Voice to Text for Bear
Your best ideas don't wait for you to sit down and type. They arrive while you're walking, cooking, or staring out the window. Blurt lets you capture those thoughts directly into Bear before they fade. Hold a button, speak your idea, release. Clean text appears in your note, ready for tagging and formatting. No friction between thought and beautiful markdown. Your notes grow faster when you can think out loud.
The Typing Problem
Journaling becomes a chore when you have to type every thought
You want to build a daily journaling habit. The benefits are clear — clarity, reflection, tracking your life. But after a long day, typing out your thoughts feels like homework. You skip entries. Then skip entire weeks. That journaling habit you wanted never sticks because your fingers are tired even when your mind has plenty to say.
Quick capture isn't quick when you're hunting for the keyboard
An idea strikes. You open Bear to capture it. But by the time you've positioned your hands, found your cursor, and started typing, the thought has fragmented. The original insight felt complete and crisp. What you typed is a pale shadow, missing the nuance that made it worth capturing.
Markdown formatting breaks your creative flow
You're drafting a blog post or personal essay. The words are flowing until you need a header. Or a list. Suddenly you're thinking about syntax instead of content. Those brief pauses to type asterisks and brackets add up. Your stream of consciousness becomes a stuttering trickle.
Long-form writing exhausts your hands before your ideas run out
You have more to say. A detailed project plan, a heartfelt letter, a comprehensive meeting note. But your fingers give out before your thoughts do. You cut corners, summarize instead of elaborate, stop before you're truly done. The note ends up shorter than your actual thinking.
Tags and organization require too much typing overhead
Bear's tagging system is powerful. Nested tags, smart organization, beautiful archive of thoughts. But adding tags means more typing. You tell yourself you'll organize notes later. Later never comes. Your Bear library becomes a mess of untagged notes that might as well be lost.
How It Works
Blurt works directly in Bear — in notes, journals, drafts, anywhere you place your cursor. No plugins or extensions needed.
Hold your hotkey
Press your chosen shortcut. A small indicator shows Blurt is listening.
Speak naturally
Say what you're thinking. Blurt handles punctuation and natural speech patterns.
Release and continue
Text appears in your Bear note. Add your tags, adjust formatting, or keep capturing.
Real Scenarios
Morning journaling without the typing fatigue
Your morning coffee ritual includes reflection, but typing disrupts the meditative quality you're after. With Blurt, hold the button and let your thoughts flow: 'Slept poorly but feeling oddly optimistic. Something about yesterday's conversation with Mom shifted my perspective on the job situation. Need to sit with that more.' Three thoughts captured while your coffee's still hot, no keyboard required.
Drafting blog posts and essays by thinking out loud
You have something to say but blank page syndrome is real. Open Bear, hold the button, and just start talking: 'The thing about productivity advice is that it assumes everyone's brain works the same way. But what works for morning people fails completely for night owls. Maybe the first step is knowing which you actually are.' First draft emerges from speech. Edit later.
Capturing ideas during walks and movement
Your best ideas come when you're away from your desk. Walking the dog, doing dishes, commuting. With your MacBook nearby, hold the button: 'Idea for the newsletter — what if I structured it around questions readers actually asked instead of topics I assume they want. More dialogue, less lecture.' The thought is captured while still fresh.
Quick meeting notes that don't interrupt conversation
During a call, you need to capture key points without losing focus on the discussion. Quick button press: 'Sarah mentioned the Q2 deadline might slip. Budget concerns from finance team. Follow up on the vendor contract by Friday.' Notes captured live, ready for tagging and organization after the call ends.
Building a personal knowledge base faster
You're reading and want to capture insights in your own words. Hold the button: 'This author's point about compound habits connects to what James Clear wrote. Small improvements stack over time. Tag this with self-improvement and book notes.' Your Bear library grows with synthesized knowledge, not just copied quotes.
Emotional processing through voice journaling
Sometimes you need to process feelings, not just record facts. