Dictation Software for Mac and MacBook Air: Built-In Dictation vs Letterly

If you’ve ever stared at a blank page on your Mac thinking, “My brain is full, my fingers are broken,” this article is for you.

Dictation is the shortcut between your thoughts and the text on your screen. Every Mac already has a built-in dictation tool. At the same time, there are dedicated apps that don’t just transcribe your speech — they actually help you turn it into something you’d be willing to send or publish. So let’s give your keyboard a break. 😉

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Why use dictation on a Mac at all?

Dictation lets your Mac do the boring part (typing) while you just talk things through the way you normally think and speak. It’s helpful if you write a lot, move around with a MacBook, or simply find reading and typing more exhausting than talking.

Why you might need it:

✔️  You think faster than you type

✔️  Your hands get tired from constant typing

✔️  You work on the go with a MacBook

✔️  You want to capture ideas before they disappear

✔️  You have dyslexia or other learning differences

When to use it:

✅  Emails and messages

✅  Meeting notes and summaries

✅  Study notes

✅  Blog posts, articles, social media drafts

✅  Personal journaling and brain dumps

How to use the built-in dictation on your Mac

Apple gives you a basic dictation tool for free. It’s not fancy, but it exists, it works, and it’s already on your Mac.

1. Turn on dictation in macOS

The exact wording may differ slightly depending on your macOS version, but the path is roughly:

1. Click the Apple menu 
2. Open System Settings (or System Preferences on older macOS versions)
3. Go to Keyboard
4. Turn Dictation on
5. Choose:
   • Language
   • Whether you want auto punctuation (if available)
   • The shortcut to start dictation (like pressing the Fn key twice)

That’s it. You’ve just activated the built-in dictation program for Mac.

2. Start dictating on your Mac or MacBook Air

Now you can use dictation almost anywhere there’s a text cursor.

Try this:

1. Open Notes, Pages, Mail, or your favorite text editor.
2. Click where you want to start typing.
3. Use your dictation shortcut (for many Macs it’s pressing the Fn key twice).
4. Wait for the little microphone icon to show up.
5. Start speaking.

You can say: “Hello comma this is my first test period new line”

It’s basic, but it does the job.

Pros and cons of Apple’s built-in dictation

If you dictate a lot, you’ll notice the pattern: you save time typing, then lose that time again cleaning up the mess.

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How to use Letterly as dictation software for Mac and MacBook Air

If this Reddit post feels relatable, it might be time to look for an alternative:

We built Letterly and keep improving it, always with one simple question in mind: “How can we make our users’ lives easier?” So if you want a smoother, less painful experience with dictation on your Mac, give it a try.

1. What is Letterly?

Letterly is your multitasking AI assistant that takes everything living in your head – work tasks, brainstorms, personal notes, grocery lists – and turns it into clear, structured notes in one workspace. It saves you from endlessly typing emails, project outlines, reviews, study notes, essays, and journal entries. Just speak out loud and use that saved time on more meaningful things. You can drop in any kind of text, then use multiple Rewrite Options to turn raw ideas into a solid email, a social media post, a structured list, or a clean document in one click. And now Letterly is also your dictation companion, with speech-to-text that’s up to 99% accurate.

Let’s see how Letterly actually works in practice.👇

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2. Install Letterly on your Mac or MacBook Air

1. Download Letterly for Mac → Download from the Mac App Store
2. Install the app, then log in or create a new account.

That’s it – you’re ready to start using Letterly on your Mac. 🎉

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3. Set up Letterly dictation

1. Open the Letterly app on your Mac and click the small gear icon in the top-right corner.
2. Go through the quick setup:
   • Allow Letterly to use your microphone.
   • Allow Letterly to insert your spoken words as text.
   • Choose whether you always want the floating bar on your screen or prefer to hide it.
   • Check the start/stop shortcut. By default, it’s F5, but you can change it to whatever works for you.

That’s it, Letterly dictation is ready to go. 🎉

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4. Create your first dictated note

1. Open any place where you normally type text: Gmail, Google Docs, Notes, a task manager, and so on, and place the cursor there.
2. Start dictation by pressing F5 (or another shortcut you’ve set up) or by clicking the floating bar (if you chose to keep it visible).
3. Speak your text at a normal pace.

1. When you are done, press F5 (or another shortcut you’ve set up) again or click the floating bar to stop recording.
2. Wait a moment for transcription.

You can now have a text version of your speech, right where you need it, without typing.

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5. Explore what Letterly does beyond dictation

This is where a simple “dictation program for Mac” turns into an actual writing assistant.

Instead of stopping at “here’s your transcript, good luck”, Letterly helps you finish the job.

With Letterly, you can:

• Turn raw speech into real documents

  Emails, meeting summaries, blog outlines, to-do lists and more – all with one click using Rewrite Options.

  • Use a light touch like “Slightly”, which just cleans up your text and fixes small things.
  • Or go for “Significantly”, which can turn your rambling notes into structured text with bullet points and subheadings.
  • You can also create your own Custom Rewrite Options: for example, “rewrite the text as a lawyer”, “make this sound more casual”, or “shorten this and keep only key points”.

• Send your text anywhere you work

  Share your text with a tap of the Share button, or just copy and paste it.

  If you’re a more advanced user, you can set up webhooks with Zapier to send your notes to the same app every time – for example, directly into your task manager, Notion, or email tool in a single click.

Letterly is your AI pocket assistant for all things text-related, not just for dictation.

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6. Stay tuned for updates 🤩

We’re constantly improving Letterly to make the whole experience smoother and more effortless. Right now, we’re working on the next step: letting you apply Rewrite Options during the dictation process, so you won’t even need to open the app to clean up or transform your text.

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I hope you’ll find Letterly handy for dictation on your Mac – and for all your everyday text routines in general. 🥳

Got questions? Email us at hi@letterly.app – we’re happy to help.