Guides

Dictate tickets in Jira and Linear on a Mac: titles, bug reports and comments by voice

By · Published · Updated

To dictate a ticket in Jira or Linear on a Mac, open the create form, click into the title, dictate it, then click into the description and dictate the details: what you did, what you expected and what happened instead. Both apps document C as the shortcut that starts a new issue, and a title, a description or a comment is ordinary text at a cursor, so any dictation tool that types where you click can fill it.

Apple Dictation, built into macOS, works anywhere you can type. YapToText, the free app I built, types into Jira in your browser and into Linear in its Mac app or a browser, and keeps your voice on your Mac. I built it because my hands make typing difficult, and I dictate every day, but I have not tested it in Jira or Linear, so where something depends on their editors, I point to their own docs. The hard part of a ticket by voice is the code names, and the section on code names is the one to read first if that is what goes wrong.

Download YapToText on the Mac App StoreDownload for free. No account, nothing locked, macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon. Source on GitHub.

On this page: 11 sections
  1. Steps
  2. Where you dictate, and what Auto mode does there
  3. Dictate a ticket with YapToText
    1. Step 1: Open the create form
    2. Step 2: Dictate the title
    3. Step 3: Dictate the description
    4. Step 4: Read it, then create the ticket
    5. Apple Dictation works too
  4. Pick a mode for each field
    1. A mode of your own for bug reports
  5. Markdown and shortcuts in each editor
    1. Typed marks, not spoken ones
  6. Keep code names out of the dictation
  7. Rewrite a description with Quick Edit
    1. Step 1: Select the text
    2. Step 2: Say the change
    3. Leave sending to yourself
  8. If the words do not land
  9. What each one cannot do
  10. The short version
  11. Questions

Steps

  1. Press C in Jira or Linear to open the create form, and click into the title.
  2. Tap Right Command, say the title, and tap Right Command again.
  3. Click into the description, tap Right Command, press 3 for Clean Up, and say what happened.
  4. Tap Right Command again, and the description lands at the cursor.
  5. Read the ticket, fix any misheard code name, and select Create yourself.

Where you dictate, and what Auto mode does there

On a Mac, Jira is a browser tab: Atlassian's docs say the Jira Cloud app for macOS was sunset in February 2022, and your work is available in Jira in a web browser. Linear's docs offer a desktop app for macOS on Apple silicon and Intel, as well as the web. Wherever the ticket is open, the words land where the cursor is.

Auto mode, on by default, leans only for the apps it names: mail apps toward Email, chat apps toward a casual message, and Xcode, VS Code, Cursor, JetBrains IDEs, Sublime Text, Zed, iTerm2, Terminal, Hyper and WezTerm toward Code Comment. A browser gets no lean, and Linear is on none of the lists, so neither gets a lean:

  • A short title. Six words or fewer stay exactly as spoken.
  • A description or a comment. Ordinary sentences get a careful pass that fixes misheard words, punctuation and capitalization and keeps your wording, tone and sentence structure.
  • No surprise commit messages. Unlike in VS Code, a long bug report in Jira or Linear is not pushed toward Code Comment. You pick it with a number key when you want it.

The guide to dictation for coding covers your editor, and the guide to voice typing in a browser covers the browser side.

Dictate a ticket with YapToText

YapToText is free on the Mac App Store for an Apple silicon Mac with macOS 14 or later, with no account. One dictation per field: the title, then the description, then send it yourself.

Step 1: Open the create form

  • You: Press C. Linear's docs say it opens an issue creation modal; Atlassian's say it creates a work item in Jira, and Jira's Create button in the navigation bar does the same.
  • Jira or Linear: Opens the form, with a title field and a description below it. Jira's docs say its title field was previously labeled Summary, and Linear's say an issue needs a title and a status.
  • Check: The cursor is blinking in the title field.

Step 2: Dictate the title

  • You: Tap Right Command, say the title, such as "export button does nothing on the reports page", and tap it again.
  • YapToText: Transcribes on your Mac, pastes it at the cursor and puts back whatever you had copied before.
  • Check: The title reads right. A title of six words or fewer is typed exactly as spoken.

