macOS Catalina introduces Voice Control, a new way to fully control your Mac entirely with your voice. Voice Control uses the Siri speech-recognition engine to improve on the Enhanced Dictation feature available in earlier versions of macOS.1
Advanced SystemCare Free. IObit Uninstaller. Tazti Speech Recognition Software for Windows 7, 8, 8.1 (64-bit). This voice recognition software allows you to record the streaming audio or mic input from external applications or tools. The files that are fetched hereafter are saved on the hard disk of the computer and you are also free to schedule as many numbers of future recordings as you want with the aid of the useful add-ons. Download and install the best free apps for Voice Recognition Software on Mac from CNET Download.com, your trusted source for the top software picks.
Speech to text: Voice to text is the powerful, real-time dictation solution. Based on the latest artificial intelligence and using a powerful speech recognition engine, This Dictation app accurately transcribes your speech to text in real time. The clean elegant design, along with the non-stop v.
- Best Free Speech to Text Apps for Mac/iPhone/iOS Devices 19) Apple Dictation. Apple Dictation is one of the best free speech to text software that comes built-in with most Apple devices. It uses Siri’s servers to process up to 30 seconds of speech at a time (remember to connect to the internet).
- If you need free speech-to-text software for Windows, the freelance writer I worked with on this review recommends Windows 10 Speech Recognition. This program available on Microsoft ’s desktop OS. It has solid voice recognition abilities included in the operating system, even if it is not named Cortana.
- Turn on keyboard dictation. On your Mac, choose Apple menu System Preferences, click Keyboard, then click Dictation. Open the Dictation pane for me. If a prompt appears, click Enable Dictation. If you’re asked if you want to improve Siri and Dictation, do one of the following: Share audio recordings: Click Share Audio Recordings.
How to turn on Voice Control
After upgrading to macOS Catalina, follow these steps to turn on Voice Control:
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Accessibility.
- Click Voice Control in the sidebar.
- Select Enable Voice Control. When you turn on Voice Control for the first time, your Mac completes a one-time download from Apple.2
Voice Control preferences
When Voice Control is enabled, you see an onscreen microphone representing the mic selected in Voice Control preferences.
To pause Voice Control and stop it from from listening, say 'Go to sleep' or click Sleep. To resume Voice Control, say or click 'Wake up'.
How to use Voice Control
Get to know Voice Control by reviewing the list of voice commands available to you: say 'Show commands' or 'Show me what I can say'. The list varies based on context, and you may discover variations not listed. To make it easier to know whether Voice Control heard your phrase as a command, you can select 'Play sound when command is recognised' in Voice Control preferences.
Basic navigation
Voice Control recognises the names of many apps, labels, controls and other onscreen items, so you can navigate by combining those names with certain commands. Here are some examples:
- Open Pages: 'Open Pages'. Then create a new document: 'Click New Document'. Then choose one of the letter templates: 'Click Letter. Click Classic Letter'. Then save your document: 'Save document'.
- Start a new message in Mail: 'Click New Message'. Then address it: 'John Appleseed'.
- Turn on Dark Mode: 'Open System Preferences. Click General. Click Dark'. Then quit System Preferences: 'Quit System Preferences' or 'Close window'.
- Restart your Mac: 'Click Apple menu. Click Restart' (or use the number overlay and say 'Click 8').
You can also create your own voice commands.
Number overlays
Use number overlays to quickly interact with parts of the screen that Voice Control recognises as clickable, such as menus, checkboxes and buttons. To turn on number overlays, say 'Show numbers'. Then just say a number to click it.
Number overlays make it easy to interact with complex interfaces, such as web pages. For example, in your web browser you could say 'Search for Apple stores near me'. Then use the number overlay to choose one of the results: 'Show numbers. Click 64'. (If the name of the link is unique, you might also be able to click it without overlays by saying 'Click' and the name of the link.)
Voice Control automatically shows numbers in menus and wherever you need to distinguish between items that have the same name.
Grid overlays
Use grid overlays to interact with parts of the screen that don't have a control, or that Voice Control doesn't recognise as clickable.
Say 'Show grid' to show a numbered grid on your screen, or 'Show window grid' to limit the grid to the active window. Say a grid number to subdivide that area of the grid, and repeat as needed to continue refining your selection.
To click the item behind a grid number, say 'Click' and the number. Or say 'Zoom' and the number to zoom in on that area of the grid, then automatically hide the grid. You can also use grid numbers to drag a selected item from one area of the grid to another: 'Drag 3 to 14'.
To hide grid numbers, say 'Hide numbers'. To hide both numbers and grid, say 'Hide grid'.
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Dictation
When the cursor is in a document, email message, text message or other text field, you can dictate continuously. Dictation converts your spoken words into text.
- To enter a punctuation mark, symbol or emoji, just speak its name, such as 'question mark' or 'per cent sign' or 'happy emoji'. These may vary by language or dialect.
- To move around and select text, you can use commands such as 'Move up two sentences' or 'Move forward one paragraph' or 'Select previous word' or 'Select next paragraph'.
- To format text, try 'Bold that' or 'Capitalise that', for example. Say 'numeral' to format your next phrase as a number.
- To delete text, you can choose from many delete commands. For example, say 'delete that' and Voice Control knows to delete what you just typed. Or say 'Delete all' to delete everything and start over.
