Macs have voice dictation build in, allowing you to talk instead of typing. CafeTran's editor works with it out of the box. You can also bind the program to another dictation environment. Below are the steps to connect to Google's Voice Typing tool available at Google Docs.


  1. Open or start a new translation project in CafeTran.
  2. Choose "Bind external editor" option from the Edit menu. The AutoNext function gets activated in the target segment toolbar.
  3. Switch to "Detached windows" view in the View menu. This view lets you align CafeTran interface with your dictation editor. 
  4. Open Google Docs editor in Google Chrome browser and align with CafeTran interface as you like.
  5. Turn on Voice Typing tool in Google Docs and dictate the translation of the current segment in the editor. Any formatting tags seen in the source segment can be transferred from the external editor through the pipe character '|' in the dictated target segment.
  6. When the translation is ready, press the following keyboard shortcuts: Command+A, Command+X and focus CafeTran via Command+Tab (or a mouse click). You should notice that the translation is added to the translation memory and CafeTran moves to the next segment to translate via voice. Press Command+Tab again, to switch focus back to the external editor for dictation.

The above shortcuts can be grouped together in a .app file which may be clicked or bound to the voice command on Mac as follows:


  1. Go to Mac's System Preferences > Accessibility > Dictation and click the "Dictation Commands..." button.
  2. Make sure the "Enabled advanced commands" options is selected and click the + button.
  3. Type one of the two voice commands "stop" or "segment" in the "When I say:" field and choose Run Workflow > Other... from the Perform box.
  4. Choose the application .app file to run via your voice command and click "Done" button.
  5. Enable the "Dictation keyword phrase" (e.g. "Computer") and close the System Preferences. 
  6. Now, say the command (e.g. "Computer stop") after you finish the dictation of the current segment to move on to the next segment.

The following applications are attached here:

  • The SegmentChrome.app for Google Docs in the Google Chrome browser.
  • The SegmentWord.app for Microsoft Word.
  • The SegmentPages.app for Pages.

 Please unzip the .app file after saving it in the preferred location on your Mac.