Typeless Setup Guide: Permissions, Shortcuts & Dictionary

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Typeless turns your speech into clean text in any app on your computer or phone, and can translate your words or transform selected text with voice commands. Setup takes just a few minutes, but two early decisions - permissions and shortcuts - determine whether the tool will be seamless or frustrating.

We base these steps on the official Typeless help center and installation guide. Shortcuts may vary between app versions, so always check them in settings.

Step 1: Installation and Login

On Mac, you download the file from the Typeless website, open it, and drag the icon to your Applications folder. On first launch, the system will ask for confirmation - click Open. You log in with Google, Apple, or email. Typeless also works on Windows, iPhone, and Android, and your dictionary and settings sync across devices on the same account.

Step 2: Two Permissions You Must Grant

Typeless will request two permissions, and you need to grant both:

• Accessibility, which lets it insert text directly where your cursor is: in Slack, Teams, Google Docs, Notion, and anywhere else,
• Microphone, confirmed first in Typeless, then in a system dialog.

At the end of setup, there’s a microphone test. If you see moving blue bars, your microphone is working and you can proceed. If the bars are still, check which microphone is selected in your system, especially with wireless headphones.

Step 3: Shortcuts for Dictation, Translation, and Commands

During setup, you confirm shortcuts for three functions: dictation, translation, and asking questions. According to the official guide, the default dictation shortcut is Fn on Mac and right Alt on Windows. You press it, hear a sound or see a voice bar, and start speaking. If the shortcut conflicts with something you use, you can change it in shortcut settings.

Step 4: Your First Dictation

Place your cursor in any text field, like a new email, press the shortcut, and say what you want to write. You don’t need to speak like you’re recording a voice memo. Typeless removes filler words like “um” and “you know,” and recognizes when you correct yourself mid-sentence, keeping only the final version. You speak naturally, and text appears on screen that doesn’t need cleaning up.

Step 5: Edit Selected Text with Voice

The second function worth learning right away. You select any text and speak a command: shorten, expand, make the tone more formal. This also works on text you can’t edit, like a paragraph on a webpage: you select it and ask for a summary, explanation, or translation.

Step 6: Personal Dictionary

This is the setting that improves quality the most. You add surnames, company names, brands, and technical terms to the dictionary, and Typeless treats them as priority and always writes them the same way. The dictionary syncs across devices, though the dictation content itself doesn’t sync, only the configuration.

Best practice: after your first week, review texts where Typeless made mistakes and add all those words at once.

Step 7: Phone and Whisper Mode

On iPhone, Typeless works as a voice keyboard in all apps: Messages, Mail, Notes, Slack. After installation, you add the keyboard in system settings. Third-party keyboards typically need full access to send recordings for processing, so if the microphone button doesn’t respond, check that setting first.

The mobile app also has a mode for quiet dictation, useful on trains or in offices where you don’t want to speak aloud. You enable translation on the phone by holding the speak button and sliding your finger up to select the target language.

Common Problems at Startup

• Text doesn’t insert: Accessibility permission is missing.
• Dictation won’t start: shortcut conflicts with another program or system shortcut.
• Mangled names: dictionary is empty.
• Microphone doesn’t work on phone: keyboard doesn’t have full access.

Free Plan or Pro

The free version has a weekly word limit that runs out quickly if you dictate emails and notes daily. The Pro plan removes the limit and adds higher recognition accuracy. The simplest way is to test it yourself: if in your first week you hit the limit before Friday, Pro will pay for itself.

How to Evaluate Your First Week

After a week, check in which situations you dictated and where you returned to the keyboard. Where dictation took hold naturally, it stays for good. Where it didn’t, consider what got in the way: the shortcut, your environment, or perhaps names missing from the dictionary. Each of these obstacles can usually be removed in a few minutes.

It’s also worth checking how Typeless handles your speaking style, like fast pace or industry abbreviations, and immediately add to the dictionary any words it gets wrong.

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