Dictation software isn’t just something that can save you time by typing out your speech and performing commands. Talking instead of typing can and will help you prevent lasting damage to your hands. You might think that sounds silly, and so did I. I’m 23 – way too young to be worried about my joints or work-related injuries (my work isn’t exactly manual labor). Then my hands seized up.

• Nuance Dragon Dictate For Mac
• Dragon Dictate Speech Recognition For Mac Download

Repetitive strain injury. They were painful to the point that I was worried I’d have to quit my job and completely change my lifestyle (no more gaming, playing guitar or piano, drawing, etc), so I took a week off work to see if basic rest would do anything. It didn’t work – if anything they were worse by the end of it. It took months of doctors appointments and physiotherapy to get to a manageable level again, and I’ve been told that the pain will never fully leave.

Even now I’m bathing, stretching, and exercising my hands and wrists almost every hour to make sure they don’t flare up again. During all this time I still had to work, and so I had to find a way to write without typing. After long hours of searching, testing, and learning the quirks of various apps, I’ve been able to find a system using dictation software which works for me. I can still write as much as I want, but without putting the strain on my hands that caused the pain in the first place. Whether you’re looking to save time in your menial tasks, prefer speaking to writing, or you want to save yourself some future problems from typing too much, dictation software can be the answer to your problems.

Keep reading to see the various tools you can use on desktop, mobile, and in your browser, with a full rundown of the pros and cons of each. I’ll also highlight the best equipment you can use to go with it, some techniques you can use to maximize your dictation efforts, and a few more useful tidbits to help you avoid the same traps I fell into. However, before we get stuck into the tools, here’s some pros and cons of the practice in general and the test I used to measure their accuracy. In my experience, Dragon appears to be compatible with most programs that you could want to type in, but be aware that some programs will respond to your voice commands differently to others. For example, I’m currently dictating straight into (my of choice), which I tend to use for my first drafts. While Dragon handles dictation into Quip incredibly well, Quip itself reacts badly to the command “new line” and will not save the spacing. There’s an easy way to get around this, Dragon reacts very well to voice commands relating to specific keys on your keyboard.

In my Quip example, I’m now instead using the command “press enter” to start a new line or paragraph. Equally, these keyboard commands can be extremely useful if you’re not yet familiar with every command you can give. For example, Dragon does not seem to register my attempts to create a speech mark, and so instead I have been using the command “press shift two”. While I’m still far from experienced with the software, the only real issue I’ve run into so far has been attempting to dictate straight into WordPress. For some reason, when dictating into WordPress my screen scrolls to the bottom of the page, making it extremely difficult to see what I’ve written and whether or not I’ve made a mistake. It’s a minor issue, but definitely one you want to be aware of. For the incredible accuracy you gain and how easy it is to start using Dragon, I’d say the sacrifice of having slightly uneven compatibility is worth it.

I’ve yet to find a program that Dragon flat out doesn’t work with, so it’s not like you won’t be able to dictate at all. Aside from that, the only gripes I have with Dragon are fairly minor. The first is that Nuance’s site can be a little confusing to navigate, and their for the various editions of Dragon is incredibly hard to find. Trying to figure out yourself what version has which features is incredibly difficult, since they’re described with different language on each page. Other than that, I will say that the design of Dragon on your computer feels very archaic. The DragonBar itself serves its function nicely, and expands and collapses rapidly enough to not get in the way.

It would be great if you could move the bar anywhere but the top of your screen, but that’s a minor issue. The design of Dragon’s help menus and surrounding programs, however, could very well trick you into believing that you’re still running Windows 7. Again, they serve their function, but they’re not winning any awards for design. Although I went with Dragon premium (mainly for the mobile dictation feature), I can easily recommend the home edition too, since it’s much cheaper and covers all of the basics that you’ll need. If you’re willing to put a little bit of cash behind your dictation efforts, you can’t really go wrong with Dragon. If you do buy it, I’d highly recommend going into your options menu, opening the “Miscellaneous” tab, and selecting the option to “Have the microphone on but asleep” upon starting up.

This is because when Dragon starts up the microphone is fully deactivated and requires you to click a button to start it. In sleep mode you can simply say “wake up” to start dictating.

