Use Siri on your Mac
Siri on your Mac can help you with everyday tasks, get quick answers and information, play music, and more. You can ask Siri so many things—from “Set up a meeting at 9” to “What was the score for last night’s game?” Siri is there to help.
Siri can make suggestions in some apps even before you ask. For example, when you receive invitations in Mail or book flights in Safari, Siri suggests adding them to your calendar. Or, when you browse webpages, Siri can suggest related webpages.
Turn on Siri
Siri may be turned on already if you enabled it when you first set up your Mac.
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
> System Preferences, then click Siri.Select Enable Ask Siri, if it’s not already selected, then click Enable.
If asked if you want to improve Siri and Dictation, do one of the following:
Share audio recordings: Click Share Audio Recordings to allow Apple to store audio of your Siri and dictation interactions from this Mac. Apple may review a sample of stored audio.
Don’t share audio recordings: Click Not Now.
If you change your mind later and want to share or stop sharing audio recordings, select or deselect the Improve Siri & Dictation checkbox in the Analytics & Improvements section of Privacy preferences. See Change Privacy preferences.
Note: You can remove the audio recordings from Apple servers whenever you like—see Delete Siri and dictation history.
Do any of the following:
Use “Hey Siri”: If your Mac or paired AirPods support it, select the Listen for “Hey Siri” checkbox to be able to say “Hey Siri” to start using Siri. When you turn this on, you can also choose to use Siri even if your Mac is locked or in sleep by selecting the “Allow Siri when locked” checkbox.
Set a keyboard shortcut: Click the Keyboard Shortcut pop-up menu, then choose a different shortcut to ask Siri or create your own. By default, the keyboard shortcut to ask Siri is to press and hold the Command key and the Space bar at the same time.
Choose how Siri communicates: Click the Language pop-up menu, then choose a language. Click the Siri Voice pop-up menu, then choose the gender (and sometimes dialect) that Siri speaks.
Mute Siri: Click Off next to Voice Feedback—the response from Siri is shown in the Siri window but not spoken.
Add Siri to the menu bar: Select the “Show Siri in menu bar” checkbox.
Ask Siri
To ask Siri on your Mac, do any of the following:
Click the Siri icon
in the menu bar (or use the Touch Bar).If your Mac supports it, say “Hey Siri.” Your portable computer must be open to use Hey Siri.
If Siri doesn’t respond, open Siri preferences and make sure Listen for “Hey Siri” is turned on. You can also use Hey Siri when your supported Mac is locked or in sleep.
If your connected AirPods or supported headphones support it, say “Hey Siri.”
If Siri doesn’t respond, open Siri preferences and make sure Listen for “Hey Siri” on AirPods is turned on. You can also use Hey Siri when your Mac is locked.
To verify that you can use Hey Siri on your device, see the Apple Support article Devices that support “Hey Siri”.
Tip: When you use Siri, your device sends Apple information such as your name and nickname, or the names and nicknames of your contacts if you set these up in Contacts. This happens in order for Siri to understand you better and recognize what you say. Try it out by asking “What’s my name?” Or, if you’ve added a work address, Siri can remind you to do things such as get groceries when you leave work.
Ways to use Siri
You can use Siri to get quick answers (say something like “What’s the weather tomorrow?”) or do a task for you, like turn on Do Not Disturb.
On your Mac, ask Siri a question or to do a task for you.
Here are some examples:
Say something like | Description |
|---|---|
“Open Notes.” | Siri immediately opens the Notes app for you. |
“Show me my passwords.” | Siri opens the Passwords pane in Safari on your Mac. |
“Create a note” and then dictate what you want to write. | Have Siri write a note or email for you. |
“Create a meeting for today at 3 p.m.” | Have Siri set up a meeting for you. |
“Where’s the nearest grocery store?” or “What’s the weather tomorrow?” | When Location Services is enabled in Privacy preferences, Siri can give you information based on your current location or include maps to give you more details. |
“Find files that I created last week containing ‘conference’.” | You can complete robust searches for files—just ask Siri to find files created at a certain time or that contain precise text. |
“Increase my screen brightness” or “Open Night Shift preferences.” | Siri can automatically change some preferences or open a preference pane for you. |
“Ping my iPhone.” | Siri can help you find your devices using Find My. |
“How fast is my Mac?” or “How much free space do I have?” | Siri can give you information about your device. |
Tip: Ask Siri “What can you do?” or click the Help button 
in the Siri window for even more ideas of how Siri can help you.
If you’d rather type your requests to Siri instead of speaking them, you can turn on Type to Siri. See Change Accessibility Siri preferences.
If the Siri window doesn’t close automatically, you can close it yourself—just swipe right on your trackpad or click the Close button 
.
Use Siri results
You can keep Siri results handy in Notification Center or use them in emails or documents.
On your Mac, do any of the following:
Pin results to Notification Center: If you see an Add button
in the top-right corner of the results, click it to add the results to Today view in Notification Center.The results stay pinned and are kept up to date until you remove them. You can pin many types of results, such as stock prices, sports schedules, and more.
Open a result: Double-click a webpage to open it in Safari, or double-click a file or document to open it in the appropriate app on your Mac. You can also force click a result to preview it in a Quick Look window.
Use or save a result: Drag and drop to add images or locations into an email or document or to the desktop. (You can also copy or paste text.)
Turn off Siri
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
> System Preferences, then click Siri.Deselect the Enable Ask Siri checkbox.
Siri uses Location Services to provide information, services, and features appropriate to where you are. You can change the setting that allows Siri to do so. See Manage which apps can detect your Mac location.
You can also use Siri on your Mac to control lights and other accessories in your home. See Use Siri to control Home and the Apple Support article Apple Support article: Control your home with Siri.