Turn voice notes into text on a Mac
Updated
Scribe can save a dictation as a text note or transcribe a voice recording you already have. Both run on the Mac without uploading audio; dictations become notes, while imported recordings appear under Meetings in the Library.
How do I capture a new thought as text?
Click into a text field, hold the talk shortcut and speak, then release it to insert the words. Everything you dictate is also saved as a note in the Library unless history is off. This gives you a copy to return to after dictating into another app.
Open the Library by choosing Open Scribe… (⌘O) from the menu bar. Notes are grouped under Pinned, Today, Yesterday and Earlier, with a search field at the top. Open the saved dictation to edit it.
You can also create a note without dictating: choose New Note (⌘N) to type one, or Paste as New Note (⇧⌘V) to save text from the clipboard. The Library guide describes these controls. On Mac, the documented workflow is to capture dictation and then open its saved note to edit it.
Can I tidy the text after I speak it?
Open the note and use the presets along the bottom of the editor: Refine, Proofread, Shorter, Clearer, Friendlier, Professional, Bullets and Translate. A preset acts on selected text, or the whole note if nothing is selected.
Use Proofread for spelling, grammar and punctuation, or Bullets to turn the thought into a list. Presets work on the current text, so you can apply another one afterwards. Each result is one undo step. If rewriting fails, the text stays unchanged. Refine explains the engines and each preset.
Turn on Show changes to compare the edited text with the original dictation. The comparison is read-only while it is shown. Edits save automatically; Save as Copy keeps the original note and opens a separate copy. Copy and Share let you use the result elsewhere.
How do I transcribe a recording I already have?
In the Library, click the arrow next to Record, choose Transcribe a Recording…, then pick the file. You can also drag an audio file from the Finder onto the Library window. Supported formats are m4a, mp3, wav, aac, caf and aiff.
Transcription uses your dictation languages. If Scribe says The meeting language isn’t installed, add the language under Settings › Languages and download the language pack if that language needs it.
The file is processed as a meeting. Its title starts as the file name without its extension, and its date starts as the file’s creation date. Both can be changed. Transcribe a recording covers importing and the processing steps.
Where do the transcript and summary appear?
Open the imported recording under Meetings, below the notes in the Library sidebar. Processing shows Saving audio, Transcribing, Identifying speakers if the model is installed, and Summarising.
Speaker labels need the optional 13.7 MB speaker model. Summaries need an available Refine engine: Apple Intelligence works in chunks, while Gemma 4 summarises the whole transcript in one pass. Very short recordings show Too short to summarise.
The meeting contains the transcript, a summary of up to six bullets and a checklist of action items with owners where they were named. Double-click a transcript turn to correct it, then choose Update summary if needed. Copy Summary, Transcript or Everything, or export as Markdown or plain text. See Meetings on Mac.
What happens to the original audio?
Scribe copies an imported file into its meeting storage and leaves the original untouched. The copy is deleted once the transcript exists unless Keep recordings’ audio is on in Settings › Meetings. Turn that on before importing if you want playback in Scribe.
How do I keep a dictated note?
Keep history, under Settings › History & Privacy, applies to untouched dictations. A note you edit or pin stays until you delete it. With history off, dictations are not saved to the Library. Each device keeps its own Library; there is no automatic sync.
Try it
Download Scribe for Mac and import a voice memo, or dictate a short thought into a text field. Library and the editor explains saved notes, and Transcribe a recording covers existing audio.