E-Speaking. Price: Free for 30 days, then $14. Platform: PC, Mac, iOS, Android. Accuracy: Unkown, but low. Commands:. Languages: 7 (PC, Mac) / 32 (Mobile).

Recommendation: If you’re amused by awkward and surreal tutorials, go through this one. Website: I won’t sugar coat it – isn’t very good. It’s unresponsive, glitchy, has an unsettling animated avatar, and is inaccurate to the point where I could not complete the tutorial. Don’t use this if you want to have a working piece of dictation software. However, it is completely free, kind of charming, and pretty hilarious to use. If you have five or ten minutes and fancy a novel experience, download this program and go through the automatic tutorial.

If you manage to finish it then you’re having more success than I did in 30 minutes of trying, but I can wholeheartedly say that I enjoyed every second of it. It’s bad in the most charming kind of way. Google Docs. Price: Free.

Platform: Browser (Google Docs through Google Chrome). Accuracy: 94.4%.

Commands:. Languages: 119. Recommendation: Great for long-form writing (if you use Google Docs). Website: or Other than Dragon, ‘ dictation feature is easily the one which I have the most experience with, and for good reason. As well as saving myself a lot of pain while I researched my options, Google Docs’ dictation was easy to pick up, activate, and understand.

Combine that with the of supported languages, and you’re good to go no matter who or where you are. It’s also completely free, which is rather astounding when you consider that it’s easily one of the best options out there for long-form dictation.

All you have to do to start dictating is to open Google Docs from a Chrome browser, open the “Tools” menu, then click on “Voice Typing”. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl+Shift+S to do the same thing. Make sure your cursor is where you want to start typing, click the big microphone button that’s appeared, and away you go.

As for accuracy, Google Docs scored a respectable 94% on the speech test, but from my experience it feels to be even more reliable than that. To break it down, Google Docs didn’t get any words wrong, and from memory I can say that that’s pretty consistent. Although mistakes happen, Docs’ weakness comes when dictating punctuation – it’s vocabulary is consistent, but the editing time required for nothing but spotting the word “comma” or the term “full stop” is a little alarming. Overall, I can easily recommend Google Docs’ voice typing feature to help you out when you’re writing a long-form piece. Just be aware that you’ll need a fair bit of time to go back through your draft and comb for grammatical errors.

LilySpeech – discontinued. Price: Free for 30 days, then $29.88 per year.

Platform: PC (with Google Chrome installed). Accuracy: 98.6%. Commands:.

Languages: 24. Recommendation: Has potential, but doesn’t do enough to beat free competitors. Website: Warning! Lilyspeech has been discontinued, and so is no longer an option. The entry remains here for reference. Was, shockingly, a rather pleasant surprise. It’s a simple concept; you navigate to where you want to type, click the location you want to type in, then activate LilySpeech, which provides a dictation box.

Once you’ve finished dictating, click the “Transfer” button at the bottom to move the text to where your cursor was. Although it has no option to create custom commands and cannot be used as a substitute for a mouse, the accuracy of Lilyspeech took me by surprise. With 98.6% success, this matched Dragon and beat out many other competitors.

The main drawbacks of LilySpeech are the limited platforms it’s available on (Windows only), it being slightly clunky to use, and the price point. Having to reactivate it every time you want to dictate text means that your workflow becomes very stop-and-start. Even with a keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+D) it feels more awkward than it needs to be. Even though the accuracy is to be admired, the limited nature of LilySpeech and the free alternatives available (native speech recognition apps and Google Docs) mean that I’m not entirely convinced whether it’s worth almost $30 a year. Speechlogger. Price: Free.

Platform: Browser (Google Chrome), Android. Accuracy: 93.9%. Commands:. Languages: 9 (potentially). Recommendation: Try it out (it’s free) to see if you like it, but there are much better options. Website: uses Google’s speech-to-text technology to provide a simple browser–based (and Android app) dictation service. It won’t win any awards for looking pretty or providing any option to customize (it doesn’t), it’s reasonably accurate while being beaten out by bigger competitors, and in almost every situation where you might want to use it there is a better option.

