Dictate in any app · Writing

Voice typing in Scrivener

Scrivener is built for book-length projects, where daily word count is the only thing that matters. Typally puts your words into Scrivener the moment you release the key, in whichever field you left the cursor.

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

  • Scrivener's own dictation: None specific. macOS and Windows system dictation reach its editor.
  • What Typally does instead: types into the focused window, so it works in Scrivener and everywhere else you write.
  • Best used for: draft chapters

Does Scrivener have built-in dictation?

None specific. macOS and Windows system dictation reach its editor.

Why dictate in Scrivener at all?

A novel is eighty thousand words. At typing speed that is months of sessions, and the sessions that get skipped are the ones where the writer is tired but could still talk.

In practice people use it for: Draft chapters, character and setting notes in the binder, synopsis cards, and research annotations.

How to dictate in Scrivener

There is no Scrivener 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

Put the cursor in the Scrivener field you are filling

Make sure Scrivener has the cursor in the intended field; that is the only thing that decides where words appear.

3

Hold the hotkey and talk

Say the whole thought, then let go. No time limit.

4

Read it before you move on

Scrivener's binder means the text goes into whichever document is open in the editor. Confirm the right card is selected before speaking.

What Typally adds in Scrivener

Typally types into whichever document is open in the editor, which suits a binder-based workflow once you have selected the right card. Dialogue is where it earns most: spoken dialogue sounds like people talking, which is the hardest thing to achieve by typing it out line by line.

What this looks like in practice

A novelist who manages six hundred typed words on a good evening starts dictating the dialogue-heavy scenes. Those chapters come in at two thousand words a session and need less rewriting, because the characters finally sound like they are speaking.

One habit that makes it work better

Dictate dialogue especially. Spoken dialogue sounds like people talking, which is the hardest thing to achieve by typing it.

What to watch out for in Scrivener

Scrivener's binder means the text goes into whichever document is open in the editor. Confirm the right card is selected before speaking.

Frequently asked questions

Does Scrivener have dictation built in?

No, but it works with system dictation and with any tool that types into the focused window.

Is dictation good for fiction?

For dialogue and first drafts, unusually so. Spoken dialogue is more natural than typed dialogue.

Can I dictate into Scrivener's synopsis cards?

Yes — each card's synopsis field is an ordinary text box.

Try it in Scrivener

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

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Also dictate in: Ulysses · Bear · Microsoft Word · see all apps