Dictation software for arthritis and RSI

Why I built it for someone with arthritis

My Nanny is 71 and has arthritis. She talks as much as anyone, but typing sometimes hurts her hands, so a message that takes me a minute takes her ten. She was one of the three reasons I made murmrrr, and the first person I put it in front of. If it worked for her, it would work for anyone. That story is here.

What it's like to use

There's nothing to open and nowhere to look. A small bar sits at the edge of your screen. Click where you'd normally type, in an email, a document, a message, a search box, then hold the hotkey (Ctrl+Win on Windows, Ctrl+Option on a Mac; you can change it to any key that's comfortable), talk, and let go. The text lands where your cursor is, with full stops, commas and capital letters already in place. Say a list and you get a list. Start with "Hi Sarah" and it lays out an email.

You can hold the key down for as long as you like, so a whole paragraph is one press. If holding a key is itself a problem, a longer or easier key can be chosen, and a foot pedal that sends a keystroke works too.

What it doesn't make you do

• Fewer corrections. If you correct yourself mid-sentence ("at three, no, four") it keeps only the final version. Names and addresses it keeps getting wrong can be fixed for good under Your words: say the phrase, it types what you taught it.
• No separate window. Dictation goes straight into whatever you were using. Nothing to copy and paste.
• No internet needed. It works on the computer itself, so there's no waiting on a connection and nothing you say is sent anywhere.
• No account. Download it, open it, talk.

Honest limits

It's dictation, not a full voice-controlled computer: it types what you say, it doesn't click buttons or open programs for you. It works in nearly anything with a text box, and if the cursor isn't in one, the bar offers the words to copy instead. English works on any computer; 18 other languages need an NVIDIA graphics card or an Apple chip.

If you're trying it for someone else, as I did, the install guide has every step with a picture, and if anything's unclear, tell me and I'll fix it.