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Voice typing in Tumblr

Tumblr rewards long, discursive posts of the kind nobody wants to type. Hold a key and talk: Typally transcribes and types it into Tumblr without you touching the keyboard.

We make Typally, so treat this as a vendor's guide. Where Tumblr has a built-in option we say so, including when it is the better choice.
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In short

  • Tumblr's own dictation: None. The post editor is typed.
  • What Typally does instead: sends keystrokes to whichever window is in front, so Tumblr needs no plugin or setup.
  • Best used for: original text posts

Does Tumblr have built-in dictation?

None. The post editor is typed.

Why dictate in Tumblr at all?

Tumblr's culture is essays, tangents and long tags. That is a lot of writing for a platform people use casually, which is why so many posts are a reblog with no commentary.

In practice people use it for: Original text posts, commentary on a reblog, long tags, and ask replies.

How to dictate in Tumblr

Setup happens once, outside Tumblr, and then applies to every program on the machine:

1

Install Typally

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

2

Focus the Tumblr field you want the words in

Text goes wherever Tumblr 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

The editor converts markdown-ish characters in places, and tags are a separate field with their own behaviour.

What Typally adds in Tumblr

Typally types into the post editor, so a long discursive post costs about as long as saying it out loud. The register that suits Tumblr — conversational, digressive, unpolished — is exactly what speaking produces naturally.

What this looks like in practice

Someone who mostly reblogged silently starts speaking a paragraph of commentary each time. Their posts start circulating, because commentary is what gives a reblog somewhere to go.

One habit that makes it work better

Add real commentary when you reblog. A reblog with a paragraph is what actually circulates; a bare reblog adds nothing and is forgotten.

What to watch out for in Tumblr

The editor converts markdown-ish characters in places, and tags are a separate field with their own behaviour.

Frequently asked questions

Does Tumblr have dictation?

No. Its editor is typed.

Can I dictate tags?

You can, though tags are short and the field behaves differently from the post body.

Does dictation suit Tumblr's style?

Well — the platform's register is conversational, which is what spoken text naturally is.

Try it in Tumblr

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

Try Typally free

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