Questions

How to start dictation from any button on a Mac

InputConfig is completely free on the Mac App Store. You don't have to make an account, there are no subscriptions, and nothing is locked. Optimized for Apple silicon.

On a recent MacBook, press the microphone key (F5) to start dictation and press it again to stop. On other Macs, dictation uses the shortcut in System Settings, Keyboard, Dictation, which you can change. If none of the choices suits your hands or your keyboard, a free app can put dictation on any button: a mouse side button, a key you hold, a game controller, a MIDI pad, or a knock on a MacBook. I dictate most of what I write, so this is the button I use most.

On this page

1. Steps
2. Turn dictation on and set the shortcut
3. If the built-in shortcut is the problem
4. Put dictation on any button with InputConfig
5. Pick a button that works well
6. What it cannot do
7. If dictation does not start
8. The short version
9. Questions

Steps

1. Switch on Dictation in System Settings, Keyboard.
2. In InputConfig, add a row and Scan the button.
3. Set the output to Start Dictation, under System, Accessibility, and activate.

Turn dictation on and set the shortcut

1. Open System Settings, then Keyboard.
2. Switch on Dictation and allow the prompt.
3. Next to Shortcut, pick one: the microphone key on Macs that have it, a double press of a modifier key, or Customize to record your own.

• You: Click in any text field and use the shortcut.
• macOS: Starts listening and types what you say.
• Check: Speak, then press the shortcut again to stop.

If the built-in shortcut is the problem

• Your keyboard has no microphone key. Older Apple keyboards and most third-party keyboards do not have one.
• A double press is hard to time. With a tremor, one hand, or a hand that tires.
• There is no keyboard at all. A Mac on a TV, or a setup driven by a controller or switches.
• You would rather use your mouse. It has two side buttons doing nothing.

Put dictation on any button with InputConfig

1. Install InputConfig from the Mac App Store and allow Accessibility access when it asks.
2. Click Add a new bind and press Scan, then press the button you want to use.
3. In the output menu, under System, open Accessibility and choose Start Dictation.
4. Save and activate the preset.

• You: Click into a text field and press the button.
• InputConfig: Presses the Mac's own dictation key, exactly as the microphone key on a MacBook does.
• Check: Dictation starts listening. Press the button again and it stops.

It works on any Mac and with any keyboard. macOS still does the listening and typing. InputConfig only presses the key. Dictation must be switched on in System Settings, Keyboard, and the output menu reminds you of that under its name.

Pick a button that works well

• A mouse side button. Button 4 or 5 on most mice. Tick Block the button's own action on the row so it stops also going Back in a browser, or use a double click on it so a single click keeps its job. See mouse side buttons on a Mac.
• F18 on a full-size keyboard. macOS gives it no job, so it can start dictation and take nothing away.
• A held Right Option key. The built-in Modifier Holds preset starts dictation when you hold Right Option on its own for 450 ms, so Option still works in every shortcut. The hold time is adjustable on the row. See the right Command and Option keys.
• A knock on a MacBook. The Tap the Mac preset starts dictation on a triple knock on the palm rest. It was tested on M4 MacBooks; it did not work on an M1 Pro in our testing, and the calibrator's status chip tells you whether your Mac's sensor is listening. Desktop and Intel Macs have no sensor.
• A game controller. The built-in Easy Browse preset starts and stops dictation on LB beside a pointer and scrolling, and Easy Edit starts it with a firm push up on the left stick. The Dictation Control layout adds the editing that dictation needs: delete a word, jump by word, confirm.
• A switch or big button. Plugged into the PlayStation Access Controller or the Xbox Adaptive Controller, it shows up as a button. See switches on a Mac.
• A MIDI pad or foot switch. See MIDI as input.

What it cannot do

• Reassign the microphone key. macOS keeps that key, and Spotlight, Mission Control, Launchpad, and Focus, to itself.
• Take a key away. A key you bind keeps doing its normal job as well, so use one nothing needs, such as F13 to F19 or a held modifier.
• Hold to talk. It is press to start and press to stop. Apple's Dictation has no hold to talk. YapToText, my free dictation app, does, from any single key.
• Transcribe. Accuracy, languages, and offline support are Apple's dictation. The Mac dictation shortcut guide on yaptotext.com lists every built-in way to start it.

If dictation does not start

Climb this ladder, smallest step first:

1. Click into a text field. Dictation types where the cursor is.
2. Check the switch. Dictation must be on in System Settings, Keyboard, and its shortcut must not be set to Off.
3. Check the microphone. The one chosen in the same Dictation settings must be the one you are speaking into.
4. Check the button. Open InputConfig's Live Visualizer and press it to see whether the Mac receives it at all.
5. Check Accessibility. InputConfig needs it. The menu bar icon turns orange when a running preset needs it.

While the Mac is locked, InputConfig sends no keys, only the pointer, clicks and scrolling.

The short version

• Built in. Use the microphone key, or the shortcut in System Settings, Keyboard, Dictation.
• Any button. Start Dictation in InputConfig, on a side button, a held Right Option, a controller or a switch.
• Press, speak, press. Not hold to talk.

Put dictation where your hand already rests, and writing gets much easier.

Questions

Related

• Dictation, zoom, and speak selection on any button
• Dictation from a game controller
• Easy Browse preset
• Tap the Mac: knock on your MacBook to run a shortcut
• How to use mouse side buttons on a Mac
• How to type on a Mac with a game controller
• How to use a Mac without a mouse or keyboard
• Does the Razer Pro Click work on a Mac?

Open source on GitHub.

Updated October 28, 2026