Press the Microphone key if your Mac has one, use your Dictation shortcut, or choose Edit > Start Dictation. To change the shortcut, open System Settings > Keyboard > Dictation, click the Shortcut pop-up menu and choose one, or pick Customize and press your own keys. In macOS 27, Escape, the shortcut or the Microphone key stops it.
Ways to start dictating
Click where the text should go first. Apple's macOS 27 page then lists three ways to start.
- The Microphone key, if your Mac has one in the row of function keys. A press and release starts Dictation. Pressing and holding activates Siri, which must be enabled.
- The Dictation keyboard shortcut you set in Keyboard settings.
- The Edit menu: choose Edit > Start Dictation in the app.
The Fn-D shortcut
Apple's separate article listing Mac keyboard shortcuts gives Fn-D as the shortcut to start or stop dictation. It adds that a different shortcut may be set in Keyboard settings.
That article does not say whether Fn-D applies to every Mac model or every macOS version. The Dictation page itself does not name a default shortcut, so check the Shortcut pop-up menu on your own Mac to see what yours is set to.
Change the shortcut or set your own keys
These steps come from Apple's macOS 27 page. Apple's macOS 13 page describes the same choice as picking a specific shortcut or creating one of your own. Apple calls it the key combination you press to start or stop Dictation.
- Choose Apple menu > System Settings.
- Click Keyboard in the sidebar, then go to Dictation.
- Click the Shortcut pop-up menu.
- Choose a shortcut to start Dictation, or choose Customize and press the keys you want. Apple's example is Option-Z.
How Press Fn Twice fits in
Keyboard settings also has a Press fn/Globe key option. Its choices are Change Input Source, Show Emoji & Symbols, Start Dictation and Do Nothing. Start Dictation starts dictation when you press the key twice. It may ask you to enable Dictation first.
The two settings are linked. Apple says choosing Press Fn (Function) Key Twice as the Dictation shortcut can automatically change the Press fn/Globe key option to Start Dictation (Press Fn Twice). If your double-tap suddenly does something else, look at both settings.
Stop dictating
The ways to stop depend on the version.
- macOS 27: press Escape, the Microphone key (if your Mac has one), or the Dictation shortcut.
- macOS 14 Sonoma: press the Dictation shortcut or Escape.
- macOS 13 Ventura: press the shortcut, press Return, or click Done in the feedback window.
What Apple's pages do not say
Apple's pages do not list the presets in the Shortcut pop-up menu. Only Press Fn Twice and the Option-Z custom example are named. They do not state a default shortcut on the Dictation page.
They also do not say the shortcut can be set to Off or None. The only documented way to turn Dictation off is the switch in Keyboard > Dictation. Apple does not say what the shortcut or Microphone key does while Voice Control is on.
Dictation also stops by itself after 30 seconds with no speech detected. Apple states no maximum length otherwise.
If you want more than the built-in tool
Pepys Dictate lets you hold or tap a keyboard shortcut and speak, then puts clean text at your cursor in any Mac app. By default, speech recognition runs on your Mac with no account. See how it compares with Apple Dictation.
Last updated October 5, 2026.