same on a MacBook Air, a MacBook Pro and a desktop Mac, with one difference: the microphone. I built YapToText, a free dictation app: one section near the end says where it fits on a MacBook, and the figures show it. The rest is Apple's, from its support pages as I read them on October 3, 2026.

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: 9 sections
  1. Steps
  2. Talk to text in three steps
    1. Step 1: Press the Microphone key
    2. Step 2: Speak
    3. Step 3: Stop
  3. Turn on speech to text if F5 does nothing
  4. No Microphone key: the other ways to start
  5. Use the right microphone
    1. On a Mac mini or another desktop Mac
  6. What talking to text can and cannot do
  7. Where YapToText fits on a MacBook
  8. The short version
  9. Questions

Steps

  1. Click where you want the words to appear.
  2. Press and release the Microphone key, F5, or your Dictation shortcut.
  3. Speak when the cursor pulses or a microphone icon appears.
  4. Say punctuation such as comma or question mark where you want it.
  5. Press Esc or the Microphone key to stop.

Talk to text in three steps

Three steps, one key. Press, talk, and press Esc.

Step 1: Press the Microphone key

  • You: Click into a message, note or document, then press and release F5, the key with the microphone on it.
  • macOS: Starts Dictation. The cursor is highlighted and pulses, or on macOS 14 and 15 a microphone icon appears above or below it, and you may hear a tone.
  • Check: You see the pulse or the icon. If Siri opens instead, you held the key, which is a quick lesson in the difference between a press and a hold.

Step 2: Speak

  • You: Talk normally. Say comma, period or question mark where you want them, and new line or new paragraph to break lines.
  • macOS: Enters your words at the cursor and, in supported languages, adds commas, periods and question marks on its own. New lines appear when you finish.
  • Check: The words land where the cursor was. A word underlined in blue is one Dictation was unsure of: click it to choose another.

Step 3: Stop

  • You: Press Esc or the Microphone key again.
  • macOS: Stops listening. It also stops by itself when it hears no speech for 30 seconds.
  • Check: The cursor stops pulsing.
YapToText's Dictation settings page on a Mac: the Keys, Recording, Microphone and Delivery cards.
Figure 1. For comparison, the Dictation page in YapToText, the app I built: the dictation key is Right Command, set to Tap to start / stop, and Auto-stop after silence is Off by default, so a pause does not end it.

Turn on speech to text if F5 does nothing

Dictation has a switch, and it has to be on before F5 or any shortcut can start it.

  • You: Choose Apple menu, System Settings, then click Keyboard in the sidebar; you may need to scroll down. Go to Dictation, turn it on, and click Enable if asked.
  • macOS: May ask whether to share audio recordings to help improve Siri and Dictation. Choose Share Audio Recordings or Not Now.
  • Check: The Dictation switch is on, and pressing F5 starts Dictation.

The full walk-through, with the privacy and language settings, is in how to use dictation on a Mac. If it still does nothing, Mac dictation not working has the fixes in order.

No Microphone key: the other ways to start

If F5 on your keyboard shows something else, or you type on an external keyboard without a Microphone key, any of these starts Dictation:

  • Your Dictation shortcut. Set it under Dictation in Keyboard settings, from the Shortcut pop-up menu. Choose Customize to press your own keys.
  • Fn pressed twice. Set the pop-up menu next to Press fn key to (Press Globe key to, depending on your Mac) to Start Dictation. Then two presses of that key start Dictation.
  • Fn-D. Apple's list of Mac keyboard shortcuts gives Fn-D for starting and stopping dictation, and notes that you may be able to set a different dictation shortcut in Keyboard settings.
  • The Edit menu. Choose Edit, Start Dictation in the app you are typing in.

The Mac dictation shortcut guide goes through each one, and what to do when one clashes.

Use the right microphone

A MacBook has microphones built in: Apple's tech specs for the MacBook Air (13-inch, M4, 2025), for example, list a three-mic array. Dictation listens to whichever microphone Keyboard settings names. Which microphone Dictation hears is a setting you can see.

