Dictation software for hand arthritis
Say it once. Punctuated text lands where you were already typing.
- 99%+ accurate
- Ready to send
- 3× faster than typing
Free to try. No card. Every feature included.
Apple Silicon · macOS 14 or later · Windows 11
Every tool turns speech into text now. What matters is how many keystrokes are left when it has finished, because fixing is fiddlier than typing was.
Hold a key, say the sentence, let go. There is nothing left to fix.
Do you have to type at all?
Step one
Hold one key
Right Option on a Mac, Right Ctrl on Windows. Change it to whichever your hand rests near.
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 appears at your cursor.
The same minute, four times the words
A day of email, notes and messages is five to fifteen thousand keystrokes, each one a small load on the same joints. Talking removes nearly all of them and none of the work.
40 words a minute
Comfortable typing, and every word of it made of keystrokes on the joints that hurt.
150 words a minute
Comfortable talking. The same minute, four times the writing, no keystrokes at all.
Thousands a day
What a normal working day of writing costs you now, and what mostly stops happening.
The keys you stop reaching for
Not every key costs the same. The punctuation is where the awkward reaches are.
- The apostrophe, under your little finger
- The question mark, on a shifted key
- Brackets and quotation marks, out at the edge of the board
Punctuation comes from the way you talk, so those stretches stop happening. A small share of the keystrokes, a large share of the discomfort.
To claire@ashfield.co
Subject Tuesday’s notes
Hi Claire — I’ve attached Tuesday’s notes. Could you confirm the dosage change before Friday?
Running ten minutes behind. Start without me.
Reviewed Tuesday’s session. Sleep improving, appetite unchanged. Agreed to hold the referral until Friday.
What lands is ready to send
Fillers and false starts come out, punctuation and capitals go in, and the names, drugs and acronyms you taught it arrive spelled right.
It learns your names and jargon
Colleagues, clients, medications, the acronyms your profession runs on. Every one it gets wrong is a correction, which is to say typing.
Add it once
A name, a drug, a system, an acronym. Type it a single time and never again.
It follows you
The list moves between your Mac and your PC. Teach it once, not twice.
99+ languages
It works out which one you are speaking. You do not set it each time.
Free to try, no card. Enough to write a week of email and let your hands answer the question.
Works in every app you already use
It types at your cursor, the same as a keyboard does. If there is a text box, it works.
Plus Outlook, Word, Teams and every other app on your Mac or PC.
Notes that stay on your machine
Nothing you dictate is stored or used for training. Case notes, client matters and patient summaries can run entirely on your own computer instead — offline dictation has the detail.
Better than the dictation you already have
Mac and Windows both include it. On anything longer than a sentence:
| Feature | JotMic | Built-in dictation |
|---|---|---|
| Accuracy | 99%+ | ~85% |
| Ready to send | Fillers taken out | Every um typed in |
| Learns your words | Taught once | No way to teach it |
| Languages | 99+, picked up as you talk | One, set in Settings |
| Controls your apps | Open apps, switch, scroll | Types only |
Setup takes two minutes
- Download, allow the microphone, pick your key
- No voice training and nothing to read aloud first
- Free to try, every feature, no card
Read next
Offline dictation
Dictating with the network switched off.
Typing with arthritis
The settings and habits that help, ranked by how much they actually remove.
Hand pain
The short version, and the other conditions this software gets used for.
Compared with the other apps
The one that suits you is the one you can set up on a bad day. That is most of what separates these four.
Questions
Does dictation software help if you have arthritis in your hands?
It replaces keystrokes with speech, and keystrokes are the part of computer work that loads the finger joints. If most of your day is writing, the reduction is large.
Do I have to say the punctuation out loud?
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.
Will it change my words?
It removes, it does not rewrite. Fillers come out, punctuation goes in, every other word stays as you said it. One switch gives you the raw transcript.
Will it get names and technical terms right?
Add them to your vocabulary once and they keep landing right. Colleagues, clients, medications and systems are where dictation usually costs you a correction, and a correction means going back to the keyboard.
Which key do I hold?
Right Option on a Mac, Right Ctrl on Windows, and you can change it at any time. Pick the one your hand already rests near so there is no reach.
Does it work in the apps I already use?
It types at your cursor, so anything with a text box works — Outlook, Word, Gmail, Teams, Slack, a browser, a case-management system. Nothing to set up in any of them.
Can I dictate notes that must stay on my computer?
Yes, it can run entirely on your own computer with no connection. It works best on a machine with room to spare. Online is the default otherwise.
How much faster is talking than typing?
Comfortable typing is about 40 words a minute and talking is about 150. An hour at the keyboard becomes roughly 15 minutes of talking.
Do I need to train it on my voice first?
No. Install it, choose your key, and talk. There is nothing to read aloud first.
Does it work in other languages?
Yes, 99+. It works out which one you are speaking, and you can move between them in the same session without touching a menu.
Will it work on my Mac and my work PC?
One licence covers both, and your vocabulary and settings follow you between them.
Is it better than the dictation built into Windows and macOS?
The built-in tools leave the fillers in and never learn the words you use most. Each gap is paid for at the keyboard afterwards, which is the part you are trying to avoid.
Does it need a good microphone?
Your laptop mic is enough for normal use. A headset helps in a noisy room, but you do not need to buy one before trying it.
Is this a treatment for arthritis?
No. It is a way to write with your voice instead of your hands. It does not replace a doctor, a rheumatologist or a hand therapist.
Free to try, no card. A week of email, to feel the difference.