Dictate in any app · Notes

Voice typing in Evernote

Evernote has no desktop dictation, which matters because it is built for capture. With Typally you hold a hotkey, speak, and the text lands in Evernote exactly where your cursor was.

From the people who build Typally. If Evernote's own option covers your use, use it — this page will tell you when it does.
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In short

  • Evernote's own dictation: Nothing on desktop. Evernote's mobile apps use the phone keyboard's microphone, and audio notes record a clip rather than transcribing it into the note.
  • What Typally does instead: sends keystrokes to whichever window is in front, so Evernote needs no plugin or setup.
  • Best used for: web clippings with your own commentary

Does Evernote have built-in dictation?

Nothing on desktop. Evernote's mobile apps use the phone keyboard's microphone, and audio notes record a clip rather than transcribing it into the note.

Why dictate in Evernote at all?

Evernote's whole promise is capturing things before they are lost. Typing is the slowest capture method available, which is why so many Evernote accounts are full of half-finished notes.

In practice people use it for: Web clippings with your own commentary, meeting notes, receipts and travel details, and the running note for a project.

How to dictate in Evernote

Setup happens once, outside Evernote, and then applies to every program on the machine:

1

Get Typally running

Install, sign in, and it waits in the tray.

2

Click into the right box in Evernote first

Whatever has the cursor receives the text, so click the right place in Evernote before starting.

3

Hold, say it, release

Nothing truncates part-way through.

4

Read it before you move on

Evernote's editor sometimes lags on very long notes, and text can arrive out of order if you dictate faster than it renders. Split long notes.

What Typally adds in Evernote

Typally types into the Evernote editor, so the line of context under a clipped article — why you saved it, what it supports — actually gets written. That single sentence is the difference between a clip you can find in a year and one that is lost in a notebook of hundreds.

What this looks like in practice

Someone clips a long research article and, instead of leaving it to rot in a notebook, dictates two lines underneath: what argument it supports and which project it belongs to. Six months later those two lines are the reason the clip is findable at all.

One habit that makes it work better

Dictate a sentence of context under anything you clip. A clipped article with one spoken line about why you saved it is far more useful in a year than the article alone.

What to watch out for in Evernote

Evernote's editor sometimes lags on very long notes, and text can arrive out of order if you dictate faster than it renders. Split long notes.

Frequently asked questions

Does Evernote transcribe audio notes?

Audio notes are recordings attached to a note. A dictation tool instead types text into the note body.

Can I dictate into Evernote's web clipper?

Yes — the annotation and comment fields are ordinary text inputs.

Does dictation work in Evernote's free plan?

A system-level tool is independent of your Evernote plan; it just types.

Try it in Evernote

You can try this on the free plan — 100 minutes a month, no card, no trial countdown.

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Also dictate in: OneNote · Obsidian · Google Keep · Standard Notes · Tana · see all apps