Make your Mac talk, or turn text into an audio file — via SS64

Commandlow riskmacOS 14 Sonoma and later

The say command reads text aloud in any installed voice. Add it to the end of a long command to hear when it finishes, or save a text file as audio to listen to later.

Takes effect right away

The easy way

  1. Announce when a job is done: long-running-command; say done.
  2. Save to audio: say -o article.aiff -f article.txt.
  3. List voices with say -v '?', then pick one with -v, for example say -v Samantha "Hello". -r sets the speed in words per minute.

Command

Run in Terminal (Applications › Utilities).

say "Your download is finished"

Sources

  • say — by SS64
Source reviewed
2026-11-02
Link checked
2026-11-02
Tested hands-on
Not by Oddbyte.Me

Oddbyte.Me hasn't tried this on every macOS version, so keep the undo handy.

saytext to speechvoiceaudioterminalnotification

More in Hidden Tools & Commands

Download a full macOS installer from Terminal — via SS64

Commandlow risk

softwareupdate can list and download complete macOS installers, including older versions Apple still serves. Useful for making a bootable USB installer or installing on another Mac without hunting through the App Store. This entry only downloads; it doesn't install anything.