Speaky Box for
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Microsoft Word
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Hold a key, say the paragraph the way you'd explain it to a colleague, let go. Speaky Box types it into Word on your Mac with the punctuation in, the ums and false starts out, and your client and product names spelt right.
Most people who talk into Word aren't writing a novel. They're getting a first draft out of their head: the summary at the top of a report, a letter to a client, minutes while the meeting is still fresh, a comment explaining why a clause needs to change. Talking is about three times faster than typing, so the draft is down in minutes and your time goes on editing it.
so the main finding is that, um, churn went up in the second quarter, mostly on the monthly plan, no, mostly on the annual plan, and we think it’s the price change in april
That's what you say. This is what lands in Word:
The main finding is that churn went up in the second quarter, mostly on the annual plan, and we think it’s the price change in April.
The um is gone, the plan you corrected yourself on is the one that stays, and April has its capital. You read it once and move on.
| Speaky Box | Word's Dictate | Mac dictation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free for 2,000 words a week, then £8.99 a month | Needs a Microsoft 365 subscription | Free |
| Where it works | Any app on your Mac, wherever the cursor is | Word, Outlook and other Microsoft 365 apps | Any app on your Mac |
| Punctuation | Added for you | An Auto Punctuation setting, or say "comma" and "full stop" | Added for you on Apple silicon Macs; on Intel Macs you say it |
| Change your mind mid-sentence | Keeps the version you meant | Writes down what you said, so both versions land on the page | Writes down what you said, so both versions land on the page |
| Internet | Needed | Needed | Not needed on recent Macs for many languages |
Word's Dictate is good if you already pay for Microsoft 365 and only ever write in Word. Mac dictation is free and already on your Mac: if you dictate the odd sentence, use it and don't pay anyone. Speaky Box is for people who dictate whole paragraphs and don't want to tidy them up afterwards.
The full comparison with Mac dictation
Body text, a table cell, a comment, a footnote, the header. Speaky Box types at the cursor, the same as your keyboard does.
If Track Changes is on, what Speaky Box types is tracked like anything else you insert, so a reviewer sees exactly what you added.
Say "new paragraph" to start one. Headings, bullets and styles stay with Word's own tools: apply them before or after you talk.
Add client names, product names and the terms of your trade to the Words list once. Speaky Box spells them that way in Word and in every other app.