If you are using OSX 10.7 Lion or OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion, you need to be connected to the Internet for dictation to work. Click on the Done button when you are finished. After you hear the sound effect, you can begin dictating. When you press Fn вЂ“ Fn, you will see a small microphone appear and hear a ding-ding sound effect. If you like, you can change this trigger to one of the Command keys, or a customized option. If you have an extended keyboard with a numerical keypad, you can find the вЂњFnвЂќ key in the middle zone. On short Apple keyboards, this key is in the bottom left corner. The default is to press the вЂњFnвЂќ or function key twice. To activate the dictation feature, you will have to use the shortcut defined in the System Preferences window. If your computer does not have an internal mic, then you will have to attach an external microphone to your computer. Look for the bouncing purple-textured microphone on the left to confirm that your internal microphone is working.

Once you click the On radio button next to Dictation, youвЂ™re ready to go. Most people do not believe me when I first say this in my Mac training classes, so I have to repeat myself: ANYWHERE YOU CAN TYPE! This means emails, Messages, Pages, Word, even in a Google search.Дictation is turned offВ by default, so you have to get it started by going into your System Preferences and clicking the Dictation and Speech button. Using dictation, you can literately dictate anywhere you can type. ItвЂ™s a new technology and has some kinks to work out, but all in all, I think itвЂ™s a great addition to OSX. Of all the new features that Apple has introduced lately, Dictation is one of my favorites.

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