Short answer: On a Mac, Grammarly does not take dictation. It watches the same text field you dictate into, so its cards and widget can steal focus or edit text mid-sentence. Click into the field, leave suggestions until you finish speaking, and turn Grammarly off for that app to test.
You start dictating an email with Grammarly running, and the words stop after half a sentence. Or a phrase appears twice. Or a suggestion card pops up, you click it to tidy something, and dictation ends. Or you go looking through Grammarly's settings for a microphone and find nothing at all.
Three facts explain almost every case. The first is that Grammarly does not do the dictating. There is no microphone in Grammarly's editor, its desktop app or its browser extension. On a Mac, dictation comes from macOS or from a dictation app, and Grammarly checks the text once it exists.
The second is that on a Mac, Grammarly is a layer and not a place. The desktop app and the browser extension watch the text fields in your other apps and websites. They draw a small Grammarly button beside the field, underline words, and open suggestion cards on top of your writing. So Grammarly and dictation are working on the same field at the same time.
The third is that dictation sends text to whatever has keyboard focus. Anything that moves focus, such as a click on a card, on Grammarly's panel or on another window, either ends Apple's dictation or sends the next words somewhere else.
So "dictation is not working in Grammarly" usually means focus moved, or two tools changed the same sentence at the same moment. This guide works through every cause in order, most common first. If dictation fails in every app on your Mac, Grammarly or not, our full list of Mac dictation fixes is the better place to start.
Which Grammarly are you using?
Grammarly reaches a Mac in a few different ways, and they behave a little differently with dictation.
- Grammarly for Mac. The desktop app checks text in many Mac apps, such as Mail and Slack. It shows a small Grammarly button beside the field you are writing in, and it needs Accessibility permission in System Settings so that it can read and change text in other apps.
- The browser extension. In Chrome, Safari, Edge and other browsers, the extension checks text fields on websites such as Gmail, LinkedIn and Google Docs.
- Grammarly's own editor. A document editor on Grammarly's website, where you write or paste a whole document with Grammarly's suggestions in a panel beside it.
- Add-ins for other apps. Grammarly also offers an add-in for Microsoft Word, which shows its suggestions in a panel inside Word.
Whichever you use, the rule is the same: dictation puts text into a field, and Grammarly watches that field.
How dictation and Grammarly share a text field
Apple's dictation
Apple's dictation is switched on in System Settings, under Keyboard, then Dictation. You start it with the shortcut shown there, which is often pressing the Globe or Fn key twice, or with the mic key on recent Mac keyboards. A small mic appears near the cursor and your words are typed as you speak. While you are still talking, dictation can revise the last few words as it hears more of the sentence. It stops when you press the shortcut again, when you pause for a while, or when focus moves away.
A dictation app
A dictation app, ours included, is started with a hotkey and puts text at your cursor in whatever app is in front. Most need Accessibility permission, just as Grammarly does. Both can have it at the same time.
What Grammarly adds
Grammarly reads the text in the field as it changes and draws underlines, its button and its cards on top. When you accept a suggestion, Grammarly edits the text in the field. It never listens to you. That is why the order matters: let your words land first, then let Grammarly work on them.
The 30-second test
Before you change any settings, find out where the problem actually is.
- Open TextEdit, start a new document, start dictation and say a sentence.
- Open the app where dictation failed, click inside the text field, and dictate the same sentence.
- Turn Grammarly off for that app or website (fix 9 shows how) and dictate the sentence once more.
- If TextEdit failed, the problem is dictation on your Mac, not Grammarly. Go to fix 10.
- If the app failed with Grammarly on and with it off, the problem is the app or the field. Start at fix 1.
- If dictation only failed with Grammarly on, the two are getting in each other's way. Fixes 2 to 8 cover the ways that happens.
- If dictation stopped when a card or underline appeared, go to fix 2.
- If words were doubled, scrambled or half replaced, go to fix 3.
- If your words ended up in a Grammarly box, go to fix 4.
- If text arrived slowly or in bursts in a long document, go to fix 5.
- If a dictation app's hotkey did nothing, go to fix 7.
The 10 fixes, in order
1. Click inside the field before you start
Dictation types into whatever has keyboard focus, and the Grammarly button beside a field is not the field. Neither is the gap between two boxes on a web page, or a document you can see but have not clicked into since you came back from another app.
- Click exactly where you want the words, and wait for the cursor to blink there.
- In a browser, click inside the page first. Focus is sometimes still in the address bar.
- In Google Docs, click in the document body itself, not in the comment box or the menus.
- In Grammarly's own editor, open a document first. The list of documents is not a place to write.
2. Leave suggestion cards alone until you finish speaking
This is behind most reports of dictation stopping when Grammarly is on. A card opens when the pointer rests on an underlined word or when you click it. Click anything on a card, or in Grammarly's panel, and focus leaves your text. Apple's dictation treats that as the end of the session, and a sentence you are halfway through is cut short.
