# How to transcribe a voice memo on a Mac Canonical page: https://flit.fyi/transcribe-voice-memo-mac > Voice Memos on a Mac transcribes its own recordings: click the transcript button, then copy or search the text. What it needs, and what it does not do. [Atta šŸ¬](https://attacomsian.com) Founder, Flit October 16, 2026 The short answer Voice Memos on a Mac transcribes its own recordings. Click a recording, click the transcription button, and the text appears; select it, Control-click and choose Copy to paste it anywhere. It needs macOS 15 or later on a Mac with Apple silicon, and it is not available in every country or region. You can also watch the transcript appear while you record, and search all your recordings by what was said. Flit, a local dictation app for Mac, takes a voice memo dragged out to Finder and gives back a transcript in paragraphs, saved as a file and exported as Markdown or subtitles. ## How to transcribe a voice memo on a Mac 1. Open **Voice Memos** on your Mac. 2. Click the recording you want. 3. Click the transcription button. The transcript replaces the waveform. 4. Select the text you want, Control-click it, and choose **Copy**. 5. Paste it into a document, a note or an email. 6. To find a recording by what was said, type the words into the search field. The list shows recordings with that text in the title or in the transcript. If there is no transcription button, the feature is not available for your Mac, your macOS or your region. Everything here is from [Appleā€™s Voice Memos guide](https://support.apple.com/guide/voice-memos/vm4a03609f0d/mac). The table lists what you can do with a transcript in Voice Memos, and the sections cover what it needs and where it stops. ## What Voice Memos does with a transcript | To do this | In Voice Memos | Good to know | | ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | | Read it | Click the recording, then the transcription button | The current word is highlighted as it plays | | Watch it as you record | Click the transcription button while recording | The waveform steps aside for the text | | Copy it | Select, Control-click, Copy | Copying is the only way out that Apple describes | | Search every recording | Type in the search field | Matches the title or the transcript | | Jump to a moment | Select a word in the transcript | The playhead moves to that point | | Summarize it | Writing Tools, with Apple Intelligence | Not in every language or region | ## What it needs [Appleā€™s guide for macOS 26](https://support.apple.com/guide/voice-memos/vm4a03609f0d/3.2/mac/26) states the requirement: macOS 15 or later and a Mac with Apple silicon. Every version of the page adds that audio transcription is not available in all countries or regions. Older recordings are covered too. Apple says that if you open a recording made in macOS 14 or earlier, or on a device that does not support transcription, Voice Memos transcribes it automatically, as long as it includes speech. Appleā€™s pages do not list which languages Voice Memos transcribes, and do not say whether the transcription happens on the Mac. If either matters to you, test it with a short recording first. ## Watching it live While you record, click the transcription button to watch the words arrive. Apple describes the waveform disappearing for a moment and the transcript appearing in its place, with the current word highlighted. ## Summarizing it With Apple Intelligence turned on, Writing Tools can summarize a transcript with a click. Apple notes that Apple Intelligence is not available in all languages or regions, so the option may be missing even when the transcript is there. ## Where Voice Memos stops Four things you might expect are not in Appleā€™s guide. - Bringing in a recording from elsewhere. The guide describes transcripts of recordings made in Voice Memos, and has no way to import an audio file. - Exporting the transcript as a file. Copy is the way out. There is no text, subtitle or document export. - Timestamps. The transcript is text, so it cannot become subtitles. - Speaker labels. The transcript does not say who is speaking. ## Getting the recording out The audio itself can leave. [Appleā€™s page on sharing](https://support.apple.com/guide/voice-memos/vm05f9fa82d4/4.0/mac/27) says you can drag a recording to a Finder window to save it to the folder of your choice, or use the share button to send it to an app. That file is what you hand to another tool when you need more than Voice Memos gives. ## When you need more than a copy Flit is a dictation app with a Transcribe tab. Drag a voice memo to Finder, drop it on Flit, and the transcript comes back on the Mac, with the things Voice Memos leaves out. - A transcript in paragraphs, split where the speaker paused, saved as a text file in a folder you choose. - Export as Markdown, or as SRT and VTT subtitles with timestamps. - A switch between the formatted text and exactly what was heard. - It takes recordings from anywhere: MP3, M4A, WAV, MP4, MOV and the rest of what macOS plays. - Nothing is uploaded, and it works with Wi-Fi off. - Flit is free for 7 days with every feature on, then $19 once, with no account and no subscription. Good to know - For a short memo you only want to read, Voice Memos is already there and costs nothing. You do not need Flit for that. - Flit does not say who said what. A transcript is one flow of text in paragraphs. Speaker labels are planned. - Which languages a recording can be in depends on the voice model you choose: Parakeet Ultra covers 25 European languages, Cohere Transcribe 14, Qwen3-ASR 30, Whisper 99 and Omnilingual more than 1,600, with accuracy that varies by language. - 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 2.8 GB that you choose once. [Download for Mac](https://flit.fyi/download) macOS 14 or later Ā· Apple silicon ## Questions people ask ### How do I transcribe a voice memo on a Mac? Open Voice Memos, click the recording, then click the transcription button. Select the text, Control-click it and choose Copy to use it elsewhere. ### Why is there no transcript in Voice Memos on my Mac? Appleā€™s requirement is macOS 15 or later on a Mac with Apple silicon, and the feature is not available in every country or region. On an Intel Mac or an older macOS, there is no transcription button. ### Can I export a Voice Memos transcript? Apple describes copying it: select the text, Control-click and choose Copy. Its guide has no option to export the transcript as a file. ### Can Voice Memos transcribe an audio file I already have? Appleā€™s guide describes transcripts of recordings made in Voice Memos and has no way to import a file. Recordings made in macOS 14 or earlier are transcribed when you open them. ### Can I search voice memos by what was said? Yes. Type in the search field and the list shows recordings with that text in the title or the transcript. Selecting a word moves the playhead to it. ### Is there an app that turns a voice memo into subtitles? Flit is a local dictation app for Mac with a Transcribe tab: drop the memo on it and export SRT or VTT subtitles with timestamps, on the Mac. Flit is free for 7 days with every feature on, then $19 once, with no account and no subscription. ## In the glossary - [Transcription](https://flit.fyi/glossary/transcription) - [Apple Intelligence](https://flit.fyi/glossary/apple-intelligence) - [On-device processing](https://flit.fyi/glossary/on-device-processing) - [Speaker diarization](https://flit.fyi/glossary/speaker-diarization) ## More guides - [Transcribe an audio file](https://flit.fyi/transcribe-audio-file-mac) - [Make subtitles from a video](https://flit.fyi/make-subtitles-video-mac) - [Transcribe a Zoom or Teams recording](https://flit.fyi/transcribe-zoom-teams-recording-mac) - [Transcribe a phone call](https://flit.fyi/transcribe-phone-call-mac) - [How to dictate on a Mac](https://flit.fyi/how-to-dictate-on-mac) - [Mac dictation not working](https://flit.fyi/mac-dictation-not-working) - [Globe key opens the emoji picker](https://flit.fyi/globe-key-opens-emoji-picker-mac) - [Mac dictation keeps stopping](https://flit.fyi/mac-dictation-keeps-stopping)