Frequently asked questions

Download Talkativ, install it and sign in. A short practice dictation shows you how it works. On a Mac, you also drag Talkativ into Applications and allow Microphone and Accessibility when asked. After that, Talkativ is ready whenever you press the shortcut.

Click in any text box, such as an email, a document or a chat. Press Option+Space (Mac) or Ctrl+Space (Windows), or click the mic dot, and speak naturally. Press again, or click the dot again, to stop. Your words appear a moment later. Press once and press again – do not hold the keys down.

Windows has its own voice typing: press Win+H. Talkativ is a separate app for Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit) that works in any app. Install it, click in a text box, press Ctrl+Space (Option+Space on a Mac) and speak. Punctuation and capital letters come by default, so you do not need to say 'comma' or 'full stop'.

Click in your document, press Option+Space (Mac) or Ctrl+Space (Windows) and speak. Press the same keys again to stop. Talkativ types where your cursor is, so it works the same way in the desktop and web versions of Word. The shortcut cannot be changed, so if it clashes with another program, click the mic dot instead.

Yes. Click in the email body, press Option+Space (Mac) or Ctrl+Space (Windows) and speak. It works the same way in Gmail in your browser and in Outlook. On the Max plan you can then highlight the text and use Genius Mode to change the tone, for example 'make this more professional'.

Yes. Click in your document, press Option+Space (Mac) or Ctrl+Space (Windows) and speak. Because Talkativ types into whichever app you are in, you use the same shortcut in Google Docs, Gmail, Word and Slack.

Anywhere you can type: email, chat, documents, project tools, AI assistants, code editors and web browsers. There are no plug-ins and nothing to set up for each app. A few places, such as Windows apps running as administrator, can block it. See the troubleshooting questions below.

Yes. You do not need to say 'comma' or 'full stop'. Talkativ adds punctuation and capital letters by default. Advanced formatting, which is off until you switch it on in Settings, goes further: lists from 'firstly, secondly', money amounts, email addresses, links, times and percentages, and a fuller clean-up of filler words.

Genius Mode is part of the Max plan. Highlight text in any app, press Option+D (Mac) or Ctrl+D (Windows), and say what you want, such as 'make this more professional' or 'turn this into a bullet list'. Press the same keys again to finish, and the highlighted text is replaced with the result. Always highlight the text first.

Smart Edits are part of the Max plan. Paste or dictate your text, pick one of 31 writing styles, such as an email, a LinkedIn post, meeting notes or a to-do list, and choose the tone, the length and how heavy the edit should be. Your original sits on the left and the rewrite on the right, and your Smart Edits are saved in the app.

Yes. Add names, company words and jargon to Vocabulary, and Talkativ listens out for them. Every plan has it. With Advanced formatting switched on, Talkativ also uses your list to correct near-misses in the finished text.

Talkativ works in 100 languages, and in our own testing it is highly accurate in 56 of them. Pick your language in Settings, or leave Auto-detect on so Talkativ works out which language you are speaking. The full list is on our languages page.

Yes. Hindi is one of the 56 languages where Talkativ is highly accurate in our testing. Choose Hindi in Settings, or use Auto-detect, then dictate as normal.

Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Urdu and Hindi are among the 56 languages where Talkativ is highly accurate in our testing. Punjabi, Nepali and Assamese work well but less reliably. Sinhala is experimental, so treat it as a trial. With Auto-detect on, each dictation can be in a different language, so you can move between your language and English.

We test rather than promise a percentage. Talkativ is highly accurate in 56 of its 100 languages in our own testing. Names and technical terms come out better once you add them to Vocabulary. Results also depend on your microphone, background noise and how clearly you speak.

We have not tested accents on their own, so the honest answer is: try it free on your own voice. Speak at a normal pace in a quiet room, and if a name or word keeps coming out wrong, add it to Vocabulary.

Many people find speaking quicker than typing, especially for longer emails and documents. Your words usually appear a second or two after you stop speaking. Advanced formatting, if you switch it on, adds about a second or two more in our tests.

Yes. The Free plan gives you 2,200 words a week, reset every 7 days, with no card needed. It includes Vocabulary, Advanced formatting and 100 languages, in any app.

