Settings explained

Dictation settings

Choose a microphone, text format and recovery option before speaking.

In the app: Dictate text

Set up a short dictation

Microphone: System default uses your device’s current input. Choose a named microphone if you use a headset or external mic. Test microphone shows whether sound is reaching the app.
Format: Unedited transcript gives you the quickest result without an AI writing pass; saved spelling rules can still correct recognised words. Light cleanup tidies punctuation and wording. Other formats reshape the result.
Recording: Toggle: Press once to start and again to finish.
Recording: Hold: Keep the button or shortcut held while you speak; release it to finish.
Recovery history: Off: Audio and text stay in memory only while the panel is open. Closing or reloading loses recovery. Choosing Off also clears this account’s retained browser dictations.
Recovery history: Seven days in this browser: Keeps up to eight recordings with audio and text for up to seven days on this browser. The app does not encrypt this browser history. Use Off on a shared device.

Speak, review, then choose what happens next

Test your microphone, select a format, then start speaking.
Finish the dictation and review the text. Check names and numbers.
Copy the text, discard it, or use Save as a note. Saving a note is a separate choice; dictation alone creates no tasks or cloud audio file.

Good to know

Web dictation stops at two minutes. Ctrl + Alt + D starts or finishes dictation outside text fields; Hold follows the held shortcut. Escape cancels. Only one recorder can use the microphone at a time.