Hotkeys and modes

Dictate listens for two hotkeys while any app has focus. One is held while you talk. The other switches hands free dictation on and off. Both are rebindable in Settings. This guide covers the two modes and the default keys per platform and the rules for a new key and the two ways Dictate puts the text into the app you use.

Hold to talk

Hold the talk key and speak and release it. On press Dictate starts capturing from the microphone and shows the Listening pill near the bottom of the screen. On release it stops capturing and transcribes what it heard and inserts the text into the app that has focus. The pill reads Transcribing while the model runs and hides when the text has landed.

The default talk key is Right Option on macOS and Right Ctrl on Windows.

A tap that lasts under a third of a second records nothing. A hold whose audio stays silent inserts nothing. A hold ends by itself after two minutes so a key that sticks never records all day. When a hold ends by itself the text is inserted the moment you release the key and not before.

Hands free

Press the hands free key once and Dictate starts listening. Speak as long as you want up to the two minute limit. Press the key once more and Dictate stops and transcribes and inserts the text. The same toggle sits in the menu as Start listening and Stop listening so you can run hands free dictation from the menu bar or the tray without a hotkey.

The default hands free key is Control+Option+D on macOS and Ctrl+Alt+D on Windows.

While hands free dictation is listening the talk key does nothing. While a hold is in progress the hands free key does nothing. A press of either key while Dictate is transcribing does nothing. Each dictation runs to its end before the next one starts.

Change the keys

Open Settings and the Hotkeys group. Each row shows the current key and a field that captures a new one and a Reset button that puts the default back. Click into the field and press the key or the combination you want.

For the talk key a press of a modifier key alone binds that modifier. Press and release Right Option or Right Command or Right Shift or Right Ctrl with no other key and the field shows that name. Dictate tells the right hand key from the left hand key so a binding to Right Option leaves the left Option key alone. You can also bind a key with modifiers such as Ctrl+Option+Space.

For the hands free key a modifier alone is refused because it would fire on every press of that modifier. Use a key with modifiers.

Some keys are refused with a sentence under the field. Esc cannot be a hotkey. A letter or a digit needs Control and Option together on macOS or Ctrl or Alt on Windows so a plain letter never fires while you type. A system shortcut is refused. The other hotkey holding the same key is refused. A refused key leaves the old binding in place. New keys apply at once without a restart.

Where the text goes

Dictate inserts the text into the app that had focus when the dictation ended. It never takes focus. Open Settings and the General group to choose between two insertion modes.

Paste is the default. Dictate puts the text on the clipboard and sends the paste shortcut (Command V on macOS and Ctrl V on Windows) and then restores what the clipboard held before after a short delay. When the clipboard held no text (an image or a list of files or nothing) Dictate leaves the dictated text on the clipboard so nothing is lost.

Type key by key is for apps that block paste such as some terminals and remote desktops and password fields. Dictate types the text one character at a time at about 200 characters a second and touches no clipboard. Line breaks are typed as Return.

On macOS both modes need the Accessibility permission. Without it Dictate puts the text on the clipboard and shows a message with an Open Settings button and keeps the text in History so you can paste it by hand.

The leading space

When you dictate a sentence and then another one into the same field Dictate adds one space before the second one. A space is added when the previous dictation in this session ended without a space and did not end in an opening bracket or quote and the new text starts with a letter or a digit. The memory of the previous dictation resets when you clear the history or change the insertion mode.