1. Choose the mobile feature or the Mac workflow first
Sudowrite’s official Web App vs. Mobile App table lists Smart Dictation and Enhanced Dictations as mobile-exclusive. The web app has the broader feature set, including full Story Bible generation, plugins, Document History, project and document Trash, Visualize, and series management, but it does not expose the mobile Smart Dictation control.
Use mobile when you want Sudowrite’s speech capture, story-aware formatting, saved Dictation history, or enhancement workflow. Use the Mac web editor when you want the full authoring surface and are comfortable supplying text through macOS Dictation, IraVoice, typing, or a reviewed paste.
2. Use Smart Dictation in the mobile app
From the mobile Home screen or a project’s document list, tap the plus icon and choose New Dictation. Speak, stop, and wait for Sudowrite to process and format the result. To dictate inline, open a document, place the cursor, tap the sparkly microphone in the toolbar, speak, and stop; Sudowrite inserts the formatted result at that position.
Sudowrite says Smart Dictation adds punctuation and dialogue formatting and can recognize character names from the story. Treat those as editing aids, not proof that every name, quotation, scene beat, point of view, or story fact is correct.
- Confirm the project and document before an inline session.
- Review character names, dialogue, punctuation, and story facts.
- Stop listening before discussing the draft or changing context.
3. Review the Original before accepting an Enhanced version
The Dictations tab shows timestamp, duration, and word count and lets the writer view Original and Enhanced versions, copy, delete, or send a Dictation to a project. Sudowrite says all Smart Dictations are saved there until deleted.
Dictation Enhancement is a generative writing step, not a more accurate transcript. Sudowrite says it can expand the spoken material into more developed prose and may produce up to ten times the word count. Compare it with the Original, preserve the intended meaning and authorship, and reject invented plot, voice, detail, or dialogue before adding it to the manuscript.
4. Dictate into Sudowrite’s web editor on a Mac
Open the full web app at sudowrite.com, select the correct project and document, and click where the words should appear. Trigger the shortcut shown under System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation, speak, stop, and inspect the visible text.
This is macOS text input, not Sudowrite Smart Dictation. The web app will not gain the mobile Dictations tab, story-aware speech formatting, Original and Enhanced history, or mobile enhancement workflow merely because speech produced text in the editor. A website microphone permission is not required for the browser simply to receive text from the separate macOS Dictation path.
5. Keep the transcript separate from Sudowrite AI actions
Once speech becomes document text, Sudowrite’s Write, Rewrite, Chat, Story Bible, models, and plugins are separate actions with their own context, credit, and output behavior. Review the transcript first, select only the intended text, and then choose whether an AI feature should transform it.
Do not treat an AI rewrite as a corrected transcript. It may deliberately change style, detail, pacing, or wording. Sudowrite itself advises writers to edit and respond to generated Story Bible prose so that it remains true to their vision.
6. Know where mobile dictation results and projects go
Sudowrite says mobile access uses the same account and shared credits as the web app. Projects and documents are stored in the same cloud and synchronize automatically between web and mobile. Sending a Smart Dictation to a project creates a new document; inline Dictation inserts into the current document.
The Smart Dictation guide separately says every Dictation remains in the Dictations history until deleted. Deleting or moving manuscript text does not necessarily remove the corresponding Dictation-history entry, so inspect and delete that entry deliberately when it is no longer needed.
7. Keep Story Bible and export outside the microphone step
Story Bible can preserve synopsis, characters, worldbuilding, outline, and other project context, but dictating prose does not prove those fields are current. Smart Dictation may use character context while formatting; the writer still owns continuity and the source of truth.
Sudowrite supports project, merged-document, individual-document, and selected Story Bible exports. Its documentation says ordinary project and document exports do not include Story Bible by default. Review project order, folders, Story Bible sections, and the exported files separately from the Dictation result.
8. Treat privacy as feature-specific, not brand-wide
The current mobile documentation establishes that projects and documents live in Sudowrite’s cloud and that Smart Dictations stay in history until deleted. Sudowrite’s general privacy policy covers submitted materials, trusted service providers, and retention, but it does not name the Smart Dictation speech processor or publish an audio-specific retention rule.
Do not label Smart Dictation local, offline, zero-retention, or training-free without a current feature-specific disclosure. For Apple Dictation, inspect the processing notice under System Settings → Keyboard for the active Mac, language, and configuration. A local recognizer can keep recognition on the Mac, but text saved into Sudowrite still enters the Sudowrite project and cloud-sync boundary.
9. Troubleshoot the mobile and Mac paths separately
If mobile Smart Dictation is missing, confirm that you are using the current iOS or Android app, not the web app, and that the same Sudowrite account and subscription are active. Check mobile microphone permission, network access, app version, available credits, and whether the expected project has finished syncing.
If Mac speech produces no text, test the same Dictation shortcut in TextEdit. If it fails there too, inspect Keyboard → Dictation, language, microphone source, Voice Control, and the current network requirement. If TextEdit works, return to a plain Sudowrite document, refocus the editor, and test one unsent sentence.
10. Add IraVoice only for the separate local Mac input path
IraVoice 0.7.1 is a separate option for macOS 26+ Apple-silicon Macs when speech recognition should run on the Mac or one held-key workflow should supply text across supported Sudowrite, browser, email, note, and developer fields. Models download on first use; the full trial needs no activation, and paid continuation needs one Gumroad key check.
IraVoice does not sign in to Sudowrite, replace Smart Dictation on mobile, read Story Bible, recognize Sudowrite characters automatically, create Original or Enhanced history, spend credits, run Write or Rewrite, manage plugins or collaboration, synchronize projects, recover Trash or Document History, export manuscripts, or delete cloud data. It targets a supported focused field and falls back to the clipboard when direct insertion is uncertain.