Voice Control understands contextual cues, so you can seamlessly transition between text dictation and commands. For example, to dictate and then send a birthday greeting in Messages, you could say 'Happy Birthday. Click Send.' Or to replace a phrase, say 'Replace I’m almost there with I just arrived'.
You can also create your own vocabulary for use with dictation.
Create your own voice commands and vocabulary
Create your own voice commands
- Open Voice Control preferences, such as by saying 'Open Voice Control preferences'.
- Click Commands or say 'Click Commands'. The complete list of all commands opens.
- To add a new command, click the add button (+) or say 'Click add'. Then configure these options to define the command:
- When I say: Enter the word or phrase that you want to be able to speak to perform the action.
- While using: Choose whether your Mac performs the action only when you're using a particular app.
- Perform: Choose the action to perform. You can open a Finder item, open a URL, paste text, paste data from the clipboard, press a keyboard shortcut, select a menu item or run an Automator workflow.
- Use the checkboxes to turn commands on or off. You can also select a command to find out whether other phrases work with that command. For example, 'Undo that' works with several phrases, including 'Undo this' and 'Scratch that'.
To quickly add a new command, you can say 'Make this speakable'. Voice Control will help you configure the new command based on the context. For example, if you speak this command while a menu item is selected, Voice Control helps you make a command for choosing that menu item.
Create your own dictation vocabulary
- Open Voice Control preferences, such as by saying 'Open Voice Control preferences'.
- Click Vocabulary, or say 'Click Vocabulary'.
- Click the add button (+) or say 'Click add'.
- Type a new word or phrase as you want it to be entered when spoken.
Learn more
- For the best performance when using Voice Control with a Mac notebook computer and an external display, keep your notebook lid open or use an external microphone.
- All audio processing for Voice Control happens on your device, so your personal data is always kept private.
- Use Voice Control on your iPhone or iPod touch.
- Learn more about accessibility features in Apple products.
1. Voice Control uses the Siri speech-recognition engine for U.S. English only. Other languages and dialects use the speech-recognition engine previously available with Enhanced Dictation.
Free Voice Recognition Software For Macs
2. If you're on a business or school network that uses a proxy server, Voice Control might not be able to download. Have your network administrator refer to the network ports used by Apple software products.
OSX Speech Recognition Apps : Free And Paid
Want to experience the time-saving benefits of speech recognition on your Macintosh? With both no cost and commercial Mac dictation software available you can try it out and see how it fits into your workflow - then decide if advanced command and control functionality is worth investing in and adding to your OSX productivity application arsenal.Apple's OSX Dictation Services
The free voice recognition software built into Apple's operating system is a great way to explore speech to text functionality on your Macintosh at no expense. Free dictation software for Mac was included beginning with OSX Mountain Lion, then refined and improved in OSX Yosemite, Mavericks and ElCapitan. With the incorporation of Siri, now in recent MacOS Mojave and Sierra, a suprisingly capable set of core dictation and recognition functions are available to any Mac user.Enhanced Apple Recognition
Initially, Apple's Dictation Services were online only: A live internet connection was required to access it's online vocabulary and translation databases. In OSX Mavericks and later versions, Apple began supporting more non-English languages. But most notable was adding OFFLINE capabilities by downloading a 700+MB file to your Macintosh and making internet access optional. It also made Mac speech to text translation much faster. Before, your voice signal pattern was limited to 30 max seconds of spoken word, transmitted up to Apple's servers, interpreted, and then returned to your application window as text after a slight delay. With the main vocabulary database now resident on your Mac, you can perform
continuous dictation anywhere, anytime.To take advantage of this: Visit Apple's System Preferences > Dictation & Speech pane. Checkbox 'Use Enhanced Dictation' if available (depending on your OSX version) to 'Allow offline use and continuous dictation with live feedback'
Over time, Apple has also expanded the additional Dictation Commands available to help you navigage, format, punctuate, and get expected results. To find these, you have to go to a completely different prefs pane: Apple System Preferences > Accessibility > Scroll down to Dictation category and then click the 'Dictation Commands...' button to see all that are available. Tip: When dictation is active simply say 'Show Commands' to get a pop-up window that shows a list of well over 50 categorized Selection, Navigation, Editing, Formatting and System commands you can speak during your session.
Speech Recognition For Mac Free Download
DISCONTINUED: Dragon Systems Pro Speech Recognition Software
Here, we take a look at the LAST shipping version of Dragon's dictation software for Mac OSX.CD Disc Version 6.0
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Sadly, Nuance is no longer committed to Apple's computer platform and halted ongoing software development for Apple's OSX in 2018. The previous version of Dragon Dictate for Mac was at v5.0. After releasing version 6, it became the last shipping version.
Best Dictation Software For Mac
Like any advanced, mature and sophisticated commercial software app, there was a learning curve involved to really get the most out of Dragon Professional for MacOS. Some of the advanced features of their full-blown speech recognition app included:Speech Recognition Software For Mac
Speech Recognition Software Mac Reviews
- Personal Voice Pattern Training
- Customizable Dictionary
- Extensive Voice Control Commands
- Multi-App Integration
- Sound File Encoding For Transcription
- Transcribe MP3, AIF, AIFF, WAV, MP4, M4A, M4V
- Dragon-Anywhere Cloud Dictation for iOS & Android Devices