How to Dictate Notes on Mac (Built-In and Offline)

To dictate notes on a Mac, turn on Dictation in System Settings (search for "Dictation"). Then click into a note in Apple Notes, press your dictation shortcut or choose Edit > Start Dictation, and speak. This is free and works in any text field.

If you want offline English dictation into a scratchpad that also handles checklists, Gubb's Speech to Text runs a Whisper model on your Mac. It transcribes the first 30 seconds of each clip.

Option 1: Dictate notes in Apple Notes with built-in Dictation

Apple Dictation comes with macOS, costs nothing and types into any text field, including Apple Notes. If you use iCloud for Notes, your dictated notes also sync to your iPhone and iPad.

Turn on Dictation

1. Open System Settings and type "Dictation" in the search field. The setting is in the Keyboard section.
2. Turn on Dictation. Confirm if macOS asks.
3. Open the Shortcut menu next to it and choose a shortcut you'll remember. If your keyboard has a microphone key in the top row, that key also starts dictation.
4. To dictate in more than one language, click Edit next to Languages, then select a language and region.

Dictate a note

1. Open Notes and press ⌘N (Command-N) to create a new note.
2. Click where you want the text to go.
3. Press your dictation shortcut, or choose Edit > Start Dictation from the menu bar. A microphone indicator appears.
4. Speak. Text appears as you talk.
5. Press the dictation shortcut again to stop.

What to know about Apple Dictation

• Privacy and offline use: Apple's Dictation help page says that Macs with Apple silicon process Dictation on the device for supported languages, with no internet connection needed. On an Intel Mac, or in a language without on-device support, your speech is sent to Apple for processing.
• Languages: Dictation isn't available in every language or region, and features vary by language.
• Newer model: Apple says that with Apple Intelligence in macOS 27, an on-device model improves spelling, punctuation and capitalization. As of November 2026 this needs English, a Mac with M3 or later, and at least 12 GB of unified memory.
• Works in other apps: you can use the same shortcut in Mail, Messages or any other notes app.

For shortcut options and fixes, see our full guide to using dictation on Mac.

Record first, transcribe later

Live dictation suits short notes. For a lecture, an interview or a long voice memo, record the audio and transcribe it afterwards:

• Apple Notes: Notes can record audio straight into a note and transcribe it. If you don't see that option on your Mac, use the next route.
• Voice Memos plus a transcription app: record in Voice Memos (built into macOS) or any recorder. Then open the audio file in a transcription app such as MacWhisper, which transcribes audio and video on your Mac. As of November 2026 MacWhisper has a free tier and a one-time Pro upgrade, and its current version needs macOS 15 or later. Prices differ between sellers, so check the official site. Our guide on using Whisper on Mac without coding covers the setup.

Gubb doesn't transcribe audio files, so use one of these for anything long.

Option 2: Dictate into Gubb with a local Whisper model

Gubb is our scratchpad app for notes, checklists, clipboard history and timers. It's a note-taking app with voice to text built in. Its Speech to Text records from your microphone and inserts the transcript into the open Gubb note. With a downloaded Whisper model, transcription runs on your Mac, so it works offline and has no per-minute fee.

Know what it doesn't do before you pick it:

• Text goes only into the current Gubb note. It doesn't type into other apps.
• There is no hotkey. You start each recording by clicking the mic.
• Local transcription is English only.
• Only the first 30 seconds of each recording are transcribed. Anything after that is dropped.
• There is no sync and no iPhone app. Notes stay on the Mac where you wrote them.

If you need any of those, Apple Dictation (Option 1) is the better fit.

Set up Speech to Text

1. In Gubb, move the pointer to the right edge of the note and click Settings (the gear).
2. Choose Voice to Text.
3. Check that the Voice to Text switch is on. It's on by default.
4. Under Transcription Provider, choose Local Models (the default).
5. Download a model and select it, as described in the next section.

How to download and pick a Whisper model

Gubb offers three Whisper models under Settings ▸ Voice to Text ▸ Available Models. Each one downloads once from Hugging Face. After that, transcription doesn't need the internet.

Gubb's own note says the larger models give better accuracy but need more system resources. Small is a sensible first download.

1. Click Download next to the model you want.
2. Wait for the "Download Complete" message and the Downloaded badge. The progress bar doesn't move during the download, so a still bar doesn't mean the download has stalled.
3. Under Active Model, select the model you just downloaded. It shows an Active badge.

Don't skip step 3. Until a model is active, recordings fail with "Transcription Error". Selecting the model or restarting Gubb fixes it.

Gubb doesn't remember your Active Model choice between launches. At each launch it activates the first downloaded model in this order: Small, Medium, Large. If you keep both Small and Large, Gubb starts with Small every time. Either reselect Large each session or Delete Small.

For background on the model itself, read what OpenAI Whisper is.

