Wispr Flow Is the New TextExpander


THE MACSPARKY DISPATCH

Hi Friend,

The first time I installed TextExpander, it changed how I used my Mac. Snippets I typed twenty times a day became three keystrokes. It wasn’t the most powerful text utility on the Mac. There were heavier options out there. But TextExpander hit the spot: the feature was powerful enough to be useful and simple enough to use every day. That’s a hard place to land.

Wispr Flow has done the same thing for dictation.

I’ve been dictating into Macs for years. I’ve tried the high-end stuff. I’ve tried the built-in stuff. None of it was quite right. Wispr Flow is the one that did.

A few things make it work. The accuracy is good enough that I trust it on the first pass. The custom dictionary handles names like “MacSparky” without me having to babysit the result. It runs everywhere I write, and it gets out of the way when I don’t want it.

Wispr Flow isn’t the most powerful dictation tool you can buy. There are heavier-duty options if you need them. Wispr Flow sits in the Goldilocks position. Enough features to make it worth paying for. Not so many that learning becomes a burden.

And I’ve been hearing from listeners and readers who have reached the same conclusion.

The price is around $10 to $15 a month. I’ve run roughly 200,000 words through it at this point, including the rough draft of this newsletter. If you want to try it, my affiliate link gets you a free month of Pro.

This is not a sponsorship. I just dig the app. That’s the whole take. A tool that brings dictation to everyday Mac use, the way TextExpander brought snippets to it. If you’ve been on the fence about dictation, this is the one I’d point you to.

Your pal,
David

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This week's newsletter is sponsored by Shortform.

The whole premise of this piece is about a tool that finally clicked. Shortform clicked for me the same way. I'd tried a few book summary services before. None of them stuck. Shortform did, and it's changed how I read.

What works about it is the depth. The summaries aren't cliff notes. You get the full argument chapter by chapter, with editorial commentary that connects ideas across books. I'll come in to read about one book and end up reading three more because a concept in the first one links to something in another.

My most recent read on the app was a Shortform Explainer on the decline and rebirth of cursive writing. It's funny. The way I write today is voice through Wispr Flow. The piece I just read on Shortform was the history of a writing tool that the keyboard more or less retired. Same problem in every era. How do we get the words out faster than we can think them?

If you sign up through my link, you get a free trial and a discount on the annual plan. Start with one book or explainer you've been meaning to dig into. You'll see how much more you get out of it.

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David Sparks (MacSparky)

In a world where technology is increasingly conspiring to steal our focus and attention, my goal is to teach you how to be more productive with Apple technology. I want to help you achieve what is most important to you and enjoy your life at the same time using technology instead of becoming another one of its victims. Pretty much everything I make points at that North Star. I believe in this message so much that I’ve staked my livelihood on it.

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