Start with the workflow, not the transcript window
The most useful kind of Mac voice typing begins where you are already writing. Click into an email, document, chat, issue, or browser field; invoke dictation; speak; and let the text return to that same cursor. A separate transcript app adds a review-and-paste loop that is useful for long recordings but cumbersome for everyday writing.
Quill is built around the first model. It keeps a small menu-bar presence and uses a global shortcut, so the current app remains the center of the task.
Set up the three things dictation needs
Install Quill in Applications, add a Gemini API key, and grant Microphone and Accessibility access. Microphone permission supplies the live audio. Accessibility permission lets Quill remember the original text field and insert the final result there.
The API key belongs to you and connects the Mac app directly to Gemini. Quill stores it locally in an owner-readable file rather than asking you to create a Quill account.
- macOS 14 or later
- A Gemini API key with Live transcription access
- Microphone and Accessibility permission
Use a short, repeatable dictation loop
Place the cursor, hold Option–Space, and speak while the indicator says Listening. Release the shortcut when the thought is complete. Quill finalizes the text and inserts it at the original cursor. Escape cancels an active session.
For longer passages, switch from hold-to-speak to toggle mode. Press once to begin and once to finish. The important habit is to finish one coherent thought at a time; smaller turns are easier to review and place correctly than a five-minute monologue.
Choose Smart or Verbatim for the job
Smart mode is useful for messages, notes, and drafts. It removes filler words, follows spoken corrections, and adds readable punctuation. Verbatim mode stays closer to the words you actually said, which helps with quotations, interview notes, or rough material where the original phrasing matters.
Neither setting has to be permanent. Treat transcription style like a writing tool: Smart for clean output, Verbatim for faithful capture.
Fix the two most common Mac issues
If Quill cannot hear you, confirm Microphone access and check which input device is selected. If text does not appear at the cursor, confirm Accessibility access. Some applications use custom editors that do not expose a normal insertion target; in that case Quill preserves the result on the clipboard so you can paste it manually.
Once those permissions are stable, voice typing becomes a small motor skill: cursor, shortcut, speech, release.