How to start dictation with a mouse button on a Mac
The short answer
macOS has no setting that starts Dictation from a mouse button: the Dictation shortcut is a keyboard shortcut. The route that works has two steps. Set a custom Dictation shortcut, such as Option-Z, in System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation → Shortcut, then use your mouse maker’s software to make a side button send that key combination. The button then starts Dictation, and a second press stops it. Flit, a local dictation app for Mac, lets you pick a side or middle button directly: hold it to talk and release it to insert the text.
How to put Dictation on a mouse button
- Choose Apple menu → System Settings and click Keyboard in the sidebar.
- Go to Dictation. If it is off, turn it on and click Enable.
- Click the Shortcut menu, choose Customize, and press a key combination you do not use elsewhere, such as Option-Z.
- Open the software that came with your mouse and select the button you want to use.
- Choose the option that sends a keystroke, then press the same combination.
- Click into a text field and press the mouse button. Press it again to stop.
This needs a mouse with a spare button and software from its maker that can assign a keystroke to it.
A hand that is already on the mouse is a natural place to start dictation from. People look for the setting in System Settings, and it is not there. The table shows what each route gives you, and the sections explain the two things that catch people out: the choice of shortcut, and the fact that the button toggles.
Why there is no mouse setting for Dictation
Apple’s Dictation page gives three ways to start: the Microphone key, the Dictation keyboard shortcut, and Edit → Start Dictation in the menu bar. The Shortcut menu in Keyboard settings offers key presses, and its Customize option asks you to press keys. A mouse button is not among them.
So the mouse has to pretend to be a keyboard. That is a job for the software your mouse maker supplies, which is why the route has two steps and why it does not work with a mouse that has no such software.
Choose a shortcut the mouse can send
The usual ways to start Dictation are a poor fit for a mouse. The Microphone key is a special key, and pressing Fn twice is a gesture on one key. Mouse software is built to send an ordinary combination: one or more modifier keys with a letter.
That is what Customize gives you. Apple’s own example is Option-Z. Pick a combination no app you use already owns, because a shortcut that is taken elsewhere will do one job or the other. The dictation shortcut guide covers the choice in more detail.
Assigning the keystroke in your mouse software
The names differ by maker, and the idea is the same: select the button, choose the option that sends a keystroke, and press your combination. In Logitech’s software the option is called Keystroke assignment: you select the button, choose Keystroke assignment from the list, click inside the box and type the key combination. Logitech now recommends its newer Logi Options+ app for supported devices, where the menus may be named differently.
Two things to check while you are there.
- Whether the assignment applies in every app. Some mouse software keeps settings for each app, and a button set only for one app will not start Dictation in another.
- What the button did before. A side button is usually Back or Forward in a browser. Once it sends your shortcut, it no longer does that.
Magic Mouse and trackpad
Apple’s Magic Mouse has no side or middle button to spare, and neither has a trackpad. With those, start Dictation from the keyboard shortcut.
Pick the button, then hold it to talk
Flit is a separate dictation app with a mouse button setting of its own, so there is no shortcut to invent and no mouse software to configure.
- Open Flit’s Settings → Keyboard → Mouse button, click it, and press the side or middle button you want.
- Hold the button to talk and release it to insert the text. There is no second press to remember.
- For a long passage, tap the button once to keep recording hands-free, and press it again to finish.
- The button works beside your keyboard key, so you can start from whichever hand is free.
- Everything runs on the Mac, with no connection.
- Flit is free for 7 days with every feature on, then $19 once, with no account and no subscription.
Good to know
- While a button is set in Flit, that button does nothing else. A side button no longer goes back a page.
- The left and right buttons cannot be chosen.
- Flit has to receive the button press from macOS. If your mouse software has given the button another job, set it back to a plain button there first.
- It needs Accessibility access, the same access Flit asks for to paste text.
- Apple’s Dictation is free and already on your Mac. If it does what you need, you do not need Flit.
- Flit runs on a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 14 or later, and its voice model is a download of about 0.5 to 2.3 GB that you choose once.
- Flit’s spoken commands, such as "new paragraph", are in English today.
Questions people ask
Can I start dictation with a mouse button on a Mac?
Not from a setting in macOS, where the Dictation shortcut is a keyboard shortcut. You can set a custom shortcut such as Option-Z, then use your mouse maker’s software to make a spare button send that combination.
How do I assign Dictation to a mouse side button?
In System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation, open the Shortcut menu, choose Customize and press a key combination. Then, in your mouse software, select the side button and assign that keystroke to it.
Can I hold a mouse button to dictate, like push-to-talk?
Not with Apple’s Dictation. Its shortcut starts and stops Dictation, so the button is a toggle: press to start and press again to stop.
Can a mouse button press the Microphone key or Fn twice?
Often not. Mouse software is built to send ordinary key combinations, and the Microphone key is a special key while Fn twice is a gesture on one key. Set a custom Dictation shortcut and send that.
Does this work with a Magic Mouse?
No. A Magic Mouse has no spare button to assign. Use the Dictation keyboard shortcut.
Is there a dictation app with a mouse button for push-to-talk?
Yes. Flit is a local dictation app for Mac: choose a side or middle button in its settings, hold it to talk, and release it to insert finished text in any app. Flit is free for 7 days with every feature on, then $19 once, with no account and no subscription.