However, part of using dictation software is personal taste and how it feels to use, and I can’t say that Speechlogger was horrible to try out. The design is simple, but sometimes that’s better than being overblown with features. Although I don’t expect this will become a staple in anyone’s workflow, give it a try and see what you think. It might hit all the right notes for you. Tazti. Price: Free for 15 days, then $80.

Platform: Browser (Google Chrome). Accuracy: Unknown. Commands:.

Languages: 9. Recommendation: Potential for gaming, but not much else. Website: Another wildcard that came up in my travels, isn’t actually dictation software. Rather, it’s designed as a way to control PC programs and video games using your voice. There are other programs in this post better suited to controlling your computer (native speech apps and Dragon), but the ability to control a PC game such as World of Warcraft is novel enough to warrant mentioning. Having said that, the shows that (while promising) the use of keyboard and mouse is much more effective, and the price point of $80 is a little high for a novelty.

Voice Finger. Price: Free (as far as I can tell). Platform: PC. Accuracy: 90.1%. Commands: Windows Speech Recognition shortcuts.

Languages: Unknown. Recommendation: A good utility for navigating your computer with Windows Speech Recognition.

Website: isn’t a dictation program by itself. Instead, it provides new voice commands which act as shortcuts to some useful features of Windows Speech Recognition. This doesn’t really affect text dictation at all, but if you’re using Windows Speech Recognition to navigate your computer and apps, Voice Finger can save you a lot of time and effort. By letting you switch between three different modes (“mouse”, “keyboard”, and “dictation”) with a single voice command, this app lets you bypass much of what makes the native dictation app annoying to use. The mouse mode splits your screen into a 36×36 grid which is labeled with letters. By dictating a letter combination you can have your mouse click the corresponding section of the screen. Keyboard mode is just the default Speech Recognition setting.

Dictation mode immediately brings up the dictation box, which is useful, if a little more in line with the default settings. All in all, Voice Finger is a useful addition, but (as I’ll mention in the next entry) that in itself isn’t too enticing. While it doesn’t fix any issues relating to text dictation, you might as well install this if you’re planning to (or need to) navigate a Windows PC without a keyboard and mouse. A quick warning though – while I haven’t seen any pay wall or free use limit, the download page for Voice Finger also states that it has a $10 price tag. This might be incorrect or defunct information, but it’s worth being aware of these things. Windows Speech Recognition (+Cortana).

Price: Free. Platform: PC.

Accuracy: 90.1%. Commands:. Languages: 8. Recommendation: Okay for navigating your computer, but pretty bad at recording text. Website: serves its purpose as a free, built-in solution to dictating on Windows device. However, due to the relatively low accuracy, it’s quickly outclassed by other options.

The main benefit it has is that it’s automatically installed on all Windows PCs. Just enter “Windows speech recognition” in your search bar to find it easily – there’s no setup required. When combined with Cortana (for things like opening programs and searching apps) you have a bare-bones dictation package that serves the function of letting you use your voice to control your computer. Unfortunately, as I’ve already said, when it comes to dictation this program is lacking. While 90.1% accuracy might seem like a lot, the differences between this and Dragon are immediately obvious.

Check out the transcript of the speech test below: This is a test to see how accurate the current software use. Here, I’ll be speaking fluently including all consolation. Here, I will be pausing for one 2nd after every punctuation points, in order to better understand how the program reacts to punctuation. How will it as the features? Well, all of these paragraphs will be settled using voice commands.

The following is a test or vocabulary: Although we all want to be productive, it’s important to know your limits. If your body tells you that something’s wrong you need to listen. In my case, these men to stop timing of my marketing copy and start speaking it’s instead. Although it feels a little silly to say words like quote innovation” and phrases like quote business process automation” out loud Wimbledon’s can hear you talking to yourself, Alton only it was worth the investment.

That 8% difference is enough to make some sentences complete nonsense, which negates the points of dictating in the first place. For a starting program (if you’re not using Google Docs and desperately need a dictation solution on a Windows device) it’s not terrible. However, I’d recommend looking into alternative software as soon as possible to save yourself a headache and a lot of editing time. Mobile dictation software Cortana. Price: Free.

