“Voice typing” is what Google calls its dictation feature in Docs, and it’s become the name people use for talking instead of typing. On a Mac you have three ways to do it, and they’re not equal.
1. Google Docs voice typing
Tools, then Voice typing, in Chrome only. It’s free and it works, but only in Chrome and only in Docs, Slides speaker notes and a few other Google apps. Punctuation is spoken. The Google Docs page covers how to switch it on and its limits.
2. Mac dictation
Built into macOS, works in every text field, press a shortcut twice to start and again to stop. Also free. Also a literal transcript with spoken punctuation. The Mac guide walks through setup.
3. A voice typing app
This is where it changes. An app like Speaky Box sits in the menu bar, you hold a key you’ve chosen, talk, and let go. The audio goes to a large speech model, the words go through a language model, and what lands in the text field is finished: punctuated, ums gone, grammar fixed, your names spelt right. It works in every app, including Docs in any browser, Word, Slack, Mail, Notion, and AI tools.
Transcript vs finished text
This is the whole difference and it’s worth being precise about. A transcript is what you said. Finished text is what you meant. When you talk you say “um, can you, uh, send me the deck, no, the new deck, before Thursday”. A transcript gives you that. Finished text gives you “Can you send me the new deck before Thursday?” One you can send. The other you have to fix.
Setting up hold-to-talk on a Mac
- Install Speaky Box and allow the microphone and accessibility permissions when asked.
- Pick a key for Dictate. Right option, caps lock and fn are the usual choices.
- Optionally pick a second key for Smart, which writes for the app you’re in: a prompt in Claude, an email in Mail, a message in Slack.
- Add your names and terms to the Words list.
Hold the key anywhere your cursor is, talk, let go. That’s voice typing in every app on the Mac, and it takes about a minute to set up. Free for 2,000 words a week.