Dictate in any app · Docs

Voice typing in Dropbox Paper

Paper is built for collaborative documents, where the comments matter as much as the text. Typally works at the keyboard level, so anywhere Dropbox Paper accepts typing, it accepts your voice instead.

Written by the team behind Typally. Dropbox Paper's own features are described as accurately as we can — check them yourself before switching anything.
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In short

  • Dropbox Paper's own dictation: None. The document and comment fields are typed.
  • What Typally does instead: puts text wherever the cursor is, in Dropbox Paper or in anything else you have open.
  • Best used for: meeting notes

Does Dropbox Paper have built-in dictation?

None. The document and comment fields are typed.

Why dictate in Dropbox Paper at all?

Collaborative docs generate two streams of writing: the document itself and the discussion in the margins. The margin discussion is where decisions actually get made, and it is written in a hurry.

In practice people use it for: Meeting notes, project docs, inline comments, task lists with context, and the summary at the top nobody writes.

How to dictate in Dropbox Paper

Because Typally types at the system level rather than plugging into Dropbox Paper, setup is the same everywhere:

1

Download and sign in

Grab the build for your platform and create an account.

2

Focus the Dropbox Paper field you want the words in

Make sure Dropbox Paper has the cursor in the intended field; that is the only thing that decides where words appear.

3

Talk while holding the key

The recording lasts exactly as long as you do.

4

Read it before you move on

Paper converts typed characters into formatting aggressively — dashes into bullets, numbers into lists — so dictated text can restructure itself.

What Typally adds in Dropbox Paper

Typally types into the Paper document and its comment boxes, so the two-line summary at the top — the part collaborators actually read — takes seconds. Dictate into a plain paragraph and let Paper's formatting come afterwards, since its aggressive character conversions will otherwise restructure what you said.

What this looks like in practice

A doc that had been circulating for a week with no decision gets a spoken two-line summary at the top saying what is actually being asked and by when. Three people respond the same afternoon.

One habit that makes it work better

Dictate a two-line summary at the top of every doc. Collaborators read the first paragraph and skim the rest, so that paragraph does most of the work.

What to watch out for in Dropbox Paper

Paper converts typed characters into formatting aggressively — dashes into bullets, numbers into lists — so dictated text can restructure itself.

Frequently asked questions

Does Dropbox Paper have dictation?

No. All text entry is typed.

Can I dictate Paper comments?

Yes. Select the text and click into the comment box first.

Does dictation work in Paper's task lists?

Yes, though each task is its own line — add the structure by hand.

Try it in Dropbox Paper

Start on the free plan (100 minutes a month, no card). Pro lifts the cap and adds meeting notes for $7.99/month.

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Also dictate in: Google Docs · Notion · Confluence · see all apps