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Voice typing in YouTube

YouTube auto-captions your videos but gives you nothing for descriptions and comments. With Typally you hold a hotkey, speak, and the text lands in YouTube exactly where your cursor was.

Disclosure: Typally is our product. We have tried to describe what YouTube already does without talking you out of using it.
Dictate into YouTube Free — 100 minutes of dictation every month. No card, no trial countdown.
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In short

  • YouTube's own dictation: Automatic captions on uploaded video, which transcribe the video's audio.
  • What Typally does instead: covers YouTube and every other program on the machine with one hotkey.
  • Best used for: video descriptions

Does YouTube have built-in dictation?

Automatic captions on uploaded video, which transcribe the video's audio. Nothing writes into the description box, the comment field or Community posts.

Why dictate in YouTube at all?

Descriptions are search surface and creators know it, yet most are two lines and a link because writing them properly is a chore after editing a video for six hours.

In practice people use it for: Video descriptions, pinned comments, replies to viewers, Community posts, and chapter summaries.

How to dictate in YouTube

Nothing changes inside YouTube 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

In YouTube, click the field before you speak

Click first. Typally types into YouTube wherever the caret already is, with no idea what that field is for.

3

Hold the hotkey and talk

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

4

Read it before you move on

YouTube's description box strips some formatting and treats certain characters as timestamps. Dictate prose, add timestamps by hand.

What Typally adds in YouTube

Typally types into the description box, comment replies and Community posts — none of which YouTube's auto-captions touch, since those transcribe the video's own audio. Recording the description straight after the edit, while you still remember what is in the video, takes about ninety seconds.

What this looks like in practice

A creator finishes an edit at midnight and would normally paste a two-line description. Talking instead, she describes what the video covers, who it is for and what is at each stage — ninety seconds of speech that gives the video something to be found by.

One habit that makes it work better

Record the description immediately after finishing the edit, while you still remember what is in the video. It takes ninety seconds and it is the last moment you will care enough to do it well.

What to watch out for in YouTube

YouTube's description box strips some formatting and treats certain characters as timestamps. Dictate prose, add timestamps by hand.

Frequently asked questions

Do YouTube auto-captions help me write descriptions?

Not directly — they caption the video's audio. The description box is separate and has no speech input.

Can I dictate replies to YouTube comments?

Yes. The reply box is an ordinary text field.

Does dictation work for YouTube Community posts?

Yes — same as any other text box on the page.

Try it in YouTube

Free plan: 100 minutes of dictation a month, no card. Pro is $7.99/month if you want more.

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