  • Keep it clear. Apple's troubleshooting page says to make sure clothing, your body or anything else is not covering the microphone, and to speak from where you usually sit, at a normal volume. The Getting Started guide for your MacBook shows where the microphone is.
  • Choose it by name. Under Dictation in Keyboard settings, Microphone source sets what Dictation listens to. Automatic picks the device your Mac thinks you are most likely to use, so if AirPods or a headset are connected, check which one it chose.
  • Use a headset in noise. In a noisy room, or one with a lot of echo, Apple suggests a headset microphone may help.
  • Turn up the input. In System Settings, Sound, Input, select the microphone and drag the input volume slider up. Apple's example of when to do that is someone speaking softly.
YapToText's Settings, General tab: the Shortcuts card, the Auto mode card, and the Microphone card with a live input level meter.
Figure 2. YapToText keeps its own microphone choice in Settings, General, here the MacBook Pro Microphone, and its live meter should reach the green-to-yellow zone when you talk normally.

Bluetooth hearing aids raise their own microphone questions, and the hearing aids page answers them.

On a Mac mini or another desktop Mac

The steps are the same, but the microphone may not be built in. Apple says that if your Mac has no internal microphone, you connect an external one and select it in Sound or Keyboard settings. Its tech specs for the Mac mini (2024), for example, list a built-in speaker and a headphone jack, and no microphone.

What talking to text can and cannot do

  • Any app you can type in. Apple's own examples for the F5 key are Messages, Mail and Pages, and Dictation types wherever you can type.
  • Typing while you talk. On an Apple silicon Mac you can type during Dictation without stopping it.
  • Long talks, short pauses. There is no time limit while you keep talking, but 30 seconds of silence ends it. The 30-second limit page explains why.
  • No spoken delete. The command list covers punctuation, capitals and symbols, not deleting. The Mac dictation commands list has every word you can say.
  • Live speech only. Dictation types what you say now. Text from a recording, such as a voice memo, is transcription, and the guide to transcribing an audio file on a Mac covers it.

Where YapToText fits on a MacBook

I built YapToText because my hands make typing difficult, and I dictate every day with it. It is a free dictation app for Apple silicon Macs with macOS 14 or later, MacBooks included, and it runs entirely on the Mac.

  • A key you already have. Tap Right Command to start and tap it again to stop, or set it to hold to talk. Any other single key can be the trigger instead.
  • No silence stop. It listens until you tap again, with no 30-second cutoff and no word cap.
  • Battery settings. On its Energy page, Keep models in memory unloads the models 2 minutes after use by default, and Switch models with the power source, off by default, lets you pick lighter models on battery. The energy help page explains both.
  • Recordings too. Transcribe file turns a voice memo, or any audio or video file macOS can read, into text on the Mac.
YapToText's menu bar panel: Start Dictation, mode and microphone pickers, Transcribe file, Regenerate and Insert last.
Figure 3. Click the capybara in the menu bar for Start Dictation, the mode and microphone pickers, and Transcribe file, which turns a voice memo into text on the Mac.

The App Store download is about 2.9 GB, because both models ship inside it. If you use YapToText, the first dictation help page covers the key and the Accessibility permission it needs to type into other apps, and voice to text on a Mac covers replacing the keyboard altogether.

The short version

  • Press F5 and talk. Press and release the Microphone key, speak, press Esc.
  • Nothing happens. Turn on Dictation in System Settings, Keyboard.
  • No Microphone key. Set a Dictation shortcut, or set the Fn key to Start Dictation.
  • Wrong microphone. Choose it by name under Microphone source.

On a MacBook, the key with the microphone does the work. If your MacBook 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

How do I talk to text on my MacBook?

Click where you want the words, press the Microphone key (F5), and speak when the cursor pulses. Press Esc to stop. If nothing happens, turn on Dictation in System Settings, Keyboard.

How do I dictate on a MacBook Air?

The same way as on any Mac. On the MacBook Air keyboard, F5 is Dictation/Siri: press it to dictate, or press and hold it for Siri.

Where is the dictation key on a MacBook Pro?

F5, in the top row, with a microphone on it. Apple's MacBook Pro guide lists F5 as Dictation/Siri.

Does talk to text work on a Mac mini?

Yes, with a microphone. Apple's Mac mini (2024) tech specs list a built-in speaker but no microphone, so connect one and select it in Sound or Keyboard settings.

Is talk to text free on a Mac?

Yes. Apple's Dictation is built into macOS at no cost, and YapToText is a free download with no paid tier.