Platform: Android, iOS, Windows. Accuracy: 88.3% (limited test). Commands:. Languages: 8.

Recommendation: Good for short dictation on Windows devices, and a useful personal assistant. Website: comes automatically installed on all Windows devices for free, and while it’s not very good for text dictation that’s 10 seconds or longer, it fills the same niche as Siri in being a good personal assistant. After opening Cortana (by holding the search button on mobile, clicking Cortana, or saying “Hey Cortana” if you’ve allowed it) you can dictate text to her using a command like “create note”. The accuracy isn’t great at 88.3%, but considering that the note will stop recording after 10 seconds anyway, it’s not designed to be the best text dictation software out there. Cortana’s strengths instead lie in performing tasks such as launching programs, making a phone call, reading the news, converting units, and so on. She can even tell jokes if you want her to.

Much like using Siri and Apple’s dictation feature together, Cortana is most effective when covering the flaws of other programs like Windows Speech Recognition. The overall dictation experience still isn’t great, but Cortana makes simple tasks at least much more bearable. GBoard. Price: Free. Platform: Android, iOS. Accuracy: 90.1%.

Commands:. Languages:. Recommendation: Good for searching Google from your keyboard, but lacking compared to default dictation services. Website: provides an alternative keyboard for your mobile device. Powered by Google, you can use your voice to enter text (much as you would with the default keyboard), but also search Google for anything you want without having to leave the keyboard. Now, while there isn’t a time limit as such on the amount you can dictate, Gboard does have a few downsides. First, GBoard’s accuracy isn’t as high as that of the default iOS dictation.

Although the iOS service is limited to 30 seconds without using Enhanced Dictation, in my opinion it’s better to be accurate. It’s true that very few words were incorrect, but with as many grammatical errors as there were, I’d rather have the shorter, more accurate bursts. Second, GBoard is very temperamental with the length of its dictation. Although there’s technically no limit, Gboard will automatically stop transcribing your speech if you pause for too long, which seems to be classed as “anything more than breathing in”.

The display showing your text as you speak will also stop updating after around a minute, leaving you speaking blindly with little idea of how accurately you’re being recorded. In short, although searching Google from your keyboard is handy, I wouldn’t recommend GBoard.

For now it’s too inconsistent to take over Siri and the default keyboard’s dictation potential. Google Now. Price: Free. Platform: Android, Browser , iOS.

Accuracy: 99.2% (limited test). Commands:. Languages: 60. Recommendation: A useful personal assistant on Android, and a quick way to search Google on other devices.

Website: is essentially a Cortana alternative for Android devices, allowing you to call, text, search the web, lock your device, and so on. All you have to do to activate it is to say “Ok Google”, after which you can speak commands just as you would with Cortana or Siri. There’s not too much more to say on the basics of Google Now, but it does also come with the ability to interact with other apps. For example, you can use Google Now to, search for places in TripAdvisor, and so on. You can also use the same voice recognition tech to search Google from either their dedicated iOS app or their home page in your browser.

If you’re using an Android device then there’s little reason not to use Google Now (a free personal assistant is always welcome), but unless you really want to search Google with your voice, it’s eclipsed by the competitors on other platforms. ListNote. Price: Free. Platform: Android. Accuracy: Unknown. Commands: Unknown. Languages: 43.

Recommendation: A great dictation solution for Android devices. Website: is akin to the of dictation, in that it provides a notebook which you can color code and organize as you see fit, all while creating notes by dictating them. While the app doesn’t function as a voice recorder, for the price of entry (nothing) it’s definitely worth a shot if you’re looking for an alternative to Evernote on your Android device.

Siri. Price: Free.

Platform: Android, iOS. Accuracy:. Commands:. Languages: 16. Recommendation: Good for short dictation on Apple devices, and a useful personal assistant. Website: comes pre-installed on all of Apple’s mobile devices, and while it’s best used as more of a personal assistant than a piece of text dictation software, it’s far from a bad option to use when you’re on the go. After turning on Siri in your settings you can bring it up by either holding down the home button or by saying “Hey Siri” (iPhone 6s or newer, or iPhone 5 or newer if charging).

