Dictation software for wrist pain
You don’t need a diagnosis to type less.
- Set up in two minutes
- Either hand, one key
- Works offline
In short
- Most people read this before they have a name for it. That is fine.
- The useful thing to do while you wait for an appointment is type less.
- Dictation is the only change that does that without doing less work.
- On a Mac you can drive menus by voice too, which cuts the mouse half.
Wrist pain usually starts as something you can work around. A bit sore by four o’clock. Fine in the morning. Then it is sore by two, and you notice you have started using the other hand for the mouse.
Whatever it turns out to be, the advice at that stage is the same from everybody: do less of the thing that hurts. At a desk job that means typing, and typing is how the work gets out of your head. So most people ignore the advice, because the alternative is not doing the job.
Dictation is the way out of that. You hold one key, say the sentence, and finished text appears where you were about to type it. The work still happens. Your wrists are just not how it happens.
Step one
Hold one key
One key, not a shortcut. Wrist flat, no reach. Put it on whichever side does not hurt.
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.
Two things load your wrist all day
The keyboard and the mouse. For most desk jobs the keyboard is the bigger share, simply because there is so much more of it — thousands of presses against a few hundred clicks.
Dictation takes out the keyboard half almost entirely. On a Mac it takes a bite out of the other half too: JotMic reads the menus of whatever app you are in, so you can say “new folder” or “export as PDF” instead of going and finding it. That is on voice commands if you want the detail.
Typing
The big half. Thousands of presses a day, and the one dictation removes outright.
Pointing
Smaller, but all in one hand. Menus by voice on a Mac take a chunk out of it.
Posture
Worth fixing, and it changes how you type rather than how much.
When to stop reading and go and see somebody
This is software, not a diagnosis, and some things are worth an appointment rather than a workaround. Pain that wakes you at night. Numbness or pins and needles in your fingers. Weakness, or dropping things. Anything that has not settled after a couple of weeks of doing less.
None of that means dictation is a bad idea in the meantime — typing less is usually the first thing you will be told anyway. It means the software is not the plan on its own.
It types where your cursor is
No window to open, nothing to copy afterwards. Click where the words go, hold the key, talk.
To sam@harlow.io
Subject Re: contract
Thanks Sam. Two changes on page four and then we’re happy to sign. Can you send a clean copy?
Second version works better. Let’s go with that one.
Traffic is flat but signups are up nine percent. Worth checking whether the pricing page change did it.
It cleans up. It does not rewrite.
Say “um, thanks Sam, two changes on page four and then we’re happy to sign, can you send a clean copy” and you get that back without the ums, with a full stop and a question mark where they belong. Your words stay yours.
Anything that improves your writing has to be read back and checked, then fixed where it got you wrong. That is a reading pass and a typing pass you did not have before, arriving at the end of every job.
Names it would otherwise get wrong
Colleagues, clients, the systems your company runs on, your industry’s acronyms. Add them to your vocabulary once and they come out right from then on, which removes most of the trips back to the keyboard.
Add it once
A name, a product, a system, an acronym. Type it once and never again.
It follows you
The list moves between your Mac and your PC. Teach it once, not twice.
25+ languages
It works out which one you are speaking. You do not set it each time.
60 minutes free, no card. Enough to get through a week and see whether four o’clock feels different.
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. The hosted one handles difficult audio better and is the better default everywhere else. Offline dictation has the full comparison.
Better than what came with your computer
Windows and macOS both include dictation. For the odd sentence they are fine, and they are free. They stop after a pause, the punctuation is left to you, and they never learn the words you use most — all of which you end up fixing at the keyboard.
Stops after a pause
It cuts out mid-thought and you restart it by hand.
Punctuation is yours
Either you say it out loud, or you add it afterwards at the keyboard.
Forgets your words
However many times you correct the same name, it never learns it.
Setup takes about two minutes
Download it, allow the microphone, pick your key. No voice training, nothing to read aloud first. It works from your first sentence, which matters when you are trying to get through today rather than start a project.
Read next
Carpal tunnel
If the pain comes with numbness or pins and needles in your fingers.
RSI
If it has built up over years, and rest keeps working until you go back.
Voice commands
Driving menus and apps by voice on a Mac, for the mouse half of the day.
Questions
My wrist hurts when I type. What should I do first?
Get it looked at, and in the meantime do less of what hurts. That second part is the hard one at a desk job, because typing is the job. Dictation is the change that lets you keep working while doing much less typing, and it takes about two minutes to set up.
I do not know what is wrong yet. Is this still worth trying?
Yes, and that is most people who read this page. You do not need a name for it to type less. The 60 free minutes are enough to find out whether a low-typing day feels different, which is useful information to take to an appointment anyway.
When should I actually see somebody?
If it wakes you at night, if your fingers are numb or tingling, if you are dropping things, or if it has not settled after a couple of weeks of doing less. None of that is something software should be talking you out of.
Does the mouse matter as much as the keyboard?
It depends what you do all day, but for most people typing is the bigger share by volume. Dictation removes that half. On a Mac, JotMic can also drive menus and apps by voice, which takes a bite out of the pointing half.
Will an ergonomic keyboard fix it instead?
Better kit changes how you type, not how much. It is worth doing and it has a ceiling. Dictation is the only common change that lowers the amount without lowering what you get done.
Which key do I hold?
Right Option on a Mac, Right Ctrl on Windows, and you can change it to any key. Pick one your hand already rests near so there is no reach and no stretch. You can put it on whichever side is sore-free.
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 built into Windows and macOS?
They stop after a pause, leave the punctuation to you, and never learn your words. You fix all of that at the keyboard afterwards. 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 seeing a doctor or a physio.
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. Set up in two minutes, so you can start with today’s inbox.
60 minutes free · no card