Dictation software for hand pain
If typing hurts, the fix is doing less of it.
- One key, either hand
- Nothing to fix after
- Works offline
In short
- Whatever is causing it, the change that helps is the same: type less.
- At a desk job you cannot type less without a way to still get the writing out.
- Hold one key, talk, and finished text lands where you were about to type.
- Punctuation, capitals and names arrive right, so there is no cleanup after.
There are a lot of reasons hands hurt at a keyboard, and the advice that comes with all of them starts in the same place. Do less of it. Rest it. Give it a break.
Which is fine advice for a hobby and useless for a job. If writing is how you earn, typing less means doing less, and that bill lands somewhere — a shorter reply, a call you did not make, a note you will write up tomorrow and then not.
Dictation is the only change that splits those two apart. You get the drop in typing without the drop in work.
Step one
Hold one key
One key, not a shortcut. No reach, no stretch, and either hand — put it on the side that hurts less.
Step two
Talk normally
No punctuation out loud. No pausing between sentences. No waiting for it to catch up.
Step three
Let go
Finished text lands where your cursor was. Nothing to copy, paste or tidy up.
The cleanup is the bit that decides it
Most dictation gives you a wall of words with no punctuation, a name spelled wrong and an um in the middle. Fixing that is worse for sore hands than typing was — arrow keys, selecting, small precise movements, right at the end when you have had enough.
So the question is not whether software can turn talking into text. Everything does that now. It is how many key presses are left when it has finished. Here the answer is none.
Punctuation included
Worked out from how you talk. You never say “comma” and never add one.
Your words kept
Ums and false starts out. Everything else exactly as you said it.
Names right
Teach it the ones you use once, and stop correcting them.
It types where your cursor is
No window to open, nothing to copy afterwards. Click where the words go, hold the key, talk.
To jo@fieldhouse.org
Subject Next week
Morning Jo. Tuesday works for me, any time after ten. Shall I book a room?
Just leaving now. Do you need anything from the shop?
Numbers are up on last month, mostly from repeat orders. The new supplier starts in March.
Whatever it turns out to be
These go into more detail, and each one is written for a different cause. The software is the same in all of them.
Hand arthritis
Joints, and the punctuation keys that make the worst reaches.
Carpal tunnel
Numbness and pins and needles, and why they make you type more.
RSI
Years of small movements, and why rest keeps not sticking.
Wrist pain
What to do before you have a name for it.
After hand surgery
One-handed weeks, and getting back to work without rushing it.
Typing with arthritis
The settings and habits that help, ranked by how much they actually remove.
60 minutes free, no card. Enough for a real week of email, which is the only honest test.
60 minutes free · no card
Everywhere you already write
JotMic types at your cursor, the same as a keyboard does. Nothing to integrate, no plugin to install. If there is a text box, it works.
Plus Outlook, Word, Teams and every other app on your Mac or PC.
Work that cannot leave your machine
There are two engines and you pick which one runs. The offline one stays on your computer: nothing is uploaded, nothing is queued to be uploaded, and it works with the wifi off. Offline dictation has the full comparison.
Setup takes about two minutes
Download it, allow the microphone, pick your key. No voice training and nothing to read aloud first. The free 60 minutes covers both engines and every feature, with no card.
Questions
Does dictation help if typing hurts my hands?
It takes the typing out of the writing, which is the part that loads your hands. If most of your day is email, notes and messages, that is thousands of key presses that stop happening. It is not a treatment for whatever is causing the pain, and it does not need to be to make a difference to your day.
I do not know what is causing it. Does that matter?
Not for this. Arthritis, carpal tunnel, RSI, a healing injury — the useful change is the same in all of them, which is doing less typing on the same amount of work. Getting it looked at still matters, and this does not replace that.
Which hand do I use?
Either. You hold one key while you talk, so you can put it on whichever side is doing better and move it when that changes. One hand is all it ever needs.
Do I have to say the punctuation?
No. Full stops, commas, question marks and capitals come from the way you talk. You never say "comma", and you never go back for the symbol keys afterwards.
Will it change my words?
It cleans up, it does not rewrite. The ums and false starts come out, punctuation and capitals go in, everything else stays as you said it. You can turn the cleanup off and take the raw transcript instead.
Will it spell names right?
Add them to your vocabulary once and they come out right from then on. Every word it gets wrong is a correction, and corrections are the fiddliest typing there is.
Does it work in the apps I use?
It types where your cursor is, so anything with a text box works. Outlook, Word, Gmail, Teams, Slack, your browser, whatever internal system you live in. Nothing to set up per app.
Is it better than the dictation already on my computer?
Windows and macOS dictation stop after a pause, leave the punctuation to you, and never learn your words. You fix all of that at the keyboard, which is the part you are trying to avoid. For the odd sentence they are fine and they are free.
Can I dictate things that have to stay private?
Yes. Switch to the offline engine and nothing is uploaded. It runs on your own machine and keeps working with the wifi off.
Do I have to train it on my voice?
No. No setup, nothing to read aloud first. Install it, pick your key, and talk.
Is this a treatment?
No. It is a way to write with your voice instead of your hands. It does not diagnose or treat anything and it does not replace a doctor or a hand therapist.
What does it cost to try?
60 minutes of dictation, free, no card. Enough for a real week of email rather than a test sentence.
60 minutes free on both engines, no card. Long enough to find out how your hands feel by Friday.
60 minutes free · no card