Dictation That Does More Than Type

·March 25, 2026·7 min read

Dictation used to be simple: you speak, it types. The best you could hope for was accuracy and speed: did the tool get your words right and fast?

But in a world where AI can understand not just your words but your intent, dictation should do more than transcribe. It should help you express yourself in the right format for the right context, and even take action on what you said. That's the idea behind Global Dictation in Mumble AI.

What is Global Dictation?

Global Dictation lets you speak instead of type, anywhere on your Mac. It works in any app where you can place a cursor: Slack, Notion, Gmail, Cursor, your browser, anywhere. No need to switch windows or copy-paste from a separate app.

Hold the Fn key, start talking, and release when you're done. Your words appear right where your cursor is.

That's the basics. But what makes Mumble's dictation different is what happens next.

Choose your output with arrow keys

Traditional dictation gives you one thing: raw text. What you said, typed out. Then it's your job to format, restructure, or rewrite.

Mumble flips this. While still holding Fn, tap an arrow key to choose how your words are delivered:

← Left: Clean text (default). Your speech get cleaned up. Filler words removed, punctuation added, properly formatted. This is what most dictation tools give you as the only option. In Mumble, it's the starting point.

↑ Up: Bullet points. Your words restructured into a clear, organized list. Useful when you're capturing ideas during a brainstorm, jotting down a to-do list, or taking notes you'll share with someone.

↓ Down: Custom action. This is where intent meets output. You define a prompt, and Mumble applies it to everything you dictate. Some examples:

Translate into another language
Rewrite in a more professional tone
Remove negative words and soften the message
Summarize into two or three sentences

You set it once in Settings, then it's one keystroke away whenever you need it. The same voice input can become a polished client email, a translated WhatsApp message, or a three-sentence summary, depending on what you need in that moment.

→ Right: Open and search. This one goes beyond text entirely. Press right, and Mumble opens a website or searches it based on what you say.

Say "open X" → your X profile or homepage opens in the browser
Say "search Amazon for cheap monitors" → Amazon opens with specific monitor results
Say "Search the latest robotics news" → Google opens with the search results
Say "find the Nvidia stock price on Bloomberg" → Bloomberg opens with the Nvidia stock price data
Say "give me the latest AI video on YouTube" → YouTube opens with the results

It works with sites that support search through URLs: Google, YouTube, Amazon, and many others. For other websites, Mumble can open them directly — say "open ChatGPT" or "open Claude" and you're there in one step.

One voice command replaces opening a browser, navigating to a site, clicking the search bar, and typing your query.

This is what dictation looks like when it understands not just your words, but what you're trying to do. Web search is just the start. More voice actions are on the way.

🎁 Bonus: Emoji picker. While holding Fn, press the comma key (,) to open your Mac's emoji keyboard. Pick an emoji and it's inserted right where you're typing. A small touch, but handy when you're dictating a message and want to add a 😆 without reaching for the mouse.

Same voice input, five different outcomes. No app-switching, no copy-pasting, no reformatting.

👉 Watch Global Dictation in action (1 min).

Cloud or local. Your choice.

Mumble gives you two processing modes for dictation, and you can switch between them anytime:

Cloud mode sends your audio to our transcription service for processing. It's fast, supports multiple languages well, and delivers high accuracy.

Local mode processes everything on your Mac. Your audio never leaves your device, it's fully private and works offline. You'll need to download a local voice model first from the Mumble Setting page. It's best experienced on Apple Silicon Macs with 24GB unified memory or more.

Both modes support all the arrow key features. The difference is just where the transcription happens.

Who is it for?

Global Dictation works for anyone who types on a Mac. But some workflows benefit more than others.

Founders & Leaders. Drafting Slack updates, replying to investors, firing off emails between meetings. Hold Fn, say it, pick your format, move on.
Content Creators & Writers. Capture ideas at the speed of speech. Press ↑ for an instant outline, or ↓ to rewrite in your brand's tone. First drafts happen in minutes, not hours.
Multilingual Professionals. Dictate in English, press ↓, get your message in Spanish, Mandarin, or French. One step replaces the dictation → copy → translate → paste loop.
Remote Workers. Between back-to-back calls, you have 30 seconds to reply. Hold Fn, say your response, ← for clean text, done. No reformatting, no editing.
Students & Researchers. Turn spoken ideas into structured notes with ↑. Or say what you're looking for, press → to jump straight to Google or YouTube results without touching the keyboard.
Developers. Speak prompts directly into Cursor, Claude Code, or any dev tool. Describe what you want to build instead of typing it. Technical jargon, function names, and code terms stay intact.
Lawyers, Doctors & Consultants. Draft case notes, patient summaries, or client memos by voice. Dictate your observations, press ↓ to clean up the language and format it professionally — no transcription service needed, no manual rewrite.
Accessibility. If typing is difficult or painful, Global Dictation gives you a full voice-first workflow. Speak in any app, choose your output, even search the web — all without touching the keyboard beyond one key.

How to get started

Open Mumble AI on your Mac
Click your name at the bottom-left corner to open Settings
In the Dictation section, toggle on Global Dictation
Go to any app, hold Fn and start speaking
While holding Fn, tap an arrow key to choose your output
Release Fn. Your result appears instantly right where your cursor is

Setting up your custom action

Go to Settings → Dictation, toggle on Custom ↓ Action Prompt, and write your prompt. For example: "Translate to Spanish", "Rewrite in a professional tone", or "Remove all filler and redundant words." Once set, it applies every time you press ↓ after dictating. No need to configure it again.

To use local processing, toggle on Use Local Processing in the Dictation section and follow the prompt to download the local voice model.

Flexible dictation that gets things done

Dictation has been stuck in the same paradigm for years: speak, get text, edit. But AI has moved far beyond simple transcription. It can understand context, transform meaning, and take action.

Global Dictation in Mumble is built on that shift. It doesn't just hear what you say — it helps you do what you mean. Whether that's formatting your thoughts, translating your message, or jumping straight to a search result, the goal is the same: speak once, get the result you need.

Currently available in the Mumble AI beta for Mac.