Slack speech to text on your Mac

Yes. Slack on the Mac doesn't turn your voice into a typed message on its own, but Sayburst does: click into a channel or DM, hold fn, say the message, and let go. The text appears in the message box, cleaned up and casual, and if you want it to, it sends itself.

That last part matters in Slack more than anywhere. Most messages are two sentences, and the friction is typing them, not composing them.

#How to set it up

1. Install Sayburst and allow Microphone and Accessibility. The speech model downloads once; after that, recognition runs on your Mac without a connection.
2. Give Slack the Message mode. In Sayburst's settings, set Slack's writing mode to Message. It keeps your tone, drops the stiff final period on short replies, and still cleans up fillers.
3. Decide on auto-send. Sayburst can press Return after inserting, per app. Turn it on for Slack if you trust your first take; leave it off if you like to glance at a message before it goes.

Then click into any message box, thread reply or the search field, hold fn, talk, and release.

#Messages, as said and as posted

A standup update.

You say:

"Morning. Yesterday I finished the, um, the export fix. Today I'm on the billing emails. New line. Blocked on the staging database, Rafael can you take a look"

What lands in the box:

Morning. Yesterday I finished the export fix. Today I'm on the billing emails. Blocked on the staging database, Rafael can you take a look

Fillers and the doubled "the" are gone, "new line" broke the message where you wanted, and the question reads like Slack, not a memo.

A quick yes in a thread.

"yeah that works for me, uh, ship it"

becomes "Yeah that works for me, ship it". With auto-send on, it's posted before your hand is back on the trackpad.

Explaining something that would take a minute to type. Tap fn to go hands-free, then talk it through:

"So the reason the numbers don't match is the dashboard counts trials, and finance counts paid accounts only. Bullet point dashboard is right for signups. Bullet point finance is right for revenue. I'll add a note on the chart."

That arrives as two sentences and two bullets. Tap fn again to finish.

#Slack clips vs Sayburst

Slack's microphone button is a different tool with a different job. Details from Slack's help center, checked October 31, 2026.

Clips are great when tone matters, like a thank-you or a walkthrough with your screen. For the hundred ordinary messages a day, people would rather read than press play, and a typed message is what they expect. That's what Sayburst writes.

#Where your words go

• Recognition happens on your Mac. Sayburst never uploads your audio.
• Cleanup, including Message mode, runs on the Mac as well. So does Sayburst Writer, the optional AI model, if you install it.
• A cloud writer is your choice. If you connect your own API key for a cloud provider, only the transcribed text is sent, and Sayburst shows you exactly what before you turn it on.
• Slack stores the message the moment you send it, like anything you type, under your workspace's retention settings.

#Tips for Slack

• Add your team's words. Put teammates' names, project codenames and tools in Sayburst's vocabulary so "Rafael" and "Atlas API" come out right every time.
• Use replacements for links you paste daily. Map "the roadmap link" to the URL and say it mid-sentence.
• Dictate quietly. In an open office, a headset mic close to your mouth lets you speak at a normal low volume. More on that in dictating quietly in an open office.
• Don't lose a message to a notification. If you click into another channel before Sayburst finishes, the text is kept and offered back, and ⌃⌥⌘V pastes your last dictation anywhere. Here's how that works.
• Mute your speakers while you dictate. Sayburst can do it for you, which helps if a huddle or video is playing in another window.

Same idea in other places you write at work: Microsoft Teams, Gmail and Notion.

#Limits worth knowing

Sayburst types text; it doesn't post to channels on its own, read your messages, or work as a Slack bot. The message appears when you finish speaking rather than word by word, though the overlay shows your words as you go. It works in the Slack desktop app and in Slack in any browser on a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 14 or later. On your phone, use the keyboard's built-in dictation instead; Sayburst is Mac-only.

Questions people ask

Does Slack have voice to text on Mac?

Not for typing messages. The microphone in Slack's message field records an audio clip of up to five minutes, which people listen to or open as a transcript. To turn your voice into a typed message, use macOS Dictation or a dictation app like Sayburst.

How do I dictate a Slack message on a Mac?

With Sayburst, click into the message box, hold fn, say the message and let go. The text appears in the box, ready to send. Turn on auto-send for Slack and Sayburst presses Return for you.

Will my Slack messages sound like an email if I dictate them?

Not with Message mode. It keeps your wording casual and doesn't force a period at the end, so a quick reply reads like a quick reply.

Is Sayburst a Slack app?

No. It's a Mac app that types into whatever has focus, so there's nothing for a workspace admin to approve in Slack and Sayburst never connects to your workspace.