You can then chat to Siri as if you would an assistant to do things like check the weather, send an email to a certain person, call a contact, create notes, and so on. The main disadvantage with Siri is that your text dictation ability is very limited. If you’re creating notes then you have one chance to get it right (or you’ll have to go back and edit it) and if you stop speaking for any significant length of time then Siri will think you’ve finished talking. While you can combine Siri with the native Apple dictation by pressing the microphone button when your keyboard shows up, this will only record you for 30 seconds (unless you have Enhanced Dictation), and so you’re still not able to create any lengthy documents.

For a pre-installed program, however, Siri is incredibly useful, and can save you a lot of time and effort if you need to look up something or send a quick email when your hands are occupied. Speech Recogniser. Price: $9.99.

Platform: iOS. Accuracy: Unknown. Commands: Unknown. Languages: 30. Recommendation: Best used for translation, with minor social media functionality. Website: At a hair under $10, is far from the cheapest dictation software available on mobile or desktop devices.

However, for the niche that it fulfills, the app is invaluable and well worth the money. Essentially, while Recogniser does the same as many other apps (allowing you to take basic notes by dictating), the main function comes with translating your message into any of the languages it’s compatible with. While I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the translation, it’s certainly worth looking into. Other than that, Speech Recogniser also comes with the ability to post to Facebook and Twitter, so if you’re after a service which allows you to handle some of your social media posting then this could be a good solution.

In a number of the app’s reviews, however, users have highlighted that you are unable to copy the transcribed text to paste outside of the app. In other words, Speech Recogniser can’t be used to dictate text into other locations. All in all, if you’re looking for a dictation app with translation functionality then by all means give this a whirl, but otherwise the free keyboard dictation is accurate (and useful) enough to keep you covered.

Microphones Using the right dictation software is all well and good, but it’s useless if you don’t have a microphone that can pick up what you’re saying. Hence why I have a few recommendations for wired, wireless, and desktop microphones. Before we begin, however, know that I’m currently dictating this post through Dragon using nothing but my internal laptop microphone, and while sitting around a foot away from the device. This is how I mostly use my dictation software and I haven’t encountered any real problems so far. This could be because I’m using premium software, it could be that I’m getting lower accuracy than usual because my voice is faint, or it could just be that I’m good at shouting (my money’s on the last one). Still, here are the microphones:. – $11.99.

– $69.67. – $29.96 The is perfect for those of budget or who are planning to dictate on the go. By pinning this to your clothing (or to the clothing of the person you wish to record) and then plugging the other end into your phone or computer you can make sure that your dictation is as accurate as possible for less than $12. If you want to go a little more high-tech and are planning to do some actual voice recording rather than just dictation, the is a great balance between price and quality. While not being ludicrously expensive, the sound quality of your recordings is very high and any dictation should be crystal clear. Finally, the is exactly what it says on the tin.

It’s a fairly inexpensive wireless headset which you can plug into the device you are dictating to in order to get a higher accuracy. This is better than the lapel mic if you’re doing a large amount of dictation, but is less than half the price of the ATR-2100 and allows you to move around a little more. Computer accessories While these certainly aren’t necessary to accurately dictate and save yourself some time and effort, the computer accessories below are fantastic for minimizing the risk to your hands as much as possible when typing all day. It might seem like overkill, but it pays to be prepared, and preventing injury is better than treating it (trust me). Not to mention the fact that these things are comfy as hell to use.

Ergonomic keyboards The two keyboards I have to recommend are:. – $88.95. – $99 I currently use the keyboard, and have noticed a significant difference in the time it takes for me to start feeling pain after I sit down to work. The Sculpt is a wireless keyboard which slopes upwards towards the middle, letting your hands take slightly more vertical position (which is more natural). The number pad is completely separate and set out like a traditional calculator, and this model also comes with an ergonomic mouse which lets your hands benefit from better posture no matter what they’re doing.

The, meanwhile, is a wired keyboard which is split in two and joined by a cable. This means that you can space the two halves of your keyboard to be more in line with your natural arm position. Personally, I’d recommend the Sculpt since it’s more in line with the traditional keyboard layout, is wireless, comes with a mouse, and still supports a better hand position.

