Let’s face it: You wanted Siri on your Mac and you didn’t get it. But you don’t have to wait for Apple’s digital assistant to arrive on OS X, you can talk to your Mac now—dictating messages, Spotlight searches ①, launching apps, issuing commands, and more. And though your Mac won’t tell you jokes, it can read you a book.
① Yes, you can search Spotlight using just your voice—no Siri required.
We’ll first look at how you can talk to your Mac, and then later in this chapter we’ll look at how you can Have Your Mac Talk to You.
Set Up Dictation
To use El Capitan’s full powers of speech, you must first download additional components from Apple. The Enhanced Dictation software makes it possible for speech recognition to happen on your Mac, as opposed to on Apple’s servers, as it does with Siri.
With Enhanced Dictation, none of your recorded speech is sent to Apple and you can dictate continuously, with live feedback. Enhanced Dictation also makes it possible to enable Dictation Commands. These let you tell your Mac to switch apps, click menus, and more.
Turn On Dictation
Get started by going to System Preferences > Dictation & Speech > Dictation and setting Dictation to On. A warning cautions you that your speech will be sent to Apple to be converted to text and that the names of your contacts may be sent as well to help your Mac recognize what you’re saying. We’ll take care of this in the next step, so click Enable Dictation.
Download Enhanced Dictation
Now, select the Use Enhanced Dictation box. This will download software (1.2 GB worth if your language is American English) that will take your dictation offline. Since this is a substantial download, it may take a while.
Download Other Languages
OS X downloads Enhanced Dictation for the language that your Mac is set to use. (As determined by System Preferences > Language & Region.) To be able to dictate in another language or dialect (Australian English, for instance), go to System Preferences > Dictation & Speech > Dictation.
From the Language pop-up menu, choose Add Language. In the list that appears, select the language you want and click OK. OS X downloads the components necessary for that language, too.
Switching to Another Language
When dictation is active, you’ll see a floating microphone palette. Click the language name underneath the mic and then choose another language ②.
② Switch languages on the fly using the floating microphone palette.
Setting a Shortcut
In the Dictation preference pane, you can set a dictation keyboard shortcut.
The default is a double-press of the fn key. Click the Shortcut pop-up menu to see other possibilities. If you don’t like any of them, choose Customize and then type in your own shortcut.
Choosing a Microphone
If your computer or display doesn’t have a built-in microphone, or you prefer to use something else, click the pop-up menu directly below the microphone icon in the Dictation & Speech preference pane. If another mic is attached to your Mac, you can choose it there.
Dictate Your Thoughts
Here’s how to start dictating:
Open an app, such as TextEdit, and click in the document window.
Invoke Dictation by using your keyboard shortcut—fn fn by default.
A floating palette with a microphone appears ③.
③ Press fn fn to start Dictation and then wait for the beep. Words start appearing as soon as you speak.
When you hear a beep, start talking. Make sure to speak clearly, but don’t over e-nun-ci-ate your words.
As you speak, words appear in the document window.
When you’re done, press fn once or click Done in the floating microphone palette.
Including Punctuation
You can add punctuation as you speak, saying, for example: “Today was a good day period” to write Today was a good day. (Note that you might run into some trouble if you try to dictate Today was a good day, period.)
Dictation identifies common punctuation by name, for example, “comma,” “question mark,” “exclamation point,” and “period” (or “full stop”). It then adds that punctuation in the current text field. For a list of recognized punctuation, see Apple’s article, Dictation Commands You Can Use in OS X.
You can also use Dictation to do very basic formatting. For example, say “all caps” “new paragraph,” or “new line.”
Enable Advanced Commands
To really take advantage of Dictation, you must turn on Advanced Commands. This gives you access to more options, such as “Open document” and “Click item.”
Go to System Preferences > Accessibility and choose Dictation in the list to the left. Click Dictation Commands and then select the Enable Advanced Commands checkbox.
Click Done in the preference pane to activate Advanced Commands.
Try the Commands at Hand
Commands you can speak include:
Commands for selecting: For example, “Select <phrase>,” “Select next sentence,” “Deselect that”
Commands that move the insertion point in a document: For example, “Go to the end of paragraph,” “Go to the next field”
Commands for editing: For example, “Copy that,” “Replace <phrase> with <phrase>,” “Insert date”
Commands for formatting: For example, “Bold that,” “Underline <phrase>”
System commands: For example, “How do I <phrase>,” “Search Spotlight for <phrase>,” “Open dictation preferences”
Application commands: For example, “Switch to <app name>,” “Quit <app name>,” “Click <menu name> menu”
Document Commands: For example, “Save document,” “Minimize window,” “Click <item name>”
To see a list of all the commands you can access, activate Dictation (press fn fn or speak your trigger keyword, described in the sidebar just above), wait for the beep, and then say “Show commands” ⑤.
