MacMost Now 622: Speech Recognition For Your Mac

While Siri has brought speech commands to the iPhone 4S, Mac users have long had the ability to speak commands to your computers. Learn how to enable Speakable Items on your Mac, find out which commands work and how. You can also add custom commands and have your Mac speak to you.

Comments: 13 Responses to “MacMost Now 622: Speech Recognition For Your Mac”

    Robert Poland
    13 years ago

    Gary,

    It appears that the "Key Repeat" must be turned off to use the esc key for speech commands.

    JOE HAGEDORN
    13 years ago

    I cannot get this to work, based on the video instructions. I tried both the ESC button and also the word "computer" for the continuous speech option. Nothing worked. I also calibrated the mike, but nothing changed when I reset the mike. Nothing played and the words I used did not light up on the screen. Is there a printed step by step instruction I can go to? I can usually get things to work if I have detailed printed instructions.

    Robert Poland said to turn off the "Key Repeat." Where do I find the "Key Repeat"?

      13 years ago

      Are you sure your microphone is on and receiving audio? Check you sound input settings.

        Patti Canada
        13 years ago

        I am having the same problem. No voice. My mike is working.I read there is a problem with this feature in Lion.I tried it with my macbook pro and my imac.

          Dave
          13 years ago

          Did you ever get this to work? I have the SAME issue.
          I have a mac mini. The microphone is a USB Mic, and it works perfectly fine and registers the audio input in the general audio / microphone preferences pane. But when I go to the speech preferences, and try to calibrate, it is like the microphone doesn't register at all. Is this an apple bug?

    JOE HAGEDORN
    13 years ago

    I have a 17" MacBook Pro

    Robert Poland
    13 years ago

    To turn off the Key Repeat go to System Preferences/Keyboard Keyboard Tab.

    Nancy
    13 years ago

    Gary, it repeats the commands, but the only command it actuallly performs is "quit" an application. Any suggestion? I seem to have more luck with the Escape key, than I do if I use a keyword before the command.

    Also...if I am in Safari and I want to switch to Mail, does the Mail app have to already be open in order to switch to it?

      13 years ago

      Not sure. Hard to tell. Just keep experimenting.

    jac mills
    13 years ago

    Gary

    I've had my macbook two years and did not have a clue about this one. You do wonderful things. Bloody amazing!

    LFJ Gill
    12 years ago

    Hi Gary--Your videos have helped me more than anything else with Mac issues. I have a MacBook Pro 08 or 09 with Snow Leopard.
    Question: Is there by now, or is there on the horizon, any *better* speech recognition software than Dragon Dictate 2.5 for the Mac, for speech-to-text? All the comments I find up to the end of 2011 still say nothing works as well as Dragon 11 for the PC. [I am allergic to PC's, so that does me no good!] Thanks. Leila 8.15.12

      12 years ago

      So I'm not sure what you are asking. Dragon has a Mac version and a PC version. They aren't exactly the same -- but pretty close as far as I know (never used the PC version). So why not use Dragon for Mac? What feature is it missing that you need?

    Andy Einhorn
    12 years ago

    Hi, I am have trouble with Siri and saying 1, 2, 3 or 1. new paragraph 2. new paragraph. It shows up one, two, three. or one. two. three.

    Any suggestions?

    Many Thanks!

    Andrew Einhorn

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