If, however, you like a little more distance between your hands the Kinesis is far from a bad choice. Ergonomic/Vertical mice As for mice, I have a slightly wider selection:. – $50.

– $27.99. – $19.99 Although I use the Sculpt keyboard’s mouse for work, for everything else (namely gaming) I use the. If it wasn’t a little awkward to fit my laptop bag, I’d probably use it for work too. The Anker 2.4G is a wireless vertical mouse with five buttons and an adjustable DPI (sensitivity).

Although it requires batteries to run, two AAAs are a small price to pay for the comfort and versatility this gives you. At the time of writing, the price has been reduced to $20 and I remember a similar discount when I originally bought it a couple of months ago. Essentially, if you can get the Anker 2.4G on a discount, pick it up by all means. The is more like a regular mouse, but provides the trackball for your thumb to rest on. This lets you move your cursor without moving your hand, which itself can cause damage to wrist.

It has four buttons and runs on a AA battery. The Logitech M570 is far from about place to start if you don’t want to spend full price on the Anker. Finally, the is a wired vertical mouse with five buttons and a removable palm rest. Although I haven’t used it myself, with a high number of positive reviews and a low price points, this appears to be an excellent entry-level vertical mouse. If you do go with the J-Tech mouse,. There are apparently one or two issues with the mouse which can be easily fixed with a little tinkering. Quality-of-life improvements I’ve also got three quality-of-life items for you if you’re planning on moving some of your work from your hands to your voice (or your concerned about the effects of typing all day).

These are:. – $11.55. – $8.17.

– $19.99. – $190 The is a bar of gel which you can place below your keyboard to rest your wrists on when typing. I know that this post is dedicated to dictation and reducing the amount of typing you do, but supporting your wrists when they are at rest is just as important. For that same reason, the is also a good buy, and is pretty cheap. This is a small foam cradle for your wrist while you use the mouse. The Allsop is especially useful because the bottom of the rest allows it to move with your wrist and give it constant support.

The is another cheap by which can really help your general health when using a computer all day. By raising your laptop screen you naturally encourage better posture and arm position, which is good for pretty much everything involved with typing. While we’re talking about laptop stands, I’d also like to mention the. It’s far more expensive at $79.95, but actually raises your laptop above the table and tilts it to get the screen at the perfect height for your posture. It’s also incredibly portable and can be packed away to a small 1″ x 1.5″ x 13″ bag. Finally, the is an entry-level standing desk. At the time of writing it’s been discounted to a hair under $115, and helps to solve many of the posture problems that extended periods of sitting can bring.

Having said that, it is still pretty expensive, so this is more for those with a bit of cash to spare. How to dictate Before we wrap up, I thought I’d highlight some tips for making the most of your dictation software. Wow Mark, that’s fantastic! 😀 Aye, the native dictation features are surprisingly useful and accurate – they’re perfect for anyone who doesn’t have Dragon (or any better paid software) or who just wants to take quick notes no matter where they are without having to boot up a dedicated program. I never considered how much more useful speaking would be than writing to a new content writer – I’m glad to hear that you’re flying ahead with that change in technique! I’m also looking forward to seeing what you make in the wide world of content. 😀 All the best, Ben.

Hey Andrew, Great question! Unfortunately I don’t have access to a Mac and so can’t speak from experience. However, from reading around on the topic and looking at reviews, it sounds like Dragon for Mac isn’t as good as its Windows counterpart. While a few people cite accuracy issues, most that have written on the topic say that it’s far more unstable (crashing more often) and lacks some of the features of Windows’ version (such as editing the text of a recorded dictation with your voice – you have to correct it using your keyboard). There are two things I’d suggest if you’re planning on using Dragon on your MacBook (again, from what I’ve learned reading around).

First, you could get the Mac version and then mainly dictate into TextEdit. This seems to be the most stable form of dictation and (supposedly) barely ever crashes. Alternatively, you could run the Windows version of Dragon in virtualisation software such as Parallels or VMware Fusion.