Step 3: Dictate the description

  • You: Click into the description, tap Right Command, press 3 for Clean Up, and say what happened, pausing whenever you need to.
  • YapToText: Shows your words as they form. Auto-stop after silence is off by default, so a pause to remember a step does not end the dictation.
  • Check: Tap again, and the description lands with the ums gone and your wording kept.

Step 4: Read it, then create the ticket

  • You: Read the title and the description, fix any misheard name, and select Create yourself.
  • YapToText: Presses nothing, unless you added that app under After a dictation lands.
  • Check: File names, function names and error text are the ones you meant. The section on code names below handles the ones that slip.

For a comment, the steps are the same, in a different box. Atlassian's docs say M jumps straight to the comment field on a Jira work item, and Linear's say you post a comment with the Comment button or Command Enter, or with Enter if you change that in your preferences.

Apple Dictation works too

Apple says Dictation works anywhere you can type, so it fills a Jira or Linear field the same way: click in, press the Microphone key or your Dictation shortcut, and talk. It stops after 30 seconds without speech, which can end a long bug report while you think, and the text below Dictation in Keyboard settings says whether your voice is processed on your Mac or sent to Siri servers. On an Apple silicon Mac you can keep typing while Dictation listens, which helps with a code name: type it, and keep talking.

Pick a mode for each field

The number keys pick a mode for one dictation while you talk, and each field of a ticket suits a different one. Raw Transcription for exact words, Clean Up for descriptions, Code Comment only when you want it terse.

  • Raw Transcription, 2. Literal speech to text with basic punctuation, and no AI model. Use it for a title, or for a sentence that quotes an error message as you read it off the screen.
  • Clean Up, 3. Removes filler words and false starts, fixes grammar and punctuation, and writes spoken web and email addresses in proper form. It never deletes, shortens or summarizes a sentence, so every step of a bug report stays in.
  • Note, 4. Short headings and bullets, with action items pulled into a list, and nothing added that you did not say.
  • Code Comment, 7. Concise, technical phrasing for code comments and commit messages, with identifiers and casing kept exactly as spoken and no quotes or code fences. It compresses what you say, so it suits a terse technical line, not a description full of context.

Those numbers are the default order. With Auto mode on, the pick lasts for that one dictation, and the next one is Auto again.

The Switch Mode panel listing Auto, Raw Transcription, Clean Up, Note, Email, Message and Code Comment, numbered 1 to 7, each tagged AI cleanup or Verbatim.
Figure 1. The number beside each mode is the key that picks it while you talk: 2 for a title, 3 for a description, 7 for a terse technical line.

A mode of your own for bug reports

If you file bug reports every day, a mode can give them the same shape every time. On the Modes page, right-click Clean Up and choose Duplicate, rename the copy, and write its Instructions in the AI cleanup card. In its Basics card, an Activation shortcut starts a dictation in that mode from anywhere; starting a dictation that way makes it the selected mode, which switches Auto off until you choose Auto again.

Mode instructions: An example for bug reports.

Turn my dictation into a bug report with three Markdown sections: ## Steps to reproduce, as a numbered list, ## Expected, and ## Actual. Keep every file name, function name and error message exactly as I said it. Do not add steps or details I did not say.

What happens: The cleanup model follows these instructions for every dictation in this mode, on your Mac. It is a small model, so type a sample in Try it out and press Preview with AI before you rely on it.

The modes guide covers the editor, and the Auto mode guide lists the phrases Auto treats as instructions, such as "as a bullet list" at the very end.

Markdown and shortcuts in each editor

Both editors turn Markdown marks into formatting and have shortcuts for the same jobs, with a few differences. Dictate the words, then add structure with the editor's own marks and shortcuts.

Checked October 5, 2026, on Linear's and Atlassian's own docs. Editors change, so check before you rely on a shortcut.

FormatLinearJira
Bold**text** or Command B**text** or Command B
Italics_text_ or Command I*text* or _text_, or Command I
Heading# then Space, ## for the next level# to ###### for levels 1 to 6
Bulleted list*, - or + then Space, or Command Shift 8* or -, or Command Shift 8
Numbered list1. or Command Shift 91. or 2), or Command Shift 7
Checklist[] or Command Shift 7[] for an action item
Inline codeCommand E`text` for monospace
Code block/code or Command Shift \```
More optionsType /Type /

Command Shift 7 is a checklist in Linear and a numbered list in Jira, so a habit from one will surprise you in the other.

