Dictation

Turn it on

1. In Settings ▸ Audio, turn on Dictate anywhere. It is off until you do.
2. Allow Accessibility when macOS asks. MindLake needs it to notice the key in other apps and to type into them, and starts listening for the key once it is granted, without you turning the switch off and on again.
3. Check that a speech model is downloaded in Settings ▸ Local Models. Dictation uses the same model as your transcripts; with none downloaded, nothing is typed.

The key is Fn (🌐) unless you choose Right Option, Right Command or Right Control under Dictation key. Each is a key a shortcut rarely needs, so a double press or a hold on it is never half of something else you are typing.

Dictate

• A take ends on its own after 90 seconds and types what it heard.
• A take in which nothing was heard types nothing.
• Pressing the key together with another modifier key does nothing, and pressing any other key between the two presses cancels the double, so shortcuts that use it keep working.
• A take started from the Dictate button on the notch or the pill counts as hands-free, so one press of the key finishes it too.

With Settings ▸ Audio ▸ Play sounds when dictation starts and stops on (the default), a short sound marks the start, the end and a cancel.

Where the text goes

The words are typed at the cursor in whichever app is in front. MindLake pastes them through the clipboard, then puts back the text that was there. If a field won’t take a paste, it types the words instead.

• It fits the sentence. Where MindLake can read the field, it adds a space after the word before and drops the capital mid-sentence. “I”, names and acronyms keep theirs.
• Fillers go, always. “Um”, “uh”, “erm” and “hmm” are removed, with the commas and capitals around them tidied. “Like”, “you know”, “uh-huh” and “mm-hmm” stay. This doesn’t depend on the transcript setting.
• Your fixes apply. Corrections you have made in transcripts are applied to dictation too.

The pill

A take shows at the notch by default: the waveform left of the camera, and a cross and a tick to its right. See The notch. The pill at the bottom of the screen is the other place a take can show. Turn it on with Settings ▸ General ▸ Notch & menu bar ▸ Show the pill at the bottom of the screen. It is off to start with, including after updating from an earlier version. With both on, a take shows in both; with neither, the key still dictates and nothing shows.

The pill is a small handle at the bottom of the screen. Clicking it never takes the keyboard from the app you are typing in.

Keep them on screen between takes, in the same place, is on by default and keeps the notch and the pill on screen. Turn it off and they appear only while you dictate. If you had turned off Keep a pill at the bottom of the screen in an earlier version, this starts off. A cancelled take gives them a small shake.

Settings

The Dictation section of Settings ▸ Audio has three:

Where a take shows is set in Settings ▸ General ▸ Notch & menu bar:

Dictation records from the same Input device as your recordings, and transcription runs entirely on your Mac. See Privacy and data.