Utility, the text workbench, and your dictation statistics
By Ryleigh Newman · Published · Updated
The Utility page is a workbench for text inside YapToText: dictate into a scratchpad, transcribe an audio or video file, rewrite text through any mode, or run an AI action, each with Copy and Insert. It is in the sidebar, and Statistics has its own page there too, adding up your words, speaking time, words per minute, streaks and the time saved over typing. Utility helps when the words are not headed into another app yet. Statistics shows what all that talking adds up to.
Everything on both pages runs on your Mac. For a full walkthrough of turning a recording into text, the guide to transcribing an audio file on a Mac goes further than this page.
This app is completely free. You don't have to make an account. There are no subscriptions, no difficult downloads, and nothing is locked. Made for Apple silicon Macs. Source on GitHub.
On this page: 9 sections
Steps
- Open the Utility page in YapToText's sidebar.
- Press Dictate and talk, or drop an audio or video file on the Transcribe a file card.
- Press Send below to pass the text to Transform text, pick a mode and press Transform.
- Press Copy, or press Insert to type the result into the app you were last using.
Transcribe an audio or video file
Drop an audio or video file on the Transcribe a file card, a Voice Memo included, or press Choose File, and the text appears in the card. Pick the mode before you drop the file: Raw Transcription keeps every word, and the other modes clean it up on the way. Your dictionaries and spoken commands apply too, so the names you have taught the app come out right.
The same job lives in the menu bar panel and on the History page as Transcribe file. That route uses your current mode, copies the text to your clipboard, types it into the app you were using if Insert text automatically is on, and files it in History under the file's name. The Utility card does none of that: the text stays in the card until you copy it, insert it or send it below.
Dictate, rewrite and run AI actions
The four cards form a line, and Send below passes the text in one card down to the next. Dictate or transcribe, send it down, rewrite it, then copy it or insert it.
- Dictate. Press Dictate and talk. It records like any dictation, with the live wave and your words as they form, but the finished text lands in the card's scratchpad instead of another app, and the floating panel stays out of the way. Each new dictation is added below the last.
- Transform text. Paste rough text, or send it down from above, pick a mode and press Transform: paste notes, pick Email, and you get an email. Only modes with AI cleanup are offered, and since every mode is editable, the result follows whatever you have told that mode to do.
- AI action on text. Run a saved AI Action on any text: Improve Writing, Fix Grammar & Spelling, Make Concise, Make Formal, Make Friendly, Summarize, Bullet Points, Translate to English, or one of your own.
Every card has Copy, Insert, which types the text into the app you were last using, and Clear. The modes page explains how to rewrite a mode's instructions.
What the Statistics page counts
Statistics has its own page in the sidebar, and the chart button on the History page opens it too. Every number comes from your History.
- Four totals. Dictations, words spoken, time speaking and your speaking pace in words per minute.
- Words per day. A bar chart of the last 30 days. Select a bar to see that day's count.
- Insights. The time saved versus typing everything at 40 words a minute, your current streak and your best one, and how many words a typical dictation runs.
- Top modes and destinations. Your four most used modes and the four apps you dictate into most.
- Energy & resources. Memory now, CPU now and the model unload delay, which the Energy page sets.
Pace is your real words per minute across everything you have dictated, so it reflects how you talk, and it appears once you have spoken for more than 30 seconds in total. The time saved is how long typing the same words at 40 words a minute would take, minus the time you spent talking. The numbers describe you, not a benchmark.
Everything stays on your Mac
Every number on the Statistics page is worked out on your Mac from your own history, at the moment you open the page. Nothing is tracked, and nothing leaves the machine. Your words, your recordings and your numbers stay on your Mac.
File transcription works the same way. The audio is transcribed on your Mac, and the app makes no network calls in normal use. The only network use is a model download you start yourself. The privacy policy has the details, and the source is on GitHub.
Limits
- Utility work is not filed. Scratchpad dictations and Utility file transcriptions are not saved to History. Transcribe file in the menu bar panel or on the History page does file one, under the file's name.
- The Dictate card's mode menu sets the app's mode. Picking a mode there changes the mode for every dictation, and picking anything but Auto turns Auto mode off. Turn Auto mode back on from the Home page, the Modes page or Settings, General.
- Plain text only. A file transcript has no timestamps, subtitles or speaker labels.
- Statistics follow History. They count only what History keeps, so the defaults, Keep last 500 and auto-delete after 30 days, trim the totals, and with history off, new dictations are not counted.
- Transform needs an AI mode. If no mode with AI cleanup is turned on, the card says so and the button stays off.
If something is off
- Dictate is grayed out. Another dictation is running or still finishing. Wait for it, then press Dictate.
- The file will not transcribe. The card shows why. A file with no speech in it says none was found, and a file macOS cannot decode will not open. The file transcription guide lists the formats.
- Speaking pace shows a dash. You have spoken for less than 30 seconds in total.
- Insert typed into the wrong app. Insert types into the app you were in before YapToText. Click into the right app, come back, and press Insert again.
For problems with live dictation, the troubleshooting page goes step by step.
The short version
- Talk without a target. Dictate into the scratchpad when the words are not going anywhere yet.
- Turn rough text into finished text. Send it down to Transform text or an AI action.
- Check your numbers. Statistics shows your pace, streaks and time saved, worked out on your Mac.
For a Voice Memos recording in particular, the voice memo guide walks through getting it out of Voice Memos and onto this card.
Utility puts everything the app does on one page, and Statistics shows what you have done with it. If a card does something this page does not describe, tell me on GitHub. Every issue gets read.
This app is completely free. You don't have to make an account. There are no subscriptions, no difficult downloads, and nothing is locked. Made for Apple silicon Macs. Source on GitHub.
Related
Questions
Can YapToText transcribe a video file?
Yes. Drop an audio or video file on the Transcribe a file card on the Utility page and you get the text, transcribed on your Mac.
Does transcribing a file need an internet connection?
No. The speech model ships inside the App Store build, and the file is transcribed on your Mac. Nothing is uploaded.
Can I rewrite text I did not dictate?
Yes. Paste it into Transform text on the Utility page and pick a mode, or run an AI action such as Summarize or Translate to English on it.
How does YapToText work out the time saved?
It takes how long typing the same words at 40 words a minute would take and subtracts the time you spent talking. It is worked out from your own history on your Mac.
Do my statistics get sent anywhere?
No. Every number is worked out on your Mac from your own history when you open the page. Nothing is tracked and nothing leaves the machine.