# Voice

> Turn on Voice to dictate anywhere, talk to a Thread, Captain or Note, ask Whorl to act with one shortcut, and set up transcription presets.

Source: https://docs.whorl.work/voice

> Voice is an experimental feature, and it is off until someone turns it on. You can turn it on for yourself in **Settings → Experimental features**: switch **Voice** on and choose **Save changes**. An owner or admin can turn it on for everyone in **Settings → Company → Experimental features**. Until Voice is on, none of the controls on this page appear. See [Experimental features](/experimental-features).

Voice lets you speak instead of type. It has three parts: Dictate, Talk and Ask Whorl. A fourth part, Transcription presets, turns speech in a Note into a written page.

Your browser asks for microphone access the first time. If you refused, allow the microphone for Whorl in your browser's site settings. On a Mac in the desktop app, Whorl offers to open System Settings at the Microphone pane.

## Dictate

Dictate types what you say. Use the microphone button in any message box, or in a Note. The shortcut is ⌘⇧D on Mac and Ctrl+Shift+D on Windows and Linux.

- **In a message box in a Thread or Captain,** the button reads **Dictate - hold to send**. Hold it down while you speak, and let go to send the message. If you let go early, the words go into the message box for you to edit.
- **In a Note,** the microphone dictates at your cursor.

Choose **Insert dictation** to keep what Whorl heard, or **Discard dictation** to drop it.

## Talk

Talk is a live conversation with a Thread, a Captain or a Note. Use it to steer the agent or to edit a Note by voice. Choose **Talk to Whorl** in the message box or the Note, speak, and choose **End conversation** when you finish.

## Ask Whorl

Ask Whorl is a quick way to say what you want done from anywhere in Whorl. Press ⇧⌘Space on Mac or Ctrl+Shift+Space on Windows and Linux, and speak. Ask Whorl can use Whorl's actions and read the page you are on. You can also find it in the [command center](/search) as **Ask Whorl**.

In the Mac [desktop app](/desktop), the shortcut works over any other app. Page tools do not work from that bar, so Ask Whorl uses Whorl's own actions there.

## Transcription presets

A preset says what kind of session you are recording and what to write from it. In a Note, the microphone offers **Transcribe as**, where you pick a preset, or **Just transcribe** for the words alone. When you stop, Whorl writes the result into the Note under its title.

A preset can set:

- the kind of session and how many speakers to expect,
- **Words to know**, such as names and product terms to spell correctly,
- the sections to write, and
- steps to take afterward.

You see three groups of presets: **Yours**, your company's, and Whorl's own. Whorl's own cannot be edited.

| Page                                   | Who it is for                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
| -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Settings → Transcription**           | Your own presets. Choose **New preset** to create one, and **Make default** to set the one a quick press uses. The page also shows your company's presets, read-only. Deleting one of Whorl's own hides it for you. |
| **Settings → Company → Transcription** | Your company's presets, which owners and admins edit. An owner or admin can delete one of Whorl's own for everyone.                                                                                                 |

These two pages appear only when Voice is on.

## Related

- [Notes](/notes)
- [Threads](/threads) and [Captains](/captains)
- [Keyboard shortcuts](/reference/shortcuts)