Dictate in any app · Finance

Voice typing in QuickBooks

Bookkeeping is mostly numbers, and the memo field is where the explanation should live. Hold a key and talk: Typally transcribes and types it into QuickBooks without you touching the keyboard.

This is a vendor guide from the makers of Typally. Anything we say about QuickBooks is worth verifying — third-party features change without notice.
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In short

  • QuickBooks's own dictation: None. Memo and description fields are typed.
  • What Typally does instead: works above the app rather than inside it — QuickBooks sees ordinary typed text.
  • Best used for: transaction memos

Does QuickBooks have built-in dictation?

None. Memo and description fields are typed.

Why dictate in QuickBooks at all?

Numbers go in fast. The memo explaining what an unusual transaction was for takes typing, so it stays blank — and reappears as a question from the accountant nine months later that nobody can answer.

In practice people use it for: Transaction memos, invoice descriptions, customer notes, and the explanation attached to an unusual expense.

How to dictate in QuickBooks

Nothing changes inside QuickBooks itself. Typally sits in the tray and types into the focused window:

1

Install Typally

Windows or macOS, then sign in. No card for the free tier.

2

Put the cursor in the QuickBooks field you are filling

The cursor position is the whole instruction — QuickBooks routes the keystrokes from there.

3

Press and speak

Hold, talk, release. Long passages are fine.

4

Read it before you move on

QuickBooks memo fields have length limits and forms submit on Enter in places. Check the text landed before moving on.

What Typally adds in QuickBooks

Typally types into memo and description fields, so anything you would have to explain to your accountant nine months later gets explained now, in about ten seconds. That memo is the difference between a year-end query list of forty items and one of six.

What this looks like in practice

A business owner spends ten minutes a week speaking memos onto the transactions that looked odd. At year end the accountant's list of queries drops from forty items to six, which is a real invoice difference.

One habit that makes it work better

Dictate a memo on anything you would have to explain later. Your future self and your accountant are the same person asking the same question.

What to watch out for in QuickBooks

QuickBooks memo fields have length limits and forms submit on Enter in places. Check the text landed before moving on.

Frequently asked questions

Does QuickBooks have dictation?

No. All fields are typed.

Which QuickBooks field benefits most from dictation?

The memo. It is the one that answers 'what was this?' at year end and the one most often left empty.

Does it work in QuickBooks Online?

Yes — it is a browser application, so a system-level tool types into its fields.

Try it in QuickBooks

There is a permanent free tier of 100 minutes a month. Pro costs $7.99/month and raises the limit.

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Also dictate in: Xero · FreshBooks · Expensify · see all apps