💡 Availability: This feature is currently in limited release. Check with our Customer Success team if you're not sure whether you have access.
Use your voice to write and edit text in Heidi and across your entire desktop. Press and hold a hotkey to dictate instantly, or use the microphone icon if you prefer to manually start and stop dictation.
What is Dictate?
Dictate turns your voice into text instantly — so you can write notes, ask questions, fill in forms, and draft documents without touching the keyboard. It works across Heidi and, with the Desktop App, in any app on your computer.
Whether you're writing in your EHR, drafting an email, or adding to your clinical notes, dictation lets you stay focused on your patient while Heidi handles the typing.
How to Activate Dictate
Dictate uses a "hotkey" to activate — a key you press to trigger an action without clicking through menus. In Heidi, holding the Dictate hotkey turns your microphone on; releasing it sends the transcribed text to wherever your cursor is.
For the desktop app, the hotkeys are:
Windows — Ctrl (right-side)
Mac — fn
For the web browser app, the hotkey depends on your system and keyboard layout. See the Web hotkeys by region section further down to find yours.
There are two ways to dictate:
Method | How it works |
Press and hold | Hold the hotkey to start, release to send |
Hands-free mode | Double-tap the hotkey to keep dictating while you switch between apps. Tap again to stop. |
Dictate anywhere (desktop app)
Dictate into any app on your computer
With the Heidi Desktop App, you can dictate beyond Heidi - directly into your EHR, Word, Outlook, a browser, or any other app with a text field. Heidi runs in the background and transcribes your speech wherever your cursor is placed.
The system hotkeys are Fn on Mac, or Ctrl (right side) on Windows.
How it works
Open the Heidi Desktop App
Click into any text field on any app (with Heidi open in the background)
Press and hold the system hotkey to start dictating
Speak naturally.
Release the key. You will hear a sound once your dictation is ready and the text will appear at the cursor.
You can also dictate ‘hands-free’ with the desktop app, by double-tapping the hotkey, speaking as required, then pressing the hotkey once more to stop. This prevents you from needing to hold the hotkey for prolonged periods, which is useful if you need to spend a longer period dictating.
💡 If you're on the Windows desktop app, you'll need to enable Dictate in settings before you can use it. Head to Settings > Defaults > Dictation to dictate with a shortcut.
Setup
Mac
System requirements: see our website here.
Install/update to the latest Heidi desktop app.
Log in to your Heidi account.
Grant microphone permission when prompted.
Grant accessibility permission when prompted (System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility).
Test it: click into any text field, press and hold Fn, speak, and release.
Windows
System requirements: see our website here.
Install/update to the latest Heidi desktop app.
Log in to your Heidi account.
Grant Microphone permission when prompted.
Test it: click into any text field, press and hold Ctrl (right side), speak, and release.
💡To check which version you are on, and whether there is an update available, head into the User Menu > Settings > Account, then scroll down to ‘Heidi desktop app’ for current versioning information.
Suggested usage
Write directly in your EMR (progress notes, referrals, discharge summaries)
Draft patient communications (follow-up instructions, recalls, secure messages)
Write emails and internal messages faster
Complete forms and insurance paperwork in web portals
Create task lists and handover notes while you review results
Dictate into spreadsheets (e.g. rosters, call lists, audit notes)
Search and fill browser-based fields (labs, imaging, practice management systems)
Things to Know
Copied to clipboard — Once you complete your dictation, the text is automatically copied to your clipboard if you haven't clicked into a text field. There is no way to access previous dictations in the current release.
Hands-free mode — Double-press the hotkey to work hands-free and keep speaking while you switch between apps. Your text will appear wherever the cursor was when you pressed the hotkey. Press the key again to end the dictation.
Custom shortcuts — In future versions, you will be able to change the dictation shortcut to better suit your workflow.
Online only — We currently do not support offline mode. Ensure you have a stable internet connection to use dictation.
Dictate in Heidi (web browser)
Use Dictate anywhere you can type in Heidi — including your clinical notes, Ask Heidi, and the template editor.
The web hotkey key label varies depending on your keyboard layout — see Web hotkeys by region below to find yours.
How it works
Click into any text field in Heidi (notes, Ask Heidi, template editor, etc.)
Press and hold your web hotkey to start dictating.
Speak naturally.
Release the key. Your text will appear where the cursor is placed.
If no text field is selected when you dictate, Heidi shows a clipboard with your transcribed text so you can copy and paste it wherever you need.
Suggested usage
Ask Heidi - Dictate your questions to get instant answers, clinical evidence, and references. No typing needed.
Templates - Use it in the template editor to ask Heidi to make changes, or to edit the example note.
Notes - Add to your clinical notes hands-free while you stay focused on your patient.
Web hotkeys by region
Heidi detects your keyboard type automatically. Find your region in the table below to confirm which key to press. Image examples follow after the table.
Region | Keyboard type | Your web hotkey |
Australia (AU), New Zealand (NZ), United States (US), Canada (CA) | QWERTY | Backtick ` |
United Kingdom (UK) | QWERTY (ISO) | Backtick ` |
Germany (DE), Austria (AT) | QWERTZ | Caret ^ |
Switzerland (CH), Finland (FI), Norway (NO) | QWERTZ | Section sign § |
France (FR), Belgium (BE) | AZERTY | Backtick ` or Pound £ — Mac, superscript 2 ² — PC |
Italy (IT) | QWERTY (IT) | Backslash \ |
Spain (ES) | QWERTY (ES) | Masculine ordinal º
|
Denmark (DK) | QWERTY (DK) | Half sign ½ |
Japan (JP) | QWERTY (JIS) | Yen or backslash (¥) |
💡 Heidi detects your keyboard type based on what your computer reports — not your physical location. If you're in one of the above regions but using a standard QWERTY keyboard, Heidi will fall back to the backtick key.
Keyboard reference
AU/NZ/US/CA — backtick `
AU/NZ/US/CA — backtick `
UK — backtick `
UK — backtick `
DE/AT — caret ^
DE/AT — caret ^
CH/FI/NO — Section sign §
CH/FI/NO — Section sign §
FR/BE — backtick ` or pound £ on Mac, superscript 2 ² on PC
FR/BE — backtick ` or pound £ on Mac, superscript 2 ² on PC
Mac —
PC —
IT — backslash \
IT — backslash \
ES — masculine ordinal º
ES — masculine ordinal º
DK — Half sign ½
DK — Half sign ½
JP — backslash \ or yen ¥
JP — backslash \ or yen ¥
Troubleshooting
Most dictation issues are related to microphone access and can be fixed quickly.
Not hearing you or seeing an error?
Make sure your accessibility permission is granted for the app on macOS
Check that your microphone is connected and working
Make sure microphone access is enabled in your browser or system settings
Refresh the browser after enabling microphone access
Ensure the Heidi Desktop App is open and running in the background (for Desktop Dictate)
Confirm you have a stable internet connection (offline mode is not yet supported)
Text appearing in the wrong place?
Make sure your cursor is clicked into the text field where you want the text to appear before pressing the hotkey
No sound when Dictate completes?
Check your system audio is not muted
If issues persist, please contact our Support team whom will be able to assist.