The messy version

Nobody talks in finished sentences, and nobody has to. The trick of dictating a draft is that the messy version is allowed: the false start, the sentence you restart halfway, the "no, actually" that changes your mind. The pipeline drops the false start, keeps the correction, puts the period where the sentence ended, and hands you a paragraph you can work with.

What you get is not the final text. It is the thing you would otherwise have stared at a blank page to produce: a first pass, in your own words, with the shape of the argument already in it.

Where it helps

  • Drafts. An essay, a chapter, a post. Say the whole thing badly, then rewrite it well. Rewriting is faster than writing, and it is what the keyboard is good at.
  • Notes. The idea you have while doing something else. Hold the key, say it into Notes, let go. It is punctuated when you come back to it.
  • Long replies. The email or the message that deserves four paragraphs and was going to get one because typing four paragraphs is work. Dictating email, app by app.
  • Newsletters. The weekly one, which reads better when it sounds like you talking, because it was.

Where it does not

Fine editing. Moving a clause, cutting a word, changing the rhythm of a sentence: that is keyboard work, and a dictation tool that pretends otherwise wastes your time. DeftNib inserts text; it does not edit what is already there.

Dialogue with several voices. The pipeline writes what you said as one speaker. It does not add quotation marks around a character's line or start a new paragraph when the speaker changes; you do that in the edit.

Hands-free mode for long stretches

Holding a key through a scene is tiring. Double tap it instead and the recording locks: the capsule shows the elapsed time, the cleanup runs while you talk, and a stretch of silence closes the session and inserts the text. Up to fifteen minutes in one go. How hands-free mode works.

Spanish and English in the same session

If you write in both, each dictation runs in the language you have selected, and switching is a click in the capsule. In Spanish, the opening ¿ and ¡ are placed and voseo is kept the way you say it. Spanish dictation, done right.

What you get for free

Every feature, 4,000 words a week, no account, no expiry. That is a couple of drafts a week before Pro makes sense, and Pro is one payment, not a subscription. Everything in the free download.

Mac with Apple Silicon and macOS 26 or later. Free up to 4,000 words a week, no account.

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Questions

Does it work in Google Docs?

Google Docs draws its own editor, so the app cannot always see the field. When that happens, DeftNib shows a card with the text and a single ⌘V pastes it. Same words, one extra keystroke, nothing leaves the Mac.

Does it work in Ulysses, Scrivener and Notes?

Yes. They are native text fields, and the key inserts where the cursor is with the full pipeline: punctuation, fillers out, spoken corrections applied.

Can I dictate a whole chapter in one go?

Hands-free mode locks the recording for up to fifteen minutes, and silence closes the session and inserts the text. Most people dictate a paragraph or a scene at a time and read it back before the next.