Two Ways to Activate Dictation
How you activate and deactivate dictation matters more than you might think. The activation mode affects your workflow rhythm, the types of dictation you can comfortably perform, and the overall feel of the voice typing experience. Scrybapp offers two modes: push-to-talk and toggle. Understanding the strengths of each helps you choose the right mode for each situation.
Push-to-Talk Mode
How It Works
Press and hold your hotkey to start recording. Speak while holding the key. Release the key to stop recording and trigger transcription. The text appears at your cursor position.
Best For
- Short messages — Slack, WhatsApp, Discord messages where you speak a single sentence or short paragraph
- Quick inputs — Search queries, form fields, short notes, commit messages in terminal
- Precise control — You know exactly when recording starts and stops because you feel the key under your finger
- Conversations — In meetings or calls where you want to dictate intermittently without accidentally recording ambient conversation
Advantages
- Intuitive and familiar (like a walkie-talkie)
- No risk of accidentally leaving dictation running
- Tactile feedback confirms recording state
- Natural for rapid, short dictation bursts
Disadvantages
- Hand must hold a key throughout dictation. For long passages, this becomes fatiguing.
- One hand is occupied, limiting simultaneous mouse or trackpad use
- Not ideal for dictation sessions longer than about 30 seconds
Toggle Mode
How It Works
Press your hotkey once to start recording. Speak for as long as you want — hands-free. Press the hotkey again to stop recording and trigger transcription.
Best For
- Long-form content — Documents, book chapters, reports, essays
- Journaling — Obsidian daily notes, morning pages, reflections
- Meeting notes — Extended dictation during or after meetings
- Medical and legal documentation — Doctors and lawyers dictating lengthy clinical notes or legal documents
- Hands-free dictation — When you need both hands free during dictation (e.g., dictating while reviewing a physical document)
Advantages
- Hands-free after the initial keypress
- Comfortable for dictation of any length
- Can gesture, pace, or refer to documents while dictating
- Better for sustained creative flow
Disadvantages
- Possible to forget recording is active and capture unintended audio
- Less precise control over recording boundaries
- Requires remembering to press the key again to stop
Which Mode for Which Task
| Task | Recommended Mode | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Slack messages | Push-to-talk | Short, rapid messages |
| Email replies | Push-to-talk or Toggle | Depends on email length |
| Long emails | Toggle | Hands-free for extended composition |
| Documents and reports | Toggle | Multi-paragraph dictation |
| Journal entries | Toggle | Stream of consciousness flow |
| Code comments | Push-to-talk | Short, precise inputs |
| Meeting notes | Toggle | Extended hands-free capture |
| Search queries | Push-to-talk | Very short inputs |
| Book writing | Toggle | Sustained creative dictation |
| WhatsApp messages | Push-to-talk | Quick conversational replies |
Switching Between Modes
Scrybapp lets you configure your preferred mode in preferences. Some users keep one mode and use it for everything. Others switch based on their current task. If you find yourself doing both short and long dictations throughout the day, experiment with both to develop a preference.
Our Recommendation
If you had to choose one mode, push-to-talk is the safer default because it gives you more precise control and cannot accidentally leave recording running. But if you frequently dictate content longer than a few sentences — documents, notes, journal entries — toggle mode will feel significantly more comfortable. Many power users start with push-to-talk and transition to toggle as they get more comfortable with voice typing.
Get Started
Download Scrybapp and try both modes with 3 minutes of free transcription. You can switch between them at any time to find what works best for your workflow.
Related: keyboard shortcuts, 10 voice typing tips, accuracy tips.