Mac Dictation Shortcut: Keys and Custom Hotkeys

On a Mac, you start Dictation in one of three ways: press the Microphone key, press the Dictation shortcut you chose in Keyboard settings, or choose Edit > Start Dictation ¹. The Microphone key exists only on keyboards that have one. Without it, the shortcut starts Dictation, and one shortcut option is Press Fn (Function) Key Twice ². Press and hold the Microphone key and you get Siri instead ³. If a key does nothing, look first for a clash with another shortcut or a key setting.

This guide maps each option to the keyboard you have, explains why a press and hold opens Siri, and shows how to change or switch off the key without losing Dictation. For the basic steps, see how to use Dictation on a Mac.

A Mac with a microphone key starts Dictation with one press, and one without needs a shortcut

Apple's Dictation help says to press the Microphone key if it is available in the row of function keys ¹. Apple's pages do not list which Mac keyboards have the key, so look along the top row for the Microphone key. If there is none, use the shortcut in the next section.

The Edit menu route is the fallback when no key works. Apple's Pages guide starts Dictation from Edit > Start Dictation in a document ⁴, so the route depends on the app having that menu item.

If you are not sure which key to use, where the dictation key is on a Mac answers that question step by step. Before you assume a key works, open the Dictation section of Keyboard settings and read the shortcut that is set there. The key label on your keyboard does not tell you which shortcut you have chosen, so read the menu.

The Shortcut menu in Dictation settings offers presets and a custom key combination

The shortcut is set in one place. In Apple's Dictation help, the steps are:

1. Choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Keyboard in the sidebar. You may need to scroll down.
2. Find Dictation, then click the Shortcut pop-up menu.
3. Choose a preset from the list, or choose Customize, then press the keys you want to use.

Apple's example for a custom key is Option-Z on the same page. Apple's help says you can customize the key combination that starts and stops Dictation ⁵, so a custom combination is the way to use a key that no preset offers.

The presets depend on your Mac model and macOS version. Some third-party guides list Command-key presets. Apple's Dictation pages do not list the presets, so the menu on your own Mac is the final check. If you want a specific key, see how to change the Dictation shortcut on a Mac.

Choosing Press Fn (Function) Key Twice also changes a second setting. The Keyboard option for the fn key switches to Start Dictation (Press Fn Twice) by itself ², and Apple says the option can change depending on your Mac model. Check both settings after you change either one.

Dictation is not available in every language ⁶, and the Dictation features cover different numbers of language variants. Before you commit to a shortcut, check that your language has the feature you need. Apple lists the counts below.

General Dictation on a Mac has 63 language and regional variants ⁷. On-device and modeless Dictation covers 48 ⁸, and automatic punctuation covers 33 ⁹. The newer advanced model in macOS 27 covers only 9 English variants ¹⁰. The newest model is available in fewer languages than General Dictation, so check your language before you plan around it.

Set a shortcut and test it in one session

Test a new shortcut before you rely on it, because a clash shows up only when you press the keys:

1. Turn on Dictation in Keyboard settings, if it is off ¹¹.
2. Choose the preset or your custom combination in the Shortcut menu.
3. Open a text field in an app you use every day. Apple says you can speak to enter text anywhere you can type ¹².
4. Press the shortcut, then wait for the signal. Apple says that when the cursor is highlighted and pulsing, or you hear a tone, your Mac is ready for dictation ¹³.
5. Speak a sentence, then press Escape to stop. Check that the text appeared where the cursor was.

If the signal never appears, the shortcut is probably clashing with another command, and the fixes are in the section on clashes below. If the signal appears but no text does, check the microphone you chose in Keyboard settings ¹⁴. If the words come out wrong rather than missing, Apple says a headset microphone may help when you dictate in a noisy place or a room with excessive echo ¹⁵.

Press the microphone key once for Dictation; press and hold it for Siri

A press and release starts Dictation, and a press and hold starts Siri. Apple's note reads "Press and release the Microphone key to start Dictation; press and hold the key to activate Siri (Siri must be enabled)" ³. So the tap is what you want for dictation, and a long press gives you Siri even if you meant to dictate.

To stop Dictation, press Escape, the Microphone key, or the Dictation shortcut ¹⁶. Dictation also stops on its own when it hears no speech for 30 seconds ¹⁷. A long pause ends the session, so start again with the key.

When you stop, check the text. Apple underlines ambiguous words in blue, so check each underlined word before you move on ¹⁸.

On Macs with Apple silicon, you can type between dictated phrases. The cursor stops pulsing while you type and resumes when you stop ¹⁹. That lets you mix typing with dictation without stopping the session.

Keyboard settings also shows where your dictation is processed. Apple says that on a Mac, general text Dictation is processed on your device and not sent to Siri servers, and that you can check this in Keyboard settings ²⁰. The check is worth doing once, since it shows where your dictated text is handled before you rely on Dictation for private material.

