1. Choose text, AI-polished text, or retained audio
ClickUp uses the Talk to Text name across its browser app, desktop app, Brain MAX, the Brain MAX Chrome extension, and Brain MAX mobile. Inside ClickUp, supported destinations include comments, Chat, Brain, the Super Agent builder, the toolbar, and Hubs such as Docs, Forms, Whiteboards, Dashboards, Teams, and Clips.
Brain MAX desktop is the cross-app path: ClickUp says it can paste AI-improved text into the current ClickUp field or any other text box. Voice Clips are different. They are audio comments saved in the Clips Hub and can be automatically transcribed when the AI ClickApp is active.
- Choose Talk to Text for supported fields inside ClickUp.
- Choose Brain MAX desktop when the target is another app or text box.
- Choose Voice Clips only when the team should receive retained audio.
2. Use Talk to Text inside ClickUp
Focus the intended supported field, choose its microphone, speak, stop, and review the result before you send, save, create, assign, or update anything. ClickUp describes Talk to Text as AI-polished voice input with more than 50 languages, selectable writing styles, and personal vocabulary support.
Speech recognition still does not verify the task, List, Space, assignee, date, status, watchers, permissions, mentions, links, or audience. A fluent transcript is editable text, not proof that the surrounding ClickUp action is correct.
3. Use Brain MAX in any text box on Mac
Keep the Brain MAX desktop app open and place the insertion point in the exact field. Hold fn or the configured shortcut to record, then release to stop. For hands-free toggling, ClickUp documents Shift + fn or the equivalent custom shortcut.
Brain MAX converts the recording to text, improves it with AI, and pastes the result into the current text box. Its settings cover shortcuts, microphone, audio, automatic language, output language, and a dictionary for names or specialized terms. Review the pasted text before moving focus or triggering an action in the target app.
4. Separate third-party AI retention from ClickUp history
ClickUp says its service is hosted on AWS, supports external models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, has zero data retention agreements with its large-language-model partners, and does not let those partners train on Workspace data. Those are important third-party AI boundaries.
They do not mean that every ClickUp artifact disappears immediately. Brain MAX documentation exposes previous Talk to Text searches and lets a user play, export, retry, inspect raw or processed transcripts, and delete previous audio. The reviewed ClickUp documentation does not state one default Talk to Text retention period, so this guide does not invent one.
5. Treat Voice Clips as retained team audio
A Voice Clip is an audio comment, not just cursor text. ClickUp automatically saves Voice Clips to the Clips Hub, and the AI ClickApp can transcribe them. Recipients can play the clip, copy its link, download it, or delete it when they have the required access.
ClickUp currently documents a 20-minute limit for each Voice Clip and says Voice Clips are retained forever unless manually deleted. That retention is materially different from composing editable text. Confirm the audience and whether the original recording should live in the Workspace before sending one.
6. Check plan and Workspace limits before relying on it
ClickUp’s current feature-limit page lists a 2,000-word Talk to Text trial per Free Forever Workspace and a 10,000-word trial per paid-plan Workspace. After the trial, the Brain add-on includes 25,000 words per Workspace and the Everything AI add-on lists unlimited use.
ClickUp says availability and limits can vary by plan, role, and feature changes. This guide therefore does not present those allowances as a permanent standalone price. Check the current Workspace plan and official feature-limit page before making Talk to Text part of a required workflow.
7. Use a local Mac path when ClickUp AI is not the job
If Talk to Text fails, confirm Brain MAX is open, the intended field has focus, the configured shortcut is not conflicting with another app, the correct microphone is selected, and the Workspace role and plan allow the feature. Test one sentence in a plain text field before changing broader ClickUp settings.
Use macOS Dictation first for occasional text in a supported focused field. Use ClickUp when its AI polish, Workspace context, history, or retained team audio is the intended behavior.
IraVoice 0.7.1 is the separate option for macOS 26+ Apple-silicon Macs when recognition and supported formatting should run on the Mac across supported editable fields, or when a longer spoken task brief should become reviewable Markdown first. IraVoice does not sign in to ClickUp, read Workspace context, update tasks, assign people, post comments, send Voice Clips, press Send, or save changes.