Typed marks, not spoken ones

YapToText's spoken hashtag, with insert in front, types a # glued to the next word, and both editors want a # and a space for a heading, so I would not dictate headings that way. Dictate the heading as words on its own line, put the cursor at the start, and type the # and a space, or select the line and use the editor's menu. For a list, dictate each item and end it with new line, pausing so the next item starts a new sentence, then select the lines and press the list shortcut.

A list from YapToText is another route: end a dictation with as a bullet list, or press 4 for Note. Whether its bullets come out as Markdown hyphens or another mark is the cleanup model's choice, so check it. Linear's docs say Markdown can be typed or pasted into its editor and is converted into rich text, and YapToText delivers by pasting, so a list written with hyphens should convert. Atlassian's docs describe typing Markdown in Jira's rich text fields, so how a pasted list comes out there is something to check. I have not tested either, so look at the first list you dictate in each. The spoken punctuation guide lists every name and the insert rule.

Keep code names out of the dictation

A ticket is mostly prose with a few code names in it, and those are where dictation slips, because Whisper hears words. Say the sentence, and paste or teach the names.

  • Paste exact strings. An error message, a stack trace or a regular expression is faster to paste than to say. Paste it, and dictate the sentences around it.
  • Teach the names you say every week. On the Dictionaries page, put what Whisper wrote in Heard and your spelling in Replace with. History shows what Whisper wrote: click Show pipeline details on that dictation.
  • Teach one from the screen. Select the name in your editor or in the ticket, tap Right Option, say add this to my dictionary, and tap again.
  • Mark it as code afterwards. In Linear, select the name and press Command E for inline code. In Jira, the Markdown for monospace is the name between backticks.

Dictionary entry: A class name, the way Whisper hears it and the way the code spells it.

Heard: report exporter
Replace with: ReportExporter

What happens: Every report exporter in a dictation is written ReportExporter, and ReportExporter is also handed to Whisper as a word to listen for.

That priming list has a budget of about 200 characters, with your dictionary terms first, and a Replace with longer than 40 characters is not used as a prompt, though the replacement still runs. So add the names you say most. Code Comment's instructions also say to keep identifiers exactly as spoken, but it is a small model on your Mac, so read a name before the ticket goes out. The dictionaries guide covers Whole word and Case, and the custom vocabulary guide goes further.

Rewrite a description with Quick Edit

Quick Edit rewrites selected text by voice, in any app, on your Mac. Select the description, tap Right Option, say the change, tap again.

Step 1: Select the text

  • You: Select the description, or the paragraph you want changed, in Jira or Linear.
  • YapToText: Nothing yet.
  • Check: The words are highlighted.

Step 2: Say the change

  • You: Tap Right Option, say "make this shorter", "fix the grammar" or "turn it into bullet points", and tap it again.
  • YapToText: Opens the Quick Edit card, which shows your instruction in quotes, then applies it on your Mac and replaces the selection.
  • Check: The card says Done. If it says Nothing changed or Couldn't apply that edit, your text is as it was.
YapToText's Quick Edit page: the Quick Edit key on Right Option, Corrections by voice, pop-up position and colors.
Figure 2. The Quick Edit page: Right Option is the key, and Corrections by voice adds scratch that and replace for a dictation that just landed.

Press Esc while the card says Applying your edit, and the selection is left exactly as it was. The rewrite comes from a small model, so read a long one, and check that code names survived it; I have not tested how often a rewrite changes one. Whether a bulleted rewrite turns into a list in Jira or Linear depends on what each editor does with the pasted text, so check that too. The Quick Edit guide lists what you can ask for.

Leave sending to yourself

After a dictation lands, in Settings, Advanced, Text output, can press Return or Command Return in an app the moment your words arrive. It works per app, and in these two that is a blunt tool: for Jira the app is your browser, so it would fire on every page, and in Linear it would fire in the title, the description and every comment alike. Linear's docs also use Command Enter to check or uncheck a checklist item in its editor. I would leave both off; that is caution, not something I measured.