These essentially run a version of Windows on your Mac which can be used to run Dragon and other programs. The trouble with doing that is that you need a pretty recent Mac device (roughly within the last 3 years), 8Gb of RAM, and a Windows license (which can cost a pretty penny in of themselves). The choice is yours, but if you don’t mind dong basic dictation into TextEdit with a few less features than the Windows version, the Dragon for Mac is still apparently a solid choice. Ben: A thorough, useful survey of dictation options.

The only addition I’d suggest is to possibly treat Nuance Dragon for PC and Mac as separate products. Several years ago I used the PC version, found it worth the money for good and growing accuracy and production. Since then I’ve left PCs behind, gone over to the orchard. I’ve not used the Mac version of Nuance, but the 50% of articulate, dissatisfied Amazon users don’t inspire me to spend near $300. It’s apparently not an issue of accuracy, but system and program stability: the amount of reported program and system crashing/lockup suggest Nuance developers don’t truly understand OSX code environment–at least not yet, and surely not for me to risk. Hey there, Thanks for pointing this out!

I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t fully consider the Mac version as being so different from Windows, but that’s an important point to make. I’ve used Dragon software since it first came out. The only thing I don’t like about it is that when Apple updates their system software, Dragon often fails to work properly. It takes them a long time to get around to updating. When they do have an update, it’s usually an expensive update. Even so, I haven’t found anything better yet. I used it to write my book “Extraordinary Healthcare.” On another note, I also have a lot of experience with healing carpal tunnel syndrome and other skeletal-muscular injuries.

Chapter 9 in my book teaches the technique and I also work with people online to do direct energy healing. It’s an amazing and fascinating field. There is also an anti-inflammatory formula on my blog that could be of immense value in reducing stress-related inflammation.

Take a look RebuildHealth.com or you can call me 336-644-1111. Really good article thoroughly researched and excellent information. Very impressive. One comment about Dragon for Mac is that it can be frustratingly variable.

This is particularly true when using it with Gmail and Google Docs. The program sometimes inserts miscellaneous letters refuses to start new lines and misunderstands some commands. It’s probably worth pointing out that many Mac users have always felt like poor relations when it comes to using Dragon software. It seems Dragon have not invested as much in the Mac version of their product.

Having said all that I still use it a lot and find it to be both time-saving and less physically arduous. Once again thank you for a very helpful post. Thanks for the tip Phil!

Nuance Dragon Dictate For Mac

I haven’t used Dragon on Mac myself but I’ve recently made the switch so I’ll be sure to test it thoroughly once I’ve gotten the Mac set up and ready to run at full speed. To be honest, the accuracy of Apple’s in-built dictation (Siri) really surprised me. I’d say it’s actually a viable alternative for anyone who doesn’t need dictation software for long-form documents and messages. In my case that makes Dragon superior but the option is nice to have (especially since it’s free).

Hey Mike, I never thought of that issue. Dragon has a way of learning from your speech pattern and adjusting accordingly but that does involve a bit of manual correction until the program catches on to what you’re saying. Having said that, I haven’t looked into using Dragon for someone with a speech impediment as opposed to using it to cater to a certain accent where words are pronounced differently. You might’ve tried this already, but I’d contact Dragon’s support team to talk to them about the specifics about your daughter’s situation. I’d think that Dragon would be the most likely to be able to adapt but I wouldn’t say to buy it until you’ve talked to the team and know more about the limitations of how much it can adapt to her speech.

I hope that helps and I’m sorry I don’t have a straight solution for you. Please let me know how it goes though – I’d love to know if there’s a good program for those with speech impediments too (I just don’t know the limits of Dragon in those terms). All the best, Ben.

I have used Dragon many years ago on a Windows laptop. I decided to get it today for my Mac. I bought the Home edition for $69.99.

After I downloaded and tried to install did it go to my Windows partition (still on my Mac). I closed out and looked at my order again. Nowhere does it say that this is for Windows only! The Mac Dragon costs $300.00.really?

What a total ripoff! I am hugely disappointed. Apparently there is no other quality dictation software for the Mac. Just keep on struggling with Apple’s software.

Buying an external USB microphone. Hope it improves performance.

