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Voice typing in Windows Terminal

Windows Terminal hosts PowerShell, WSL and CMD, all of which execute what they receive. With Typally you hold a hotkey, speak, and the text lands in Windows Terminal exactly where your cursor was.

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

  • Windows Terminal's own dictation: None. Windows' own Win + H dictation types into it, which is a hazard rather than a feature at a prompt.
  • What Typally does instead: behaves like a keyboard, so it reaches parts of Windows Terminal a built-in feature would not.
  • Best used for: commit messages in your git editor

Does Windows Terminal have built-in dictation?

None. Windows' own Win + H dictation types into it, which is a hazard rather than a feature at a prompt.

Why dictate in Windows Terminal at all?

Admins and developers on Windows write scripts, change notes and commit messages here, mixed in with commands that run instantly. The prose and the danger occupy the same window.

In practice people use it for: Commit messages in your git editor, here-strings, notes in a terminal editor, and script comments.

How to dictate in Windows Terminal

Because Typally types at the system level rather than plugging into Windows Terminal, setup is the same everywhere:

1

Download and sign in

Grab the build for your platform and create an account.

2

In Windows Terminal, click the field before you speak

Put the cursor in the field you are about to fill — Windows Terminal decides where the text lands, not Typally.

3

Press and speak

Hold, talk, release. Long passages are fine.

4

Read it before you move on

PowerShell executes on Enter. Win + H will happily dictate into a live prompt, which is exactly the situation to avoid.

What Typally adds in Windows Terminal

Typally types into whichever window has focus, so the discipline is the same as with any terminal: use it in your editor, not at the prompt. Where it earns its place on Windows is everything around the terminal — the change note, the commit message, the ticket explaining what you did.

What this looks like in practice

A Windows admin writes deployment scripts by dictating the comments and logic description into VS Code, then running them from the terminal. Nothing gets executed by accident, and the scripts are documented for once.

One habit that makes it work better

Dictate in your editor and paste into the terminal rather than speaking at the prompt. The extra step is what keeps a misheard word from becoming an executed command.

What to watch out for in Windows Terminal

PowerShell executes on Enter. Win + H will happily dictate into a live prompt, which is exactly the situation to avoid.

Frequently asked questions

Can I dictate PowerShell commands?

You can, and it is risky — a return executes. Compose in an editor and paste.

Does Windows dictation work here?

Win + H types into the focused window, terminal included. That is the problem, not the feature.

What is safe?

Anything inside an editor the terminal opened, and script files edited elsewhere.

Try it in Windows Terminal

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Also dictate in: Terminal · VS Code · Visual Studio · see all apps