If the words do not land

Most problems are the cursor or the permission. Click inside the field before you start; outside a text box, both apps use single letters such as C as shortcuts. Climb this ladder, smallest step first:

  1. Click into the field. Click inside the title, the description or the comment box and wait for the cursor to blink. YapToText never types into its own window, so a dictation started there goes to the app you used just before, or to the clipboard.
  2. Turn on Accessibility. On YapToText's Home page, press Grant next to Accessibility and switch the app on in System Settings, Privacy & Security, Accessibility. Without it, every dictation is copied to the clipboard instead of typed, so press Command V and nothing is lost.
  3. Check Insert text automatically. It sits on the Dictation page, in the Delivery card, and it is on by default. Off, every dictation goes to the clipboard.
  4. Stop a beep. Intelligent Insert reads the words around your cursor with a few invisible keystrokes, and some apps and pages answer one with the alert sound. In the Delivery card, choose Turn off in another app and pick your browser or Linear, or lower Alert volume in System Settings, Sound.
  5. Pin a method. If a field ignores pasted text, choose Add App Override under Per-app method in Settings, Advanced, pick your browser or Linear, and keep Type character-by-character. For a browser, the pin covers every page.
  6. Find it in History. By default History keeps your last 500 dictations for 30 days, so a bug report that landed in the wrong place can be copied or inserted again.

The Intelligent Insert guide and the troubleshooting guide go further, and the Mac dictation not working guide covers Apple Dictation.

What each one cannot do

  • Apple Dictation. It stops after 30 seconds of silence, it is not available while Voice Control is on, and whether your voice leaves the Mac depends on what Keyboard settings says.
  • YapToText. It types text. It does not create the issue, set its status, assignee or labels, or click Create. It does not read your code or check that a name exists. Its spoken commands are punctuation, emoji and snippets, its modes work per app rather than per website, and its behavior in Jira and Linear is untested. Clean Up, Note, Code Comment and Quick Edit need a cleanup model, which the App Store build includes and the Homebrew build leaves for you to download. It needs an Apple silicon Mac with macOS 14 or later, and nothing is claimed for Intel Macs.

The ticket itself goes to Jira or Linear like typed text; your voice stays on your Mac. It writes the ticket; you still file it.

The short version

  • One field at a time. Press C, click into the title, tap Right Command, talk, tap again, then do the same in the description.
  • Pick the shape. 2 for an exact title, 3 for a description, 7 only for a terse technical line.
  • Handle the names. Paste exact strings, add the names you say often to Dictionaries, and mark code with the editor's own shortcut.
  • Tighten it after. Select the description, tap Right Option and say make this shorter.

Say the bug the way you would explain it to a colleague, then read it once before you create it.

For prompts to coding agents rather than tickets, the guide to voice coding with AI agents covers Cursor, Codex CLI and the rest. If something here does not match what you see in Jira or Linear, open an issue on GitHub. Every one gets read.

Download YapToText on the Mac App StoreDownload for free. No account, nothing locked, macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon. Source on GitHub.

About the author. Ryleigh Newman is a developer whose hands make typing difficult and who dictates every day with YapToText, the app this site describes. Facts about other apps come from their own sites, with the date they were read. More about the project.

Sources

Questions

Can you use voice to text in Jira?

Yes. Jira on a Mac runs in your browser, and Apple Dictation or a dictation app such as YapToText types into its title, description and comment fields at the cursor.

How do I dictate a bug report on a Mac?

Click into the description, start dictation, and say the steps, what you expected and what happened. With YapToText, press 3 for Clean Up while you talk to drop the filler words and keep every step.

Can I dictate into Linear on a Mac?

Yes. Linear has a Mac app and a web app, and a dictation tool that types at the cursor works in its title, description and comment fields. YapToText types there with your voice turned into text on your Mac.

Does Linear support Markdown?

Yes. Linear's docs say Markdown can be typed or pasted into its editor and is converted into rich text, with shortcuts such as Command B for bold and Command E for inline code.

Is there a Jira app for Mac?

Atlassian's docs say the Jira Cloud app for macOS was sunset in February 2022, and your work is available in Jira in a web browser.

How do I keep function and class names right when dictating tickets?

Paste exact strings such as error messages. For names you say often, add them on YapToText's Dictionaries page, with what Whisper heard under Heard and your spelling under Replace with.