# Set Up Private Voice Dictation on Your Mac Press one key, talk, and your words are typed wherever your cursor is — email, docs, chat, the terminal, anywhere. It's free voice-to-text, and unlike Apple's dictation or most "free" transcription tools, **everything happens on your computer** — your voice is never sent to anyone's servers. The plan: install **TypeWhisper** (https://www.typewhisper.com/), then make the otherwise-useless **Caps Lock** key your "talk" button. About 10 minutes. --- ## Step 1 — TypeWhisper: install + permissions You can install it from Terminal — **copy the block below, paste it into Terminal, and press Return.** It fetches the latest official version from TypeWhisper's own update feed (the same source the app's updater uses), installs it, and opens it: ```bash # 1) Look up the latest stable version from TypeWhisper's update feed URL=$(curl -s https://typewhisper.github.io/typewhisper-mac/appcast.xml \ | xmllint --xpath 'string(//item[not(*[local-name()="channel"])]/enclosure/@url)' -) # 2) Download and install it into Applications (replacing any old copy) curl -L -o /tmp/TypeWhisper.zip "$URL" rm -rf /Applications/TypeWhisper.app ditto -x -k /tmp/TypeWhisper.zip /Applications/ rm /tmp/TypeWhisper.zip # 3) Open it open -a TypeWhisper echo "TypeWhisper installed." ``` (Prefer clicking? Downloading it from https://www.typewhisper.com/ and dragging it to Applications gets you the exact same app.) Then two things only you can click: 1. Grant the two permissions it asks for (System Settings → Privacy & Security): **Microphone** (so it can hear you) and **Accessibility** (so it can type the words into other apps). 2. Enable **launch at login** in its settings. ## Step 2 — Integrations: the transcription engine TypeWhisper transcribes through plug-in "integrations." Open **Settings → Integrations → Marketplace** and install: - **Parakeet** — the speech-to-text engine (NVIDIA Parakeet TDT). Fast, accurate, 25 languages, runs entirely on your Mac. Make it the **selected engine**, and turn on **vocabulary boosting** in its settings (this lets your dictionary entries from Step 5 steer the engine). **Then let it download its speech model** — a one-time download of roughly half a gigabyte. It should start on its own once Parakeet is installed; if it doesn't, open Parakeet's settings and click **Download**. Wait for it to finish (a few minutes on normal Wi-Fi). **Until the model is downloaded, dictation silently types nothing** — if TypeWhisper seems installed-but-dead, this is almost always why. - **Filler Words** — automatically strips "um," "uh," and friends from the transcript. Install it and you'll sound articulate forever. - *(Optional)* **Apple Speech** — a second on-device engine (needs macOS 26+). Nice to have as a fallback; keep Parakeet selected. Everything in the panel should say **Local** ("3 Local · 0 Cloud" if you installed all three) — that's how you know nothing leaves the machine. ## Step 3 — Turn Caps Lock into your "talk" key Why Caps Lock? TypeWhisper's most comfortable hotkey needs a key you can hold down to talk, and Caps Lock is perfectly placed and nobody uses it. We point it at "F18" — a key your keyboard doesn't physically have, so nothing else ever conflicts with it — using `hidutil`, a tool **built into macOS** (Apple's own; no extra app, no driver, nothing sent anywhere). It's reversible in one command (see [Uninstall](#uninstall--restore-normal-caps-lock) at the bottom). The block below does two things: remaps Caps Lock to F18 right now, and drops a small file in your account so the remap comes back automatically every time you log in. **Copy the whole block below and paste it into Terminal, then press Return:** ```bash # 1) Create the helper script that does the remap (Caps Lock -> F18) SCRIPT="$HOME/Library/Application Support/Caps Lock Dictation" cat > "$SCRIPT" <<'SH' #!