- Move the pointer away from the text before you start speaking, so that a card does not open underneath it.
- Ignore underlines while you dictate. They are Grammarly doing its job, not a sign that something is wrong.
- Stop dictation yourself, then review the suggestions in one pass.
If dictation keeps stopping even when you touch nothing, the cause is probably a pause rather than Grammarly. Our guide to Mac dictation that keeps stopping covers that.
3. Let dictation finish before anything changes the text
Apple's dictation keeps adjusting the most recent words while you are still speaking. If the text around them changes in that moment, because you accepted a suggestion, or the app tidied something, the adjustment can land in the wrong place. The result is a doubled phrase, a word cut in half, or a sentence that reads as if two people wrote it.
- Do not accept suggestions, and especially not several at once, while dictation is still running.
- Stop dictation, wait a moment for the last words to settle, then start editing.
- If a passage is already garbled, undo back to before it and dictate it again. That is usually quicker than repairing it.
4. Keep your words out of Grammarly's own boxes
Grammarly's panels have text boxes of their own, such as the box where you ask its writing assistant to rewrite something, or a search box in its settings. If one of them has focus when you start dictating, your words go there instead of into your email or document.
Close Grammarly's panel, click back into your text, and start again. If you do want to give Grammarly an instruction by voice, click into its box on purpose, dictate the instruction, and then click back into your document before you dictate any more of it.
5. Split long documents, or check them afterwards
In a very long document, especially in a browser, the page has more work to do every time the text changes, and Grammarly checking the whole thing adds to it. Typing can feel sluggish, and dictated text can appear in bursts or a little behind what you said.
- Dictate long drafts into a shorter document or a plain note, then paste them in.
- Turn Grammarly off for that document or site while you draft, and turn it back on for the editing pass.
- Close tabs you are not using, which frees the browser for the one you are writing in.
6. Use one dictation tool at a time
Some apps have dictation of their own. Google Docs has Voice typing in Chrome, and Microsoft Word has a Dictate button. If one of those is listening while Apple's dictation or a dictation app is too, the two compete for the microphone and for the cursor, and Grammarly is left checking a mess. Pick one tool for each session. Our guides to Google Docs voice typing not working and Mac dictation not working in Word cover those built-in tools.
7. Check Accessibility permission and Secure Input
If you use a dictation app and its hotkey does nothing, open System Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Accessibility. The dictation app needs to be listed and switched on, and so does Grammarly if you use the desktop app. If either was updated recently and has stopped working, switch it off and on again in that list, or remove it and add it back.
If a dictation app's hotkey stopped responding in every app just after you typed a password, macOS may still be in Secure Input, which stops other apps from reading keystrokes while a password field is active. Look for a password field or a password manager prompt still open in another window or tab, and close it.
8. Make sure your shortcuts do not collide
If you changed Apple's dictation shortcut, or your dictation app's hotkey, to a key combination, check that no other app uses the same one. Grammarly, launchers, clipboard managers and window managers all register shortcuts. When two apps claim the same keys, one of them wins and the other appears broken. Pick a combination nothing else uses, or go back to the default.
9. Turn Grammarly off for one app or site to find the cause
This is the quickest way to know whether Grammarly is involved at all.
- Grammarly for Mac: use the Grammarly button beside the text field, or Grammarly's settings, and look for the option to turn it off in the current app.
- The browser extension: click the Grammarly icon in your browser's toolbar and switch off checking for the current website.
- Word: close Grammarly's panel inside Word.
If dictation works with Grammarly off, you have two good options. Leave it off in that one app, or keep it on and follow the order from fixes 2 and 3: speak first, then check. If dictation still fails with Grammarly off, Grammarly was never the problem.
10. Fix macOS dictation itself
If dictation failed in TextEdit too, open System Settings, then Keyboard, and make sure Dictation is on. Check which shortcut it uses, that the language is the one you are speaking, and which microphone it listens to. A headset left in a drawer can still be the selected input. Then restart your Mac, which clears a stuck dictation service in one step.
Grammarly quirks that look like broken dictation
- Underlines appear all over what you just said. Grammarly checks new text as it arrives. Spoken drafts tend to have longer sentences and more repeated words than typed ones, so you see more suggestions. Nothing is broken.
- A name you said correctly is flagged. Grammarly does not know every name, brand or technical term. Check before you accept a change, and add words you use often to Grammarly's personal dictionary.
- The Grammarly button covers the end of your text. It sits over the corner of the field. Make the window wider, or scroll a little, and keep the pointer away from it while you speak.
- A tone suggestion rewrites a sentence you meant. Dictated text sounds like you. Accept the corrections and be choosy about rewrites that only change the tone.
- Grammarly's editor shows nothing you dictated. Check that a document was open and the cursor was in it, and give it a connection so the document can save.
Quick reference
- Nothing appears: click inside the field first (fix 1).
- Dictation stops when a card opens: leave suggestions until you finish (fix 2).