⑤ Say “Show commands” to see this list. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, try using the search field at the top.
Create a Command
To tell your Mac to do something that’s not in the commands list, such as paste in your contact information, you can create the command yourself:
Go to System Preferences > Accessibility. Scroll down to the Dictation item and select it ⑥.
⑥ You’ll find a number of helpful options tucked into the Dictation section of the Accessibility preference pane.
Click the Dictation Commands button.
Click the plus button.
In the When I Say field to the right, type a phrase, for example, “Paste my address.”
From the While Using pop-up menu, choose Any Application so the command will work anywhere. (If you want your command to work only while you’re in a certain app, you could choose that app.)
From the Perform menu, choose what the command will do. In this case, choose Paste Text and then enter your address.
The new command shows in the list at the left and in the Perform pop-up menu ⑦.
⑦ The Perform menu is packed with options for creating your own voice command.
Click Done.
Now when you say “Computer, paste my address” your address will appear at the insertion point, easy-peasy.
Use this technique to create dictation commands that open a commonly visited Web site, trigger a keyboard shortcut, and more. Apple packed the most potential in the Run Workflow item, as I’ll discuss next.
New! Use Built-in Command Workflows
El Capitan beefs up Dictation with ten built-in Automator Dictation commands that let you navigate iTunes; take a picture; go to Apple’s Web site; or start a new video, audio, or screen recording—all with your voice. It’s easy to activate these and start using them right away.
Activate a Workflow
To get started, activate a new command that intrigues you:
Go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Dictation.
Click the Dictation Commands button.
Click the plus button.
To see what commands you can choose from, click the Perform pop-up menu and view the Run Workflow submenu ⑧.
⑧ Choose from any of El Capitan’s ten built-in Dictation workflows.
Pick one, for example Take My Picture. The other fields autofill—the When I Say field now reading “Take my picture.” You can change this phrase, if you like.
The new command appears in the left-hand commands list, under the User category.
Click Done.
Now, try your Dictation command. Press fn fn and then say the command: “Take my picture.” (Or, if you’ve enabled a keyword phrase, use that: “Computer, take my picture.”) You’ll see a flash and then Photos will open to the new picture of you.
Add as many of the built-in commands as you like.
Delete a Command Workflow
Go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Dictation.
Click the Dictation Commands button.
Select the command in the list.
Click the minus button to remove it.
Click Done.
Have Your Mac Talk to You
Whether you have trouble reading text on-screen, or you just like the soothing sound of your computer reading to you, the Mac can oblige.
Turn On Text to Speech
Open System Preferences > Dictation & Speech > Text to Speech ⑨.
⑨ Set up Text to Speech options in this preference pane.
Choose a Voice
Click the System Voice pop-up menu to give your Mac a voice, either male or female. Choose one by name and click Play to hear what it sounds like. (Some say droll phrases, like “I sure like being inside this fancy computer.”) Change the voice’s speed with the Speaking Rate slider.
If you’re still not satisfied, click the System Voice pop-up menu again and choose Customize. A larger list of voices appears, as well as higher quality versions of some of the stock voices ⑩. Select a name and click Play to audition it.
⑩ You can download many more voices, including some amusing novelty ones. Select one and click Play to hear it.
You’ll find some less synthetic voices here, as well as novelty voices like Bahh and Bubbles. You can also select from international voices. Once you’ve found the right one, click OK to download it. As soon as it’s done, you can choose it in the System Voice pop-up menu.
Add a Shortcut
Select the Speak Selected Text When the Key Is Pressed checkbox to add a shortcut for Text to Speech. By default, it’s Option-Esc. Change it by clicking Change Key and adding your own.
Have Your Mac Announce Alerts
Select the Announce When Alerts Are Displayed checkbox to have your Mac tell you when an alert appears on-screen.
Have Your Mac Announce the Time
Click the Open Date & Time Preferences button to jump to that system preference pane. Here you can select the Announce the Time option and choose the frequency (on the hour, on the half hour) in the pop-up menu.
This is surprisingly helpful if you’re the kind of person who loses track of time.
Listen to a Story
Once Text to Speech is set up, your Mac can read to you. Select some text—say, on a Web page—and then press your shortcut, Option-Esc by default. Your Mac starts talking.
Some apps—Safari, iBooks, TextEdit, Pages, to name a few—also include a menu item for Speech (Edit > Speech > Start Talking) ⑪.
⑪ In iBooks, choose Edit > Speech > Start Talking to hear a book read aloud.
Be aware that if you don’t make a selection before using the command, Speech to Text will read everything on the page (or, in iBooks, the entire chapter). When it comes to Safari, this might mean listening to text advertisements, sidebars, and other non-essential material—unless you switch to Reader view first.
When you’re done, choose Edit > Speech > Stop Talking.
button.
button to remove it.
