# Dictate hands-free with a mouse button, trackpad or Siri

Source: https://help.contextli.com/articles/dictate-hands-free-with-a-mouse-button-or-siri

Map a spare mouse button, a foot pedal or a trackpad gesture to your Contextli hotkey, or on Mac turn on **Siri Dictation** to start Contextli by voice. Add **Press Enter After Paste** to send chat messages without touching the keyboard.

## Use a mouse button or foot pedal

Contextli starts with a keyboard shortcut, so any device that can send that shortcut can start it.

1. Check your hotkey in **Settings > General > Keyboard Shortcut** (Option+Space on Mac, Ctrl+Space on Windows and Linux by default).
2. Open your mouse or pedal software, for example Logitech Options.
3. Map a side or top button to that exact shortcut.
4. Tap the button once to start dictating and again to stop.

Not sure how? Search for "map [your mouse model] buttons to keyboard shortcuts".

## Use a Magic Mouse or trackpad (Mac)

A Magic Mouse has no extra buttons. A Mac app called BetterTouchTool can map a tap or swipe on the mouse or trackpad to your Contextli shortcut, so one gesture starts or stops dictation.

## Start Contextli with Siri (Mac)

1. Open **Settings > General** and find **Siri & Shortcuts**.
2. Turn on **Siri Dictation**. This adds a **Dictate with Contextli** action to the Shortcuts app and shares your enabled contexts with it.
3. Open the Shortcuts app and set up the action. To use a specific context by voice, make a copy of the shortcut for each context.
4. Ask Siri to run it. macOS asks once to allow access to app data.

![Settings, General tab: sound effects, launch at startup, auto-paste, clipboard and Siri dictation](https://cdn.kamaan.io/kamaan/sites/6ae9f572170cd8d9857a277c/images/contextli-settings-general-preferences.webp)

On iPhone, you can trigger dictation with Back Tap (**Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap**) through a Shortcut.

## Send messages automatically

**Auto-Paste** is on by default, so text lands at your cursor. To also press Enter after it pastes:

1. Open **Settings > General** and expand **Advanced**.
2. Turn on **Press Enter After Paste**. It needs Auto-Paste on.

![Settings, General tab, Advanced section: Press Enter After Paste, hourly rate, recordings folder and tutorials](https://cdn.kamaan.io/kamaan/sites/6ae9f572170cd8d9857a277c/images/contextli-settings-advanced.webp)

This is great for Slack or WhatsApp. Turn it off for email, where you want to review before sending.

## Related articles

- [Change your recording hotkey](/articles/change-your-recording-hotkey)
- [Choose Toggle or Hold to record](/articles/toggle-vs-hold-to-record)
- [Use the contexts bar and Quick Mic button](/articles/use-the-contexts-bar-and-quick-mic)