Without a microphone key, a double press of fn or Globe is one shortcut Apple documents

When Apple's help described the default, it said that you press the Fn key twice to start or stop Dictation ²¹. That text is from the macOS High Sierra (10.13) edition of the help. Apple's current Dictation help does not state a default, so the shortcut shown in your Shortcut menu is the one that applies on your Mac.

The fn key, also called the Globe key, can start Dictation on a double press, and the option is set in Keyboard settings, where it can be Start Dictation ²². The same key has other jobs in Keyboard settings, so check what it is set to do before you rely on a double press.

The Globe key also switches languages. With more than one dictation language set up, you click the language label next to the cursor or press the Globe key and choose a language ²³. If you use the double press for Dictation, that is one key with two jobs, so test both after you set them.

Apple's help does not say how quickly the two presses must follow each other, so if the double press misfires, try a slightly faster or slower pair before you change the setting. Apple's pages also do not list which external keyboards have a Microphone key. For an external keyboard, check its keys for the Microphone key, then set the shortcut in the Shortcut menu.

A shortcut fails when another app, a keyboard utility or a setting claims the same keys

A shortcut that matches an existing command does nothing. Apple says that if you assign a keyboard shortcut that already exists for another command or app, your new shortcut won't work ²⁴. Apple marks such a clash in Keyboard Shortcuts with a warning icon ²⁵.

To fix a clash, open the Keyboard Shortcuts pane in Keyboard settings and reassign one of the two combinations. If an app's shortcut collides with a macOS shortcut, Apple says you can turn off the macOS shortcut instead ²⁶. To undo every change, use Restore Defaults ²⁷, which resets every shortcut in that pane, not only the one you changed.

Four other causes sit outside the Dictation shortcut itself:

• Voice Control is on. In macOS 27, turning on Voice Control means it is used for dictation, and standard Dictation is not available ²⁸.
• The fn key does something else. Its Keyboard option can be set to Change Input Source or Show Emoji & Symbols instead of Dictation ²⁹. If the key switches keyboards or opens the emoji panel, that setting is the cause.
• A remapping tool takes the key first. Karabiner-Elements cannot modify the fn key on non-Apple keyboards such as Logitech keyboards ³⁰. A tool that changes a key before macOS sees it can stop Dictation from receiving that key, so disable the rule to test.
• No microphone is selected. A Mac with no internal microphone needs an external one connected and selected in Sound or Keyboard settings before Dictation works ³¹.

If the shortcut starts Dictation but no text appears, look at the microphone and the language before you change the key. Our full list of fixes is in why Mac Dictation is not working, and the question on the shortcut is why the dictation shortcut is not working on a Mac.

You can change the Dictation shortcut, or the fn key's job, in Keyboard settings

Two settings control the keyboard start. The Shortcut menu under Dictation sets the key combination, and the fn key option in Keyboard settings sets what the key does when you press it. To turn Dictation off entirely, use the Dictation control in Keyboard settings ¹¹.

The fn key option has four choices, and Do Nothing is the one that stops the key from starting anything ²⁹. Because choosing a Dictation shortcut can change the fn key option, pick the shortcut first, then check the fn key option, and test one dictation session after each change.

If you need a different key from the ones macOS offers, a remapping tool can change how a key behaves system-wide. Karabiner-Elements cannot change the fn key on non-Apple keyboards such as Logitech keyboards ³⁰. Test the key after every change, because a remapping rule can clash with a built-in shortcut.

Once you have a setup that works, write it down: the Shortcut menu choice, the fn key option and whether Voice Control is off. When a shortcut stops working after an update or a new app, that note tells you which setting to compare first, and Restore Defaults gives you a known starting point if you want to begin again ²⁷.

If Apple's options do not fit how you work, a third-party dictation app is the other route. Yap, which we make, is one, and you can see it on the download page. Compare the options first in the guide to the best dictation apps for Mac.

A table of every way to start and stop Dictation by keyboard

The fn key option has four choices in Keyboard settings. Apple lists them as follows:

All four options are listed in Apple's Keyboard settings table ²⁹.

Where to go next

If the key is missing, start with where the dictation key is on a Mac. If you want a new shortcut, follow how to change the dictation shortcut on a Mac. If it stopped working, use why the dictation shortcut is not working or our Mac Dictation troubleshooting page.

For the wider picture, read Dictation on Mac, Mac Dictation commands and punctuation, Voice Control on Mac and Dictation vs Voice Control vs Siri on a Mac. To use Dictation inside apps, see dictation in Mac apps and how to dictate into any app. For the same idea on Windows, read Windows voice typing. The terms used here are defined in the Apple Dictation, Microphone key, Siri and Voice Control entries.