- Doubled or scrambled words: let dictation finish before editing (fix 3).
- Words in a Grammarly box: click back into your document (fix 4).
- Slow, bursty text in long documents: split the document or check afterwards (fix 5).
- Two microphones, one cursor: use one dictation tool at a time (fix 6).
- Hotkey does nothing: check Accessibility and Secure Input (fix 7), then shortcut clashes (fix 8).
- Not sure Grammarly is involved: turn it off for that app or site (fix 9).
- Fails in TextEdit too: fix macOS dictation (fix 10).
Grammarly on a Mac versus Grammarly on iPhone
On a Mac, Grammarly sits on top of your apps while you dictate, so most problems come from two tools working on the same sentence at once. On an iPhone it is the other way round. Grammarly is a keyboard there, iOS shows one keyboard at a time, and the usual complaint is that the dictation mic has disappeared. Our guide to iPhone dictation not working in Grammarly covers that side, and our guide to how to dictate in Grammarly covers the everyday workflow on both devices.
A talk-then-polish workflow
Most adults type at around 40 words per minute, professional typists usually reach 80 to 100, and normal speech runs at 130 to 150. A few habits let you keep that speed without fighting the checker.
- Talk the whole draft. Click in the field, move the pointer away, and speak a full section without stopping to fix anything.
- Polish in one pass. When you have finished, go through Grammarly's suggestions from the top. Correctness fixes are usually safe to accept. Tone rewrites deserve a second look.
- Fix names at the source. A checker can tell you a word looks wrong. It cannot tell you how your client spells their surname.
- Read numbers back. Dates, prices and figures read correctly whether or not they are right.
One hotkey, then let Grammarly check
Apple's dictation is free and built in, but it ends when focus moves or when you pause to think, and it types while it is still deciding on the last few words, which is exactly when Grammarly may be changing the text around them.
Voice Keyboard Pro is a menu bar app for Mac. Click where you want the text, hold your hotkey, speak, and release. The text appears at your cursor, system-wide, in Mail, Slack, a Google Doc, Grammarly's editor and every other app you use. Because you never click anything while you speak, focus stays in your document, and the microphone stays live while you hold the key, so a pause to find the right word does not end the session. Your words arrive when you release, and Grammarly checks them from there. Like any dictation tool, it puts text wherever focus is, so fix 1 still applies.
- Smart Vocabulary is a personal dictionary with replacement rules, so the names and terms you use come out spelled your way every time, before Grammarly ever sees them.
- Meeting Mode, with speaker detection and AI notes, captures a meeting, so a follow-up email can start from what was actually said.
- Calendar meeting detection notices when a meeting on your calendar is about to start.
On privacy, our servers store only operational pings. No audio and no transcript content is stored. Pro is $4.99 a month or $34.99 a year, and the monthly plan starts with a 3-day free trial. On iPhone, the same product is a custom keyboard with a built-in mic button, so you can dictate in any iOS app and switch to Grammarly's keyboard when you want it to check.
Frequently asked questions
Does Grammarly have dictation on a Mac?
No. Grammarly's desktop app, browser extension and editor check text, but none of them has a microphone or voice typing. Use Apple's dictation or a dictation app to speak, and Grammarly will check the result like typed text.
Why does dictation stop when Grammarly shows a suggestion?
Clicking a card, or Grammarly's panel, moves focus out of your text, and Apple's dictation ends when focus moves. Keep the pointer away from the text while you speak, and review suggestions after you stop dictating.
Why are some words doubled when I dictate with Grammarly on?
Apple's dictation keeps adjusting the last few words while you speak. If a suggestion is accepted or the text changes in that moment, the adjustment can land in the wrong place. Let dictation finish before you accept anything.
Should I turn Grammarly off to dictate?
Usually not. Speak first and check afterwards, and the two work well together. Turn Grammarly off for one app or site only if dictation fails there with it on and works with it off.
Does Grammarly need microphone permission for dictation?
No. Grammarly never listens. Apple's dictation or your dictation app handles the microphone. Grammarly needs Accessibility permission on a Mac so it can check text in other apps, which is a separate thing.
Can I dictate into Google Docs with the Grammarly extension on?
Yes. Click into the document body, dictate with one tool, and leave Grammarly's suggestions until you finish. Do not run Google Docs' Voice typing and another dictation tool at the same time.
What to do next
Run the 30-second test, then work through the fixes that match what you saw. If nothing appeared, the cursor was not in the field (fix 1). If dictation stopped when a card opened, focus moved (fix 2). If words were doubled, something changed the text while dictation was still settling it (fix 3). If you are not sure Grammarly is involved, turn it off for that app and test again (fix 9). And if you want one hotkey that works the same in every app, Grammarly's editor included, try Voice Keyboard Pro and let Grammarly do the polishing afterwards.
The words land at your cursor in whatever app you are already in: Mail, Slack, a Google Doc, Grammarly's editor. No dictation window, nothing to copy across.
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