I thought it was odd too Hendrik – surely products from the same company with similar uses should have similar technology behind them, after all. Except, well, that would make a little too much sense apparently. It’s even more frustrating when thinking about how much better these products could be if the teams were allowed to interact rather than seemingly compete with their own resources. Heck, if they could all focus their efforts on different elements of dictation and them pool their findings into a single project they might well be able to create something better (and less confusing) than Dragon. Sadly, as it stands, this is what we have.

Interesting use case Ivana! Honestly, it sounds like you’re the perfect example of someone who would benefit from this kind of tech. You’re writing long-form content (books) and all the research involved, get caught up in self-editing as you write, and the language change sounds like it makes your speaking more fluid than your writing. Dictation is great for all of those things. 🙂 I’m more of a think-out-loud person, so speaking rather than writing comes easier to me too.

It’s also way faster than writing each word, thus letting you follow a train of thought more easily. I also used to have a problem with editing as I wrote rather than at the end of my work, and dictation was one of the things that helped with that. Talking is far more fluid than writing, letting you flow from one sentence to the next without necessarily worrying about the sentence structure, spelling or punctuation.

Heck, unless you’re looking at the screen as you talk you won’t even be able to see what’s being written until you go back to edit. Let me know how your dictation turned out – I’d love to know if it’s helping out or if you’re having any particular problems with it! Hi Ben, How very helpful of you to produce such a comprehensive review and great advice. I began using SpeechNotes (free) – following someone’s recommendation when I first had trouble with arm pain, and found it to be very poor.

It was more trouble that it was worth. I’d therefore steer people away from that one, as well as those you have said are not good. I can’t afford Dragon but think I’ll try Google Docs.

The percentage accuracy you report is very good for something that is free! Wishing you well, Phil. Hey there Phil, Thanks for the warning! I was considering checking it out and writing up a review for it as part of an update to this post but if it’s that bad I may just strike it off the list entirely. 🙂 Dragon is fantastic but I don’t blame you for going for a free option.

The accuracy difference really isn’t too bad and Dragon certainly isn’t cheap. My final decision to get it was through a combination of needing it due to the state I’d worked my arms into, the amount I write every day, and the chance to write up a solid post from my experience with it. All the best, Ben. Great Article! I am an extensive user of dragon Naturally Speaking but I am looking for an alternative because I am planning to leave Windows platform.

I’d love to be at 100% Linux user. I’m doing extensive use of dragon Naturally Speaking in order to write books and / or long scientific papers mainly in law and humanities.

I was wondering if it is possible to make Google Docs voice type functionality working without an internet connection as it seems to be possible for Macintosh for instance Due to my work sometimes I have confidential matters in my papers and writings and I wish not to show them with Google or anyone else If you see my point Furthermore, as I am not English native speaker, I’d love to customise a bit the Italian version Google Docs voice typing. I’m reading that there are more commands available in English then in Italian: I’d love to implement these commands even in Italian. Do you know if it is possible to translate happy command from English into Italian with a sort of developer option in Google Docs? Please note that this text has been dictated using Google voice type in English. Hey Angelo, Thanks for taking the time to write in! Sadly, Google Docs’ dictation feature isn’t available offline at all. I’d imagine this is because they need to remotely access other resources to process your speech – it takes a lot of data and power to accurately transcribe someone’s speech.

I’m far from experienced but I’m also pretty sure that you can’t create custom commands for Google Docs either. I know you can with Dragon but I don’t think that’s something Google Docs supports. I’d love to hear if you find something that suits your needs though! My only real advice for such specific requirements would be to continue using Dragon but if you can find an alternative I’d love to add it to the post to give another option for everyone to use (with credit to you for finding it, of course).

Thanks again, and all the best, Ben. I really enjoyed your article Ben. I didn’t realize there were so many options. I have been using Windows speech recognition and Dragon Premium for the last two years for all of my writing as unfortunately my hands developed repetitive stress injuries.

I Windows speech recognition the best tool for using Windows commands in Windows applications and searching for files on my computer or in the cloud, while Dragon is far superior for dictation. I tend to use a combination of the two depending on what I’m doing. I went for the Dragon premium so I can use its transcribing feature from voice files when I dictate stories when I’m on the road. This feature definitely is not as accurate as when talking straight into the computer, but it’s great when you have a burning idea to get out so you don’t forget.

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