Guide
Dictating in Microsoft Word
Word has dictation, behind a subscription and a round trip to Microsoft. This is the version that needs neither.
The short answer
Voz types into the Word document at your cursor. No Microsoft 365 requirement, and the transcription happens on your Mac.
Word's built-in Dictate button requires a qualifying Microsoft 365 subscription and an internet connection, because the speech is processed on Microsoft's servers.
How it differs from Word's Dictate button
- No subscription. Word's dictation is a Microsoft 365 feature. Voz is $2.99 once and works in a perpetual-licence copy of Word too.
- No connection needed. Word's dictation stops working offline. Voz does not, because the model is inside the app.
- Nothing uploaded. Microsoft processes the audio on their infrastructure. Voz never sends it anywhere.
- One key everywhere. The same shortcut works in Word, Excel, your browser and your editor.
Setting it up
- Install Voz and grant microphone and accessibility permission when macOS asks.
- Click into the document where the text should go.
- Hold your push-to-talk key, speak, release.
- Use "new line" between paragraphs; apply styles with the keyboard afterwards.
Worth knowing
- Track Changes behaves normally — dictated text is an edit like any other.
- Add technical terms and names to custom vocabulary, which matters more in long documents than short ones.
- Dictate the prose, format afterwards. Speech fills text; it does not apply headings or lists.
- For legal, medical or client documents, local transcription is the difference between a private file and an upload.