Pro removes the weekly word limit: unlimited words for $7 a month or $56 a year. Max is $11 a month or $88 a year and adds Genius Mode and Smart Edits (31 writing styles). Paying yearly gives you 4 months free. Pro works out at less than $5 a month on the yearly plan.

Yes. You can try Max free for 7 days, with no card needed. You start it from the Home screen in the app, and when it ends you drop back to Free with nothing to cancel. It is one trial per person.

Yes. You upgrade, manage billing and cancel inside the app, in Settings, then Subscription. After you cancel, you keep your paid features until the end of the period you have paid for.

Our privacy policy says your voice recordings are processed to turn speech into text and are not permanently stored by default. Your dictated text is saved to your account history so you can find it again, and you can delete it any time in Settings, under Privacy and data.

Our privacy policy says no: your voice recordings and text are not used to train AI models. You can read the full policy on our privacy page.

Yes. You can delete single dictations from your history, delete all your dictations at once, or delete your whole account, in Settings, under Privacy and data. Our privacy policy has the details, including the one thing we keep: the email address used for a free trial.

Our privacy policy has a section on your rights under GDPR, such as access, correction and deletion, and how to use them. It also has a section for California residents. Read it on the privacy page, or email [email protected].

Some people find speaking easier than typing, and Talkativ lets you write by talking instead. It is not a medical product, it does not treat any condition, and this is not medical advice.

Talkativ was built for the founder's mum after her stroke, and she uses it every day. Some people find speaking easier than typing one letter at a time. It is not a medical product and does not treat any condition. Read the founder's story on the About page.

Some people with dyslexia find speaking more natural than typing. Talkativ adds punctuation and capital letters for you, and Vocabulary helps with names and tricky words, so you can focus on what you want to say. It is not a medical product.

You can start and stop Talkativ with a shortcut or with a click on the mic dot, whichever is easier for you, and it types what you say. Some people who find the keyboard hard to use find this an easier way to write.

Windows: Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit), with 4GB of memory or more. Mac: a Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or newer); Intel Macs are not supported. Both need an internet connection and any microphone, built in or plugged in. Talkativ is a desktop app: there is no phone app.

No. Talkativ needs an internet connection, because your speech is turned into text online. This is the same on Mac and Windows.

Yes. Talkativ is made for Mac as well as Windows. On a Mac it needs Apple silicon (M1 or newer) and uses Option+Space to dictate; Intel Macs are not supported. Download it from the download page.

Talkativ waits in the system tray on Windows, or the menu bar on a Mac, and only listens after you press the shortcut or click the mic dot. On Windows it needs 4GB of memory or more.

Yes. The mic dot sits at the bottom of your main screen, and dictation works in any app on any monitor.

Usually the cursor was not in a text box, or it moved while you were dictating. On Windows, apps running as administrator can block Talkativ, so try running Talkativ as administrator too. On a Mac, check that Talkativ is allowed Microphone and Accessibility in your privacy settings. Your words are still on your clipboard, so click where you want them and paste with Ctrl+V on Windows or Cmd+V on a Mac. Every dictation is also saved in your history in the app.

Restart Talkativ. On Windows, right-click the Talkativ icon in the system tray, choose Quit, then reopen it from the Start menu. On a Mac, click the Talkativ icon in the menu bar, choose Quit, then reopen it from Applications. The dot should then appear at the bottom of your main screen.

AI speech to text turns your spoken words into written text using artificial intelligence. Older tools often needed you to train them to your voice and to say punctuation out loud. Talkativ needs no voice training and adds punctuation and capital letters for you.

Windows voice typing (Win+H) is built into Windows and types into the text box you are in. Talkativ is a separate app with the same shortcut in every app on Mac and Windows, a clickable mic dot, Vocabulary for your own words, a searchable history, and Genius Mode and Smart Edits on the Max plan. Try both on your own voice; our comparison page has the details.

It can be, if you want a dictation app with a free plan that works in any app on Mac and Windows and has no voice-training step. For a closer look at the options, read our Dragon alternatives page.

Talkativ is one: a dictation app for Mac and Windows with a free plan. Our Wispr Flow alternatives page compares the options, with dates on every price we quote.

Google Docs has its own voice typing, inside Google Docs. Talkativ works in any app, including Google Docs, using the same shortcut everywhere. Our comparison page has the details.