Overview of Dictation, Voice Chat & Write with Voice
The many ways to use Voice with Sapience.
Talking to Sapience — Voice Chat & Dictation
Last Updated: 2026.07.07
Overview
You don't have to type to work with Sapience. There are two ways to use your voice:
- Voice Chat — a real-time, two-way spoken conversation with an agent. You talk, it talks back.
- Dictation — you speak, Sapience transcribes it to text, and you paste it wherever you need it. You can do this in many places within Sapience (wherever you see the blue microphone).
They're different tools for different moments: Voice Chat for a hands-free back-and-forth, Dictation for getting your words onto the page fast.
Voice Chat — a two-way spoken conversation
Voice Chat opens a live spoken session: you ask, the agent answers out loud, and you keep going — no typing at all. It's great for thinking out loud, quick questions, or working hands-free.
How to start it: click the Voice button (top of the app / in the sidebar). The agent greets you by name and starts listening.
A few things worth knowing:
- Availability: the Voice button appears for eligible accounts (power users and organization admins). If you don't see it, Voice Chat isn't enabled for your account.
- Choose the voice model: in Voice Settings you can pick which model powers the conversation.
- The spoken voice is a warm, natural default — and yes, it says the name the right way: "SAY-pee-ence."
Dictation — speak, and it becomes text
Dictation listens to you, transcribes what you said, and hands you the text to paste anywhere.
In the web app: press Alt+D to open a small floating dictation panel. It listens while you speak; press Stop (or Alt+D again) to finish, and your transcribed words are copied to your clipboard — ready to paste into a chat message, a note, an email, anywhere.
- Sessions have a short automatic cut-off (around a minute), so a forgotten mic won't run forever.
- Dictation is a web-app feature; the desktop app has its own built-in dictation mode.
Which one should I use?
SituationUseYou want a hands-free back-and-forth conversationVoice ChatYou want to speak a message/note and paste the textDictationYou're on the web and want quick speech-to-textDictation (Alt+D)You want the agent to talk back to youVoice Chat
Good to Know
- Voice Chat is a live conversation; Dictation is one-way. Voice Chat replies to you out loud; Dictation just turns your speech into text you control.
- Voice Chat needs an eligible account. If the Voice button isn't there, it's a plan/role thing, not a bug.
- Dictation puts you in control of the text — nothing is sent anywhere until you paste it and send it.
Summary
Sapience gives you two hands-free options: Voice Chat for a real, two-way spoken conversation with an agent (via the Voice button, on eligible accounts), and Dictation for turning speech into text you can paste anywhere (via Alt+D in the web app). Pick the one that fits the moment — a conversation, or just getting your words down fast.