Text insertion

Text insertion is the last step of dictation. The software takes the words it has recognized and places them in the text field that has the cursor. Two methods do this: one simulates typing, and the other pastes the words from the clipboard.

Simulated typing sends the words as keystroke events

Simulated typing makes the operating system treat the words as keyboard input. On Windows, the SendInput function does this. Microsoft describes it as a function that inserts events "serially into the keyboard or mouse input stream" ¹. The events go in one after another, so the characters of a sentence arrive in order.

Because the app receives these events as keyboard input, the text lands in the field the same way typed text does.

Paste puts the whole passage in at once

Paste insertion places the recognized text on the clipboard and then sends the paste command, usually Command + V on a Mac or Ctrl + V on Windows. HEX, a Mac dictation tool, says you hold a shortcut, speak, and release it, and that it "transcribes on your Mac and pastes the result into the app you are using" ².

The clipboard is shared with everything else on your computer. A paste-based tool therefore replaces whatever you copied last, unless it restores the old clipboard afterward.

An example: the same sentence, two ways

Suppose you dictate "Please send the revised budget by Friday" into an email. A typing tool sends each character as an event, and the sentence grows at the cursor. A paste tool recognizes the whole sentence first, then places it at the cursor in one step. Handy, a dictation project, describes its use as pressing a shortcut, speaking, and having your words appear in any text field ³. The result looks the same to you. The difference shows when something goes wrong.

Insertion limits decide where dictation works

Insertion is where dictation most often fails for reasons other than recognition. On Windows, an app may send simulated input only to applications at an equal or lower integrity level ⁴. That means a normal program cannot type into a window run with administrator rights. Microsoft also says a blocked call does not clearly report that cause, so the dictation tool may simply do nothing.

On Linux, the method depends on the display system. Vocalinux, a Linux tool, types text on X11 and Wayland through xdotool, IBus, wtype, ydotool or a clipboard fallback ⁵. Each route has its own permissions and its own failures.

When dictation does nothing in one app but works in another, insertion is a likely cause. The fix can be a different app, a different privilege level, or a different tool, rather than a different microphone.

What to test before you choose a tool

Test insertion in the apps you use most, including your browser, your email and any admin windows. A feature list does not show whether words reach the cursor. Yap, which we make, is an on-device dictation app for Mac and Windows, and it is worth comparing on the same test.

Related terms

• System-wide dictation: dictation that types into any app, which depends on insertion working in every one.
• Dictation: the general act of speaking words that software writes down.
• Web Speech API: browser speech recognition that hands recognized text to a web page.

Guides that cover it

• How to dictate into any app: built-in vs system-wide
• Google Docs voice typing: how to use it and its limits
• Speech to text in Chrome: built-in options and extensions