Have you ever wished you could write down every idea in your head, regardless of where you are? Siri can be great to take a quick note or make a quick reminder, but when it comes to long-form text, Siri just doesn't cut the mustard.
If you're tired of typing everything out and would rather use your voice to dictate your text, check out these great apps for transcribing voice to text.
Evernote
- On your Mac, choose Apple menu System Preferences, click Accessibility, then click Speech. Open the Speech pane for me. Select the “Speak selected text when the key is pressed” checkbox. By default, speaking is enabled when you press Option-Esc.
- In an app on your Mac, place the insertion point where you want the dictated text to appear. Press the dictation keyboard shortcutor choose Edit Start Dictation. When the feedback window shows a microphone icon with a fluctuating loudness indicator, or you hear the tone that signals your Mac is ready for keyboard dictation, dictate your text.
- Launch the app (e.g. Microsoft Word, Google Docs) in which you would like to enter text, tap the microphone key on Gboard and start speaking.
Evernote is a robust note-taking app that has long been recommended for note-taking and document sharing, and best of all, you can use your voice to type.You can share notes, annotate images, and collaborate on notes so that you can be as productive as possible. If you just need a note taker, Evernote's perfect for that. If you need a robust note-taking/presentation making/word processing app for business or school, then Evernote is perfect too.
Mar 27, 2020 Instead of offering separated dictation or speech-to-text capabilities, Windows 10 conveniently groups its voice commands under Speech Recognition, which. Jul 10, 2020 AppTek has announced two new speech technology applications designed for consumers — AppTek Speech Translate and AppTek Speech Transcribe. They’re available through the Apple App Store for free for a limited time. With both AppTek Speech Translate and AppTek Speech Transcribe, users can communicate in real-time with others through a variety of languages, including Arabic,.
It may not have all the features PowerPoint or Word have, but it'll certainly get you started. Plus, you can also sync across all of your devices so that you have access to your ideas no matter where you are or what device you're using.
Evernote is free to use, but you can purchase various levels of storage so that you can upload more, use it on an unlimited number of devices, access your notebooks offline, and much more.
Just Press Record
Whether it's a conversation between you and your friends that you want on record or you just want to get some quick thoughts on paper, Just Press Record lets you record anything you want and transcribe it into text.
You can choose to save your files locally or on iCloud so all your devices can access it and there are no recording time limits. Plus, you can even record from your Apple Watch with one tap if you use the Apple Watch complication.
What's really cool about Just Press Record is you can use the built-in microphone on your device or use an external mic hooked up through the lightning port. This makes Just Press Record a great tool for podcasters!
Dragon Anywhere
Nuance Communications has been making their Dragon series of speech-to-text software for years, and they have really done a great job at making it better over time. Dragon Anywhere is the mobile version of its flagship dictation software that has been making desktop users' lives easier.
Not only can you talk to Dragon Anywhere and it will instantly transcribe your words, you can also edit, customize your dictionary, and search through your documents and fill things in, all with the power of your voice.
You can upload all your notes and documents to plenty of cloud storage apps like iCloud or Dropbox making it easy to access all your files across your devices.
The app is free to download, but there is a subscription fee to unlock all the useful features.
Call Recording by NoNotes
Do you take a lot of business calls that you wish you could recall for later? Call Recording by NoNotes will let you record any call and give you the option to have it transcribed.
You can record any and all outgoing or incoming calls and save the audio recordings and even get them transcribed at any time after recording the call.
The app is free to download and will let you record 20 minutes of phone calls for free every month. If you do want to transcribe your calls or record for more time, you'll need to pay for it.
Day One Journal
Journaling is not only a great way for us to reflect on our memories and life events, but it's also handy for notes and other random thoughts that we have throughout the day. Day One is an excellent app for keeping a digital diary for yourself, and it has some useful voice recording features.
