Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Mavericks Edition

Dictation

Dictation is built into the Mac, just as it is on the latest iPhones and iPads. You can enter text anywhere, into any program, just by speaking. (Behind the scenes, it’s using the same Nuance recognition technology that powers Dragon Naturally Speaking.) You can blather away into an email, fire off a text message, or draft a memo without ever looking at the screen.

Now, before you get all excited, here are the necessary footnotes:

• Voice typing works best if there’s not a lot of background noise. It works even better on Macs that have dual microphones, like MacBooks with Retina displays; those two mikes create a “beam array”—a directional alignment that helps them differentiate your voice from the background noise.

• Voice typing isn’t always practical, since everybody around you can hear what you’re doing.

• Voice typing isn’t 100 percent accurate. Very often, you’ll have to correct an error or two. (Your accuracy is much, much better when you wear a headset.)

You get the best accuracy from Dictation if you have an Internet connection. But if you turn on Enhanced Dictation, the Mac downloads the conversion software so you don’t have to be online to use it. As a bonus, Enhanced Dictation means that you’re no longer limited to 30 seconds of dictation per burst. You can keep on blabbing away until you’ve dictated your entire dissertation or letter to Congress. (As a bonus bonus, the words now appear on the screen as you speak, instead of waiting until you stop talking.)

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