Dictate a note in Gubb

1. Click in the note where you want the text. If there's no cursor, Gubb adds the text at the end of the note.
2. Hover over the right edge of the note and click Speech to Text (the mic icon). A pill appears at the bottom of the note: "Click to start recording (Local Model)".
3. Click the mic (Start recording). The first time, macOS asks for microphone access. Allow it.
4. Speak. The pill shows the elapsed seconds and a level bar. "Keep speaking..." stays visible until 1.5 seconds have passed.
5. Click Stop before you reach 30 seconds. The pill shows "Processing audio...".
6. The transcript appears at the cursor, followed by a space, and you see "Transcription complete".

To hide the pill, click the mic icon in the right-edge column again. Gubb costs $59 one-time (as of November 2026), and the direct download includes a 7-day free trial.

Tips for clean dictated notes

• Speak in short bursts. In Gubb, keep each clip to one idea and stop well before 30 seconds. Short passages are also quicker to fix in Apple Dictation.
• Start new lines yourself in Gubb. Each clip goes in at the cursor with a trailing space. To put the next idea on its own line, press Return in the note before you record again.
• Say punctuation out loud with Apple Dictation. Words like "comma", "period", "question mark" and "new paragraph" become punctuation. See the Mac dictation commands list.
• With Whisper, speak in whole sentences. Whisper models usually punctuate from your phrasing, so natural pauses work better than saying "comma".
• Check the input level. Gubb records from your Mac's default input device. If the level bar barely moves, move closer to the mic or choose a better input in System Settings (search for "Sound" and open the Input tab).
• Fix names right away. Dictation often gets unusual names and jargon wrong. Correct them while you still remember what you said.
• Get it all out, then sort it. Our guide on how to do a brain dump explains the method.

Turning dictated ideas into checklists

In Gubb

The cleanest way is to start the checklist first and dictate into it:

1. At the start of an empty line, type [ ] and press Space. The line becomes an unchecked checklist item.
2. Click the mic, dictate one task, then click Stop.
3. Press Return to add the next item, then dictate again.
4. Click the box to tick an item off. Pressing Return on an empty item ends the list.

Typing [x] and then Space creates an item that is already checked. The full syntax is in our Markdown checklist syntax guide.

If a list needs due dates, priorities or subtasks, use a to-do block instead. Type gubb@todo on a line by itself and add tasks by typing in the Add a task... field. Keep the command alone on its line, because the block may not work correctly if it sits inside other text. Due dates are shown in the list, but Gubb doesn't send reminders for them.

For a board, type gubb@board on its own line. You get a Kanban board with "To Do", "In Progress" and "Done" columns.

In Apple Notes

Dictate your items one per line. Select those lines and choose Format > Checklist (⇧⌘L, Shift-Command-L). Each line becomes an item you can tick off on your Mac and, with iCloud, on your iPhone.

Which method fits you

• Pick Apple Dictation if you want it free, need other languages, want your notes on your iPhone, or want to dictate into any app. For most people this is enough.
• Pick Gubb if you dictate short English notes, want transcription that stays on your Mac, and want the same window to handle checklists, boards, clipboard history and timers for a one-time price.
• Pick record-then-transcribe for lectures, interviews and anything longer than a few sentences. It's the better dictation route for students who record classes.

For other fast ways to capture ideas, see quick notes on Mac.

If it doesn't work

Apple Dictation does nothing when you press the shortcut. Check that Dictation is on and see which shortcut is set (System Settings, search "Dictation"). Try Edit > Start Dictation to rule out a shortcut problem. More fixes are in Mac dictation not working.

Gubb shows "Recording Failed". Gubb couldn't start recording. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone and turn on Gubb. Make sure an input device is connected and a model is downloaded.

Gubb shows "Transcription Error" / "Failed to transcribe audio". Usually no model is active. Go to Settings ▸ Voice to Text and select your model under Active Model, or restart Gubb. A very short recording can cause it too.

Gubb shows "Voice to Text Disabled". Turn on the Voice to Text switch in Settings ▸ Voice to Text.

Gubb shows "Keep recording" or "No speech detected". "Keep recording" means you pressed Stop before 1.5 seconds, so record a little longer. "No speech detected" means the transcript came back empty. Move closer to the mic and watch the level bar.

The end of what you said is missing in Gubb. Local mode transcribes only the first 30 seconds of a clip. Split long thoughts into several clips.

You chose "OpenAI API" in Gubb and see "OpenAI API is not configured". In the current version this message can appear even after you save a key. Switch Transcription Provider back to Local Models.

FAQ

Can Gubb dictate into other apps, like Mail or Slack?

No. Gubb inserts text only into the open Gubb note. To type into other apps, use Apple Dictation. You can also press ⌘⇧C (Command-Shift-C) to copy the whole Gubb note as plain text and paste it elsewhere.

Does my voice leave the Mac with Gubb's local models?

No, not while a downloaded model is active, because transcription runs on your Mac. If no model is active, the current version falls back to an OpenAI request without a key, and that request fails. Check for the Active badge before you dictate.

Can I dictate in another language?

With Apple Dictation, yes: add languages under Languages in the Dictation settings. Gubb's local models transcribe English only.

Is dictation on Mac free?

Yes. Apple Dictation and Apple Notes come with macOS. You pay only for a separate app if you want extras like file transcription or Gubb's other tools.