The best dictation setup isn't tied to one app — it works everywhere you already type. If you have to copy-paste out of a separate "dictation app," you've lost the speed you gained. Here's how system-wide dictation works and where it earns its keep.
How system-wide dictation works
A menu-bar dictation tool listens when you trigger it, transcribes, and pastes the result at your cursor in whatever app is focused. No integrations, no plugins — if you can type there, you can dictate there.
Duo Voice does exactly this: press Fn twice anywhere, speak, press Fn once, and clean text lands where you're typing.
Where it helps most
- Slack & chat — fire off updates and replies in your natural tone; the "um"s get stripped automatically.
- Notion & docs — draft meeting notes, briefs, and proposals at speaking speed.
- Gmail & Mail — dictate replies in an email-ready format (see our email guide).
- Cursor, VS Code & AI chats — describe logic and prompts out loud instead of typing them.
- Messages, Linear, Figma — quick comments and notes without touching the keyboard.
The one habit that makes it click
Trust the tool with the clean-up. The instinct is to speak in careful, punctuated sentences — don't. Talk like you're explaining to a colleague, and let the AI shape it into clean text. Once that clicks, dictation stops being a novelty and becomes how you write.
Duo Voice works in every Mac app, no setup. Try it free.