Talk

fn

Hold a key and say what needs doing. Let go, and the words land where you were.

Talk works in any app. Hold the talk key, say it, and let go. fab writes your words down on your Mac and pastes them into the app that was in front when you started, even if you moved on while it was writing.

The strip in the corner shows the words as they come. A small fab mark follows your pointer and fills with the thread as you get louder, so you can see it is listening without looking away from your work. Take a grab while you talk and it lands in the text, as a numbered mark where you took it.

Start to finish

One whole use, uncut.

Pick a moment to jump to it.

Every state

What talk can show you.

Listening

The key is down. The strip shows the words as you say them, written on your Mac.

Hands-free

Tap the key twice to keep listening without holding it. Press it once more to finish.

Writing it down

You let go and fab is finishing the words. If it takes longer than 4 seconds, the notch says so and counts.

Landed

The words are pasted where you were, and your clipboard comes back as it was.

Didn’t catch that

Nothing came through. Nothing is pasted, and nothing is lost: hold the key and say it again.

Microphone didn’t start

If the mic isn’t up within 6 seconds, the take closes and fab tells you to replug it.

Keys

What your hands do.

fn
Hold to talk, let go to land the words. The default when 🌐 is set to Do Nothing; otherwise Right ⌥.
fnfn
Tap twice to talk hands-free. Press again to finish.
⌃⌥S
Take a grab while you talk. It lands in the text as [1], [2]…

Settings

What you can change.

Talk keyfn · Right ⌥ · Right ⌘ · Right ⌃
Left and right modifiers are told apart, so the left ones stay yours.
ModeHold
Hold to talk, or Toggle: one tap starts, the next stops.
Press Return afterOff
Sends the message once the words land, for chat boxes.
Show the stripOn
The words as they come, in a corner of your choice.
Strip cornerBottom right
Any of the four corners.
Live wordsOn
Show a quick draft while you talk; the final words replace it.

Behind it

What fab does with it.

  1. Hear

    The voice model runs on your Mac. The recording never leaves it.

  2. Write

    Your words, with a [n] wherever you took a grab and the grab files listed after.

  3. Land

    Pasted into the app you started in. Without Accessibility, the words wait on the clipboard.

  4. Keep

    Saved to History. If you took grabs, fab makes a demo video of the take.

Worth knowing

The small things it gets right.

  • Chords still work: a press while another modifier is down isn’t a talk.
  • A tap under a third of a second is a false start, not an empty paste.
  • The first run downloads the voice model, about 600 MB, and shows its progress.
  • Drop files on the strip’s corner and they join the take as grabs.
  • With Reduce Motion on, the pointer mark jumps instead of gliding.

Next in the tour

Grab →

Point at what you mean. An area, a window, a screen, or a short video of it.

Guides that use it

Try it on your own Mac.

Download fab0.2.1437 MB · macOS 26 or later, Apple silicon