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VV vs Microsoft Dictate: inside Office, or everywhere
Microsoft's dictation is good and included if you already pay for Microsoft 365. It also requires that subscription, a connection, and that you are in an Office app.
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What Microsoft's dictation is good at
If you already subscribe to Microsoft 365, it is included, well integrated and understands document-specific commands. In Word for Mac the shortcut is ⌥ + F1, and Microsoft documents it for Word for Microsoft 365 for Mac and Word 2024 for Mac. For long-form writing in Word it is a perfectly reasonable tool at no extra cost.
It also benefits from Microsoft's server-side speech models, which are large and good. That is not a small advantage on difficult audio.
The three conditions
| Condition | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 subscription | The feature disappears the day you stop paying, and it is unavailable on perpetual Office licences |
| Reliable internet connection | No aeroplanes, no trains through cuttings, no basement offices |
| Inside an Office application | Nothing in Mail, Slack, your browser, your editor, Notes or Messages |
Requirements quoted from Microsoft's own support documentation, read 11 September 2026.
The connection requirement is the one people discover at the worst moment. Cloud dictation does not degrade gracefully when the connection goes — it simply stops, usually in the middle of a sentence you were pleased with.
Side by side
| Microsoft Dictate | VV | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Included with Microsoft 365; requires the subscription | Free tier, then £4.99/mo, £39.99/yr, or once |
| Works in Word for Mac | Yes, ⌥ + F1 | Yes |
| Works in Mail, Slack, browsers, editors | No | Yes |
| Needs internet | Yes | No, after the first-run model download |
| Audio processed on your Mac | No | Yes |
| Custom vocabulary | No | Yes |
| Works on a perpetual Office licence | No | Not applicable — independent of Office |
Using a Mac dictation app in Word
Nothing special is required. Click into the document, hold the shortcut, speak, release. Word treats it as typed text: track changes records it, autocorrect applies, styles behave normally. Detailed walkthrough: dictating in Microsoft Word on a Mac.
The rest of Office, and the gaps
Microsoft's dictation is documented most fully for Word, and the coverage across the suite is uneven in ways that surprise people who expect one consistent feature.
| Where | Microsoft Dictate | A system-wide Mac app |
|---|---|---|
| Word for Mac | Yes — ⌥ + F1 | Yes |
| Outlook | In the Microsoft 365 versions | Yes |
| Teams chat on the Mac | Not in chat | Yes |
| Excel | Limited | Yes, in any cell or comment |
| PowerPoint | Notes and text boxes | Yes |
| Anything outside Office | No | Yes |
That third row is the one people hit first. Teams is where a lot of Office users do most of their typing, and the Dictate button they know from Word is not there. See dictating in Teams.
The perpetual-licence problem
Worth calling out because it affects a large number of organisations quietly. Microsoft states that dictation is only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers. If your employer bought a perpetual Office licence — Office 2021, Office 2024, a volume licence without the subscription — the Dictate button either is not there or does nothing useful.
This is not a bug and there is no setting. The two free alternatives are macOS's own dictation, which works in Word regardless, and any system-wide app, which is independent of Office entirely.
Moving from one to the other
- Keep both for a fortnight They do not conflict. Word's button stays where it is; a system-wide app has its own shortcut.
- Give the Mac app a shortcut that is not ⌥ + F1 Otherwise you will fire both and get interleaved text, which looks like a broken app and is not.
- Teach the new one your vocabulary This is the step that makes the comparison fair. Microsoft's has no custom vocabulary, so an untaught alternative will look no better than it — taught, it will look considerably better.
- Try it outside Office on day one A Teams message, an email in a browser, a note. That is where the difference is, and it is the reason to switch at all.
- Then decide If you genuinely only ever write in Word and always have a connection, staying is a reasonable answer and costs nothing extra.
Who should stay with Microsoft's
- You write almost entirely in Word and have a reliable connection.
- You already pay for Microsoft 365 and dictate occasionally — free is free.
- You need a language Microsoft supports and a smaller app does not.
- Your IT department has approved it and would need to approve anything else.
Where these facts came from
Anything stated about another product was read on that product's own site or documentation on the date shown, and is re-checked at least quarterly. If something below has changed, tell us and we will correct it.
- Microsoft states that dictation "lets you use speech-to-text to author content in Microsoft 365 with a microphone and reliable internet connection," and that "the dictation feature is only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers." source, checked .
- Microsoft documents dictation in Word for Microsoft 365 for Mac and Word 2024 for Mac, with the shortcut ⌥ (Option) + F1. source, checked .
Questions
Does Microsoft Dictate work without a Microsoft 365 subscription?
No. Microsoft states the dictation feature is only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers. macOS's own free dictation works in Word regardless, as does any system-wide dictation app.
Does it work offline?
No. Microsoft's requirements specify a reliable internet connection, because the recognition happens on their servers.
What is the shortcut in Word for Mac?
Microsoft documents ⌥ (Option) + F1 for Word for Microsoft 365 for Mac and Word 2024 for Mac.
Can I use VV inside Word and Outlook?
Yes, in both, and in Excel, PowerPoint and Teams as well. It types where your cursor is, so no Office integration is needed and nothing breaks when Office updates.