At a glance
- Start: Home > Dictate, or press
⌥ Option+F1. - Needs: a Microsoft 365 subscription, a signed-in account, a microphone and a reliable internet connection.
- Applies to: Word for Microsoft 365 for Mac, Word 2024 for Mac and Word 2021 for Mac.
- Voice commands: English includes punctuation, editing, selection, formatting, lists and comments. Other languages have fewer.
- Privacy: your speech is sent to Microsoft to produce the text; Microsoft says it doesn’t store the audio or transcript.
- No subscription? macOS Dictation also works in Word, for free.
How to use the Dictate button in Word for Mac
Open a document, click Home > Dictate (or press Option + F1), wait for the button to show it’s listening, and start talking. That’s it. Step by step:
- Make sure you’re signed in to Word with your Microsoft 365 account and your Mac has a working microphone.
- Open a new or existing document.
- On the Home tab, click Dictate, or press
⌥ Option+F1. - Wait for the Dictate button to turn on and start listening.
- Speak. Text appears where your cursor is. Say punctuation out loud, or let Auto Punctuation handle it.
- Say “stop dictation” when you’re done, or “pause dictation” to take a break.
Words Word thinks it may have misheard can get a marking underneath. If the word is already right, you can select Ignore.
Dictation settings in Word
Click the gear icon in the dictation toolbar to see:
- Spoken Language: the language you’ll speak. By default it matches your document language.
- Microphone: which mic Word listens to.
- Auto Punctuation: a checkmark to turn automatic punctuation on or off, where the language supports it.
- Filter sensitive phrases: masks potentially sensitive phrases with ***.
Microsoft lists English (US, UK, Canada, Australia, India), Spanish (Spain and Mexico), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (China) and Hindi as fully supported. About 36 more are in preview, which Microsoft says “may have lower accuracy or limited punctuation support.”
Word dictation commands (English)
| To | Say |
|---|---|
| Punctuation | period / full stop, comma, question mark, exclamation mark, colon, semicolon, hyphen, ellipsis (“dot dot dot”), apostrophe-s |
| Quotes and brackets | open quotes / close quotes, open single quote / close single quote, open parentheses / close parentheses, open bracket / close bracket, open brace / close brace |
| Line breaks | new line |
| Edit | delete, delete that, scratch that, delete [word or phrase], delete last [1–100] words, backspace [1–100], insert space, undo |
| Select | select [word or phrase], select that, select from [x] to [y], select last [1–100] words |
| Format | bold, italicize, underline, strikethrough, capitalize, uppercase, lowercase, subscript, superscript, clear formatting, remove bold |
| Paragraphs | align left / center / right, increase indent, decrease indent |
| Lists | create bullet list, create numbered list, next item, exit list |
| Comments | add comment [content] |
| Symbols | m-dash, n-dash, paragraph sign, section sign, at sign, ampersand, percent sign, plus or minus sign, division sign, dollar / euro / pound sterling / yen sign, smiley face, heart emoji |
| Control dictation | pause dictation, stop dictation, exit dictation, show commands, show help |
A few behaviors worth knowing, from Microsoft’s tips:
- Saying “delete” on its own removes the last word or punctuation before the cursor. “Delete that” removes the last thing you said.
- You can format after the fact: dictate “review by tomorrow at 5PM”, then say “bold tomorrow”. “Bold last word” and “underline last sentence” also work.
- “Add comment look at this tomorrow” creates a comment with that text. “Add comment” alone opens a blank comment box.
Commands differ by language. In Spanish, for example, Microsoft’s list covers punctuation, symbols, math, currency and emoji only, with no editing, formatting or list commands.
Dictation in Word for Mac not working? Try these
- No Dictate button: dictation is only for Microsoft 365 subscribers. Check that you’re signed in with an account that has an active subscription.
- Dictate is greyed out: make sure the document isn’t read-only.
- “Dictation can’t hear you” or nothing appears: make sure the mic isn’t muted, raise its input level (on a Mac, System Settings > Sound > Input), move somewhere quieter, or try a headset.
- Microphone in use: close other apps or web pages that might be using the microphone, then try again.
- Lots of wrong or missing words: Microsoft recommends a fast, reliable internet connection, less background noise and speaking more deliberately.
- Wrong language: open the gear icon and set Spoken Language to what you’re actually speaking.
Use macOS Dictation in Word instead
If you don’t have Microsoft 365, you can still talk to Word. macOS has its own Dictation that works anywhere you can type, Word included:
- Turn it on in Apple menu > System Settings > Keyboard > Dictation. (Details: how to turn on Dictation on Mac.)
- Click in your Word document.
- Press the Microphone key, use your Dictation shortcut, or choose Edit > Start Dictation.
| Feature | Word’s Dictate | macOS Dictation |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Needs Microsoft 365 | Free, built in |
| Internet | Required | Depends; the note under Keyboard > Dictation says whether it’s processed on your Mac |
| Punctuation commands | Yes | Yes (full list) |
| Edit, format, lists by voice | Yes, in English | No |
| Works in other apps | Word (this guide) | Anywhere you can type |
One catch: if Voice Control is on, standard macOS Dictation isn’t available. See Mac Dictation not working if it won’t start.
When built-in dictation isn’t enough
Word’s Dictate is strong if you want to edit by voice in English. If you mostly want clean prose without fixing it afterward, VybeScript (a paid Mac app, $99 once or $39 a year) works in Word and every other app:
- Transcription runs on your Mac, with no internet needed to dictate and no Microsoft 365 subscription.
- Clean removes “um” and false starts; Polish and Formal turn spoken lists into bullets. These styles need macOS 26 with Apple Intelligence on.
- Vocabulary corrections for client names and jargon.
- English and Spanish. It has no voice commands for editing, so if you rely on “bold that” or “delete last word”, Word’s Dictate is the better fit.
See pricing or how VybeScript handles offline dictation.
Source: Microsoft Support, Dictate your documents in Word; Apple, Use Dictation on Mac. Checked 2026-10-01. Microsoft’s troubleshooting steps are written mainly for Windows and the web; we’ve listed the ones that apply on a Mac. More how-tos in our guides.