Dictate in any app · Education

Voice typing in GoodNotes

Handwritten notes are slow, which is partly the point and mostly a problem. Typally types what you say straight into GoodNotes — hold a key, talk, let go — so you can dictate anywhere GoodNotes lets you type.

Yes, we build Typally. That is also why the section on GoodNotes's built-in option is honest: people who switch after trying both are the ones who stay.
Dictate into GoodNotes Free — 100 minutes of dictation every month. No card, no trial countdown.
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In short

  • GoodNotes's own dictation: Handwriting recognition that converts your writing to text, and search across handwritten notes.
  • What Typally does instead: sends keystrokes to whichever window is in front, so GoodNotes needs no plugin or setup.
  • Best used for: typed text boxes alongside handwriting

Does GoodNotes have built-in dictation?

Handwriting recognition that converts your writing to text, and search across handwritten notes.

Why dictate in GoodNotes at all?

Handwriting aids memory and cannot keep up with a lecturer. The usual compromise is fragmentary notes that made sense during the lecture and are useless a week later.

In practice people use it for: Typed text boxes alongside handwriting, lecture summaries written straight after, and the explanation of a diagram.

How to dictate in GoodNotes

There is no GoodNotes extension or add-in involved — Typally behaves like a very fast keyboard:

1

Get Typally running

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

2

Open GoodNotes and click where you want the text

Click first. Typally types into GoodNotes wherever the caret already is, with no idea what that field is for.

3

Hold, say it, release

Nothing truncates part-way through.

4

Read it before you move on

GoodNotes is primarily an iPad app. On desktop your options differ, and Typally ships for Windows and macOS rather than iPadOS.

What Typally adds in GoodNotes

Typally covers the desktop half of a handwriting workflow: handwrite during the lecture, then speak the summary immediately afterwards into whatever you revise from. The handwriting does the encoding, the spoken summary catches what your hand could not keep up with. Note that Typally ships for Windows and macOS, not iPadOS.

What this looks like in practice

A student handwrites during a two-hour seminar and then, walking to the next building, dictates four hundred words of what it was actually about. That summary, not the handwriting, is what she revises from.

One habit that makes it work better

Handwrite during the lecture and dictate the summary immediately after. The handwriting does the encoding, the spoken summary catches what the handwriting missed.

What to watch out for in GoodNotes

GoodNotes is primarily an iPad app. On desktop your options differ, and Typally ships for Windows and macOS rather than iPadOS.

Frequently asked questions

Does GoodNotes convert handwriting to text?

Yes, it has handwriting recognition and search. That is different from dictation, which captures speech.

Can I dictate into GoodNotes on iPad?

Through the on-screen keyboard's microphone, into a text box. Typally itself is a Windows and macOS app.

What is the best way to combine both?

Handwrite live, then speak a summary afterwards while the lecture is fresh.

Try it in GoodNotes

Free plan: 100 minutes of dictation a month, no card. Pro is $7.99/month if you want more.

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Also dictate in: Notability · Anki · Obsidian · ClassDojo · see all apps