Text expansion by voice on your Mac

Yes, two ways. macOS Voice Control lets you make a custom command that pastes text when you say its name. And dictation apps like Koi have snippets: a phrase and the text it stands for, so “my address” said in the middle of a dictation types your full address. macOS Text Replacement, the usual text expander, is built for typing, not talking.

We make Koi, so read the Koi part with that in mind. The Apple steps follow its own guides for macOS 27, checked October 21, 2026.

Text Replacement swaps a short string you type, like “@@”, for longer text, like your email address. To add one:

1. Choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Keyboard in the sidebar.
2. Click Text Replacements.
3. Click the Add button, type the text to replace and its replacement, then click Add.
4. Click Done.

Apple notes that text replacements aren't available in every app, and its guide doesn't mention Dictation at all. It's a keyboard tool: great for “;addr” typed by hand, not something to count on while you talk.

The built-in way to paste text by voice is a custom Voice Control command:

1. Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, then click Voice Control.
2. Click Commands, then click the Add button below the list.
3. In the When I say field, type the phrase. Apple asks for two or more words that no other command uses.
4. Choose whether it works in any app or one app, choose the Paste Text action, and type the text to paste.
5. Click Done. The command shows in the Custom section at the top of the list.

The catch: the command only works while Voice Control is on, and Apple's Dictation guide says standard Dictation isn't available while Voice Control is on. Voice Control is built for running the whole Mac by voice. If you only want to dictate an email and drop your signature in, it's a lot to turn on.

Koi's snippets work inside ordinary dictation, in any app. You keep talking, and when the phrase comes up, the saved text is typed in its place.

1. Open Koi's Settings and pick Dictation.
2. Under Snippets, type the phrase in When I say, for example “my address”.
3. Type the text in Type this, for example your full address, and press Return to add it.
4. In any app, tap Fn + ⌥ and dictate as usual: “Can you send it to my address, please.”
5. Koi types the sentence with your address where you said the phrase.

The steps are also on Koi's help page for words, snippets and styles. Dictation itself runs on your Mac, and so does the swap: the phrase is matched and replaced before anything is typed.

• Case doesn't matter, and neither does the punctuation the speech model puts between the phrase's words. “My, address” still counts.
• Said as a sentence of its own, the phrase's full stop goes with it, so a signature doesn't end with a stray dot.
• If one phrase is inside a longer one, the longer one wins: “my work address” beats “my address”.
• The text is typed exactly as you saved it, and is never searched for other phrases.
• It works in any language Koi dictates: “mi dirección” is as good a phrase as “my address”.

One tip: the phrase is replaced wherever it stands apart, so pick ones you wouldn't say for any other reason. “Insert signature” is safer than “thanks”. If a phrase keeps coming out spelled differently, add its words to Your words in the same settings; see adding words to dictation.

Koi has three lists that sound alike. They do different jobs:

• Snippets swap a phrase for text: say “my address”, get the address.
• Your words fix spelling: “Irakli” or “KoiScribe” typed the way you write them. They're told to the speech model, and a word you correct right after Koi types it is added by itself.
• Saved prompts are for Koi's chat box, not dictation: tap Control twice and type “/” and a name to send one.

All three live on your Mac, and the first two are in Settings, under Dictation.

• Your address, for forms and deliveries.
• Your email address and phone number, which speech models love to mangle.
• A one-line email sign-off: snippets are added as a single line, so a signature block with line breaks won't fit.
• A booking link you send ten times a week.
• Canned replies for support or sales: “refund policy”, “shipping times”.
• A long product name or a legal line that has to be word-perfect.

Don't save passwords or card numbers. Snippets are kept in Koi's database on your Mac, not in the Keychain, and Koi doesn't encrypt them itself; with FileVault on, macOS keeps them encrypted on the disk like every other file. Clear history, in Settings, General, deletes them along with your documents.

• You type most of the time: Text Replacement. It's free and already there.
• You run your Mac by voice: Voice Control's Paste Text commands fit how you already work.
• You dictate emails, messages and forms and want saved text dropped in as you talk: Koi's dictation.

Your AI apps can manage snippets too. With Claude, Cursor, Claude Code or Codex connected to Koi, “add a snippet for my booking link” works from there; see connecting your notes to Claude and Cursor.

Koi needs a paid plan. Pro is $20 a month, or $192 a year, after a 3-day free trial that needs a card. Lifetime is paid once, from $59. Dictation is unlimited on every plan. See pricing, and for dictation basics, how to dictate on a Mac.