Dictate in any app · Education

Voice typing in Notability

Notability records the lecture and syncs it to your notes, which is genuinely clever. Typally puts your words into Notability the moment you release the key, in whichever field you left the cursor.

Yes, we build Typally. That is also why the section on Notability's built-in option is honest: people who switch after trying both are the ones who stay.
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In short

  • Notability's own dictation: Audio recording synchronised to handwriting, so tapping a note jumps to what was being said.
  • What Typally does instead: behaves like a keyboard, so it reaches parts of Notability a built-in feature would not.
  • Best used for: typed notes alongside handwriting

Does Notability have built-in dictation?

Audio recording synchronised to handwriting, so tapping a note jumps to what was being said. Some versions offer transcription of recordings.

Why dictate in Notability at all?

The recording solves capture and creates a new problem: two hours of audio you have to listen to again. Nobody relistens to a whole lecture, so the recording quietly becomes an archive nobody opens.

In practice people use it for: Typed notes alongside handwriting, post-lecture summaries, and the written version of what the recording contains.

How to dictate in Notability

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

1

Set Typally up once

One install, one sign-in. Nothing else to configure.

2

In Notability, click the field before you speak

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

3

Press and speak

Hold, talk, release. Long passages are fine.

4

Read it before you move on

Notability is mainly an iPad and Mac app. Typally covers macOS and Windows, so the iPad workflow relies on Apple's own dictation.

What Typally adds in Notability

Typally covers the written summary that a recording cannot replace. Notability syncs audio to your handwriting beautifully, and almost nobody relistens to two hours of lecture — a two-minute spoken summary the same day is what revision actually uses. Typally is a Windows and macOS app, so this is the desktop half of the workflow.

What this looks like in practice

A student stops relying on the recording and starts speaking a two-minute summary at the end of each lecture. The recordings remain unplayed, which is fine, because the summaries are what revision actually uses.

One habit that makes it work better

Use the recording as a safety net, not a substitute. A spoken summary written the same day is what you will actually revise from.

What to watch out for in Notability

Notability is mainly an iPad and Mac app. Typally covers macOS and Windows, so the iPad workflow relies on Apple's own dictation.

Frequently asked questions

Does Notability transcribe lectures?

Some versions offer transcription of recordings. That is transcribing the lecturer, not you composing notes.

Is recording a lecture enough?

Rarely. Recordings are seldom relistened to. A short written summary is what survives.

Can I dictate into Notability on Mac?

Yes — its text fields accept input from a system-level tool.

Try it in Notability

The free plan gives you 100 minutes a month without a card — enough to find out whether talking beats typing for you.

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Also dictate in: GoodNotes · Anki · Obsidian · see all apps