Dictate in any app · Code

Voice typing in PyCharm

Python's docstring culture means a lot of prose, and prose is slow to type. Typally works at the keyboard level, so anywhere PyCharm accepts typing, it accepts your voice instead.

Disclosure: Typally is our product. We have tried to describe what PyCharm already does without talking you out of using it.
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In short

  • PyCharm's own dictation: None. Voice plugins target navigation rather than writing.
  • What Typally does instead: behaves like a keyboard, so it reaches parts of PyCharm a built-in feature would not.
  • Best used for: docstrings

Does PyCharm have built-in dictation?

None. Voice plugins target navigation rather than writing.

Why dictate in PyCharm at all?

Python projects lean on docstrings as the primary documentation, and data work especially needs explanation — why this cleaning step, why this threshold. That reasoning lives in comments or it is lost.

In practice people use it for: Docstrings, notebook markdown cells, commit messages, analysis notes, and AI assistant prompts.

How to dictate in PyCharm

You do not configure anything in PyCharm. The hotkey works wherever your cursor happens to be:

1

Set Typally up once

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

2

Focus the PyCharm field you want the words in

Text goes wherever PyCharm has focus. One click first saves undoing a paragraph in the wrong box.

3

Press and speak

Hold, talk, release. Long passages are fine.

4

Read it before you move on

PyCharm auto-inserts closing quotes and brackets, so dictating into an open docstring can produce mismatched quote marks.

What Typally adds in PyCharm

Typally types into docstrings, notebook markdown cells and the commit dialog, with custom vocabulary keeping library and function names intact. Dictate the summary and reasoning inside a docstring and type the parameter tags — PyCharm auto-inserts closing quotes, so mind the mismatched quote marks.

What this looks like in practice

A data scientist writing a cleaning pipeline dictates why each filter exists — which rows it drops, what real-world thing caused them, what would break if it were removed. Six months later a colleague changes one threshold safely instead of guessing.

One habit that makes it work better

Dictate the docstring's summary and the reasoning, then type the parameter and return sections. Structured tags are faster typed; explanation is faster spoken.

What to watch out for in PyCharm

PyCharm auto-inserts closing quotes and brackets, so dictating into an open docstring can produce mismatched quote marks.

Frequently asked questions

Is dictation useful for Python code?

For docstrings, comments and commit messages, yes. For the code itself, typing is faster.

Can I dictate into Jupyter notebooks inside PyCharm?

Yes — markdown cells are ordinary text areas.

Does it work with PyCharm's AI assistant?

Yes. Its prompt box is a text field like any other.

Try it in PyCharm

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Also dictate in: IntelliJ IDEA · Jupyter Notebook · VS Code · see all apps