/bin/sh # Remaps Caps Lock -> F18 so it can trigger TypeWhisper dictation. # Runs Apple's built-in hidutil. Remove anytime (see Uninstall, below). exec /usr/bin/hidutil property --set \ '{"UserKeyMapping":[{"HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc":0x700000039,"HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst":0x70000006D}]}' SH chmod +x "$SCRIPT" # 2) Create the login item that runs that script at every startup cat > "$HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/local.capslock-to-f18.plist" < Label local.capslock-to-f18 ProgramArguments $SCRIPT RunAtLoad PLIST # 3) Turn it on now (and at every future login) launchctl unload "$HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/local.capslock-to-f18.plist" 2>/dev/null launchctl load "$HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/local.capslock-to-f18.plist" echo "Done. Caps Lock now sends F18." ``` That's the last command-line you'll touch. Two small notes: - In **System Settings → General → Login Items** you'll see a new item called **Caps Lock Dictation** — that's this (see below). It will also say *"unidentified developer"*; that's normal for any hand-made login item and is harmless. **Leave it on** — it's what re-applies the remap each time you log in. ![The "Caps Lock Dictation" login item in System Settings](login-item.png) - Caps Lock no longer toggles capitals while this is on — that's the point. You can still type ALL CAPS by holding Shift. ## Step 4 — Bind the hotkey in TypeWhisper Open **Settings → Hotkeys**, find **Hybrid**, click to record it, and **press Caps Lock once.** It will register as **FnKey 79** — that's TypeWhisper's name for F18, and it's the same on every Mac. Save. One key, two behaviors: - **Hold** Caps Lock → talk while holding, release to stop. (For quick sentences — most of your use.) - **Tap** Caps Lock → recording starts and stays on; tap again to stop. (For long, hands-free dictation.) Leave the separate Push-to-Talk and Toggle slots alone — Hybrid covers both. It should look like this: ![TypeWhisper Hotkeys: Hybrid bound to FnKey 79, Push-to-Talk and Toggle unbound](hotkeys.png) ## Step 5 — Dictionary: fix the words it gets wrong The engine will mishear names — your company, your clients, people you talk about. Fix each one once in **Settings → Dictionary** with a **Correction** (misheard form → what should be typed), and it's right forever after. Examples from my own list: | When it hears… | It types… | |---|---| | Webdogs / web dogs | WEBDOGS | | Y three K | Y3K | | Tuesday drocket | two-stage rocket | Add corrections as you go — every time dictation flubs a name, take ten seconds to add the fix. > **WEBDOGS:** add all four brand corrections — `Webdogs`, `web dogs`, > `web dog's`, and `WebDog's`, each → **WEBDOGS** — so the company name always > lands right. It looks like this: > > ![The four WEBDOGS brand corrections in the Dictionary, all enabled](dictionary.png) ## That's it Hold Caps Lock, say "this is so much faster than typing," let go, and watch it appear. From here on, anywhere you'd type, you can talk. **Tips** - Speak naturally and don't bother saying "um-free" sentences — Filler Words cleans that up. - Punctuation and capitalization happen automatically — just talk normally, no need to say "comma" or "period." (If you ever want them, spoken commands still work as a fallback.) - Dictate the messy first draft by voice, then tidy by keyboard — drafting is where voice wins big. --- ## Uninstall / restore normal Caps Lock Changed your mind, or just want Caps Lock back to normal? Nothing here is permanent. **Paste this block into Terminal and press Return:** ```bash # Stop the remap from coming back at login, remove its files, and undo it now launchctl unload "$HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/local.capslock-to-f18.plist" 2>/dev/null rm -f "$HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/local.capslock-to-f18.plist" rm -f "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Caps Lock Dictation" hidutil property --set '{"UserKeyMapping":[]}' echo "Done. Caps Lock is back to normal." ``` That removes the login item and its helper script and restores Caps Lock immediately — no reboot needed. (To also remove TypeWhisper itself, just drag the app to the Trash; nothing else was installed.) **What got added to your Mac, in full:** one app (TypeWhisper) and two small text files — `~/Library/Application Support/Caps Lock Dictation` (the helper script that runs Apple's built-in `hidutil`) and `~/Library/LaunchAgents/local.capslock-to-f18.plist` (the login item that runs it). No drivers, no background services beyond that login item, nothing sent off your machine. The block above removes both files.