With Day One, you can dictate a new entry with just your voice. The speech recognition that is built-in is pretty good, and will do a nice job of transcribing your voice into text for whatever you need to record. There is also the ability to just record audio clips themselves, which is fantastic if you want to remember important audio notes, or perhaps baby's first words.
Speech To Text App Macbook
Day One is free to download and use, but you will get even more out of the app with the Day One Premium. A subscription gets you unlimited journals, unlimited photos, videos, and audio for each entry, unlimited cloud storage, and more.
Transcribe - Speech to Text
Transcribe is a simple app that gets the job done, no matter what situation. Just launch it, start talking, and Transcribe does the rest.
Speech To Text For Mac
With Transcribe, you get almost-instant Artificial Intelligence transcription, and there's no lag between the speech and the transcription itself. You can transcribe voice memos and even videos, and then export that text transcription into a third-party text editing app. It even allows you to search through transcriptions, sync across multiple devices, and it supports 89 languages.
The free download includes a trial, which allows you to record up to 15 minutes. If you find it useful, you can purchase more recording time through in-app purchases.
Which apps do you use?
Let us know in the comments!
August 2019: Added Day One Journal and Transcribe to the list.
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My heartThis timelapse of macOS 10.0 through 10.15 is a nostalgic wonder
The very first version of macOS, or Mac OS X as it was known, arrived almost 20 years ago. This video takes us through every major update the Mac has seen since in one amazing timelapse.
Whether you prefer articles read to you while you do something else or trying to grasp a new foreign language or even for specially abled students, TTS (short for text-to-speech) has proved to be very useful.
In our previous articles we saw some of the best text to speech apps for Windows and Android. And today, we take a look at some of the best TTS options available for Macs.
Text To Speech For Mac
1. macOS TTS
Before we get too ahead of ourselves and start downloading third party apps, it is very trivial to know that macOS itself comes with a built-in TTS and you can use it anywhere on your computer from the Notes app to any browser.
To get started, highlight or select the text which you want to be read and then right click, go to Speech and then to Start Speaking; and your Mac should start reading the text to you. It also supports a lot of other languages other than English and there are a lot of voices to choose from in all the languages. To change the language option simply go to Accessibility > Speech. Although some voices are very robotic, there are a few which aren’t and sound more like a human.
But the TTS is far from perfect; it is very basic and barebones and lacks options like pause/play, picking up from a selected word instantly and a lot more.
Quick Tip: It blew my mind and might even blow yours to know that the native TTS on Mac also supports converting your text into audio files. Just select the required text, right click and go to Services > Add to iTunes as a spoken track. The text will be converted to an audio track and added to your iTunes library.
Pros:
– Built-in system wide
– Lots of voice options
– Converting text to iTunes track
Cons:
– No Pause/Play
– Have to select manually all the words to be read
– No instant pickup
Verdict:
Overall, the TTS that comes with macOS is very barebones without all the bells and whistles and should be perfect for somebody looking for a basic TTS experience without even buying or installing any third party software.
2. Invicta TTS
Invicta TTS is a very simple free Text To Speech app available on the Mac App Store.
Once you open up the app, it presents you with a text box where you can enter or paste any text which will be then converted to speech. The app is very lightweight and minimal in nature with everything being to the point.
Although the app is very basic, unlike the built in TTS of Mac OS, it does add the option of playing or pausing the audio which becomes crucial when listening to long texts or articles. The voice settings cannot be changed but the in built voice does the job pretty good enough.
Pros:
– Minimal and Light
– Play/Pause Option
Cons:
– Cannot read documents automatically
– Supports only English
Verdict:
If you need a simple and light TTS app and might be listening to long articles, Invicta TTS does the job pretty well but do remember that it can only read English.
Link: Get Invicta TTS on the App Store
Price: Free
3. Natural Reader
The next app on our list is Natural Reader which is an extremely powerful TTS software available not only on Mac OS but also on Windows, iOS, Android and even has an online reader.
The app comes in many flavours, each with its fair share of features for the price. The free version comes with basic TTS features along with the ability to read directly from file formats such as Docx, PDF, ePub and Txt. It also has a floating bar which can be used to read text while you are in other applications. The next option or the Personal version, at a steep $100, allows you to read web pages directly, converting text to audio files and syncing everything between your phone apps. There are also Professional and Ultimate versions which add OCR support and a bunch of natural voices.
Pros:
– Support for file formats
– Convert to audio files
– Cross Platform
– OCR Support
Cons:
– Pricey
– No instant pickup
Verdict:
All the features of Natural Reader definitely come at a price and you should be able to decide whether it is a suit for you with respect to your investment in TTS, but even for a casual user the free version works really well. Overall, Natural reader is not just best text to speech software with natural voices, but since it also support PDF, it’s also a good option for those who are looking for PDF Voice Reader for macOS.
Pricing Options: Pricing for Natural Reader
Link: Download Natural Reader from here
4. Read Aloud
Read Aloud is not exactly a stand alone Mac app but instead a Chrome extension which might appeal to some people. Considering how many posts and articles are read on the internet everyday, we had to include Read Aloud.
It is completely free and once you install it, its icon will appear in the extension bar which you can now use to read any webpage or any online article, just by a single click. When it is in work, you get a play/pause button along with a forward or rewind button which can be used to advance or backtrack paragraphs. Considering it is free, the voice options are really good and feel very natural and premium.
Pros:
– Great natural voice
– Forward or rewind by paragraphs
– Listen to webpages
Cons:
– Works only on Chrome
Verdict:
Suggesting Read Aloud is very straight forward; if you are someone who reads a lot on the internet and are looking for a free TTS software for that, nothing beats Read Aloud.
Price: Free
Link: Download Read Aloud from the Chrome Store
5. Capti Voice
Capti Voice is probably the most polished and well rounded TTS software available for the Mac and the award are only there to justify that. Starting off, Capti Voice uses your browser for the app to function instead of a stand alone Mac application. Don’t worry, you can still use it while you are offline as it stores all its data locally and personally I have had no issues.
Capti Voice has a subscription based model and even the free version has a lot to offer from various file format supports to text search while the premium versions add features like creating playlists, OCR Support and intelligent dictionary lookup. The voices offered across all the platforms are very high quality and commendable.
Quick Tip: Don’t forget to use the Chrome extension which allows you to save articles or webpages to be read later by Capti Voice.
Pros:
– Cross platform with mobile apps
– Create Playlists
– Dictionary lookup
– Shortcuts to get around
Cons:
– No standalone app
– Syncs only when you add to cloud storage
Verdict:
Overall, Capti Voice is a really compelling app with features packed to the brim and is very similar to natural Reader but with a subscription based model. It is really the best TTS experience you can get on Mac OS.
Pricing Info: Pricing Options for Capti Voice
Link: Download Capti Voice from here
6. Honorable Mentions
CereProc has some of the most natural sounding computer speeches available on the market, which you can use to replace the default voice on your Mac (also available for other platforms). There are a lot of high quality voice packs to choose from and each costs around $35.
Zamzar is a free online service which you can use to convert your text to audio files or mp3s. Unlike the iTunes spoken track which you can use only on Apple devices, you can use it on any platform without any hassle.
Wrapping up: Best Text to Speech for Mac
So these were some of the TTS software available on the Mac and we hope we made your decision a little bit easier. If you are someone who reads mainly on the internet, Read Aloud is by far the best free option. Although a little limited, the built-in TTS feature seems to work just fine, but it can be a pain for long stretches of texts or long articles for which there is Invicta which is also free.
Natural Reader and Capti Voice both are spectacular TTS apps with a lot of plans to choose from, but I guess what it comes down to is the paying model. Natural reader is a one time purchase and should be better if you feel you will be invested in TTS for a long time whereas Capti Voice follows a subscription based model also with a one week free trial. Thanks for reading and do comment below which one is your favorite TTS app on Mac OS.
Read: Make your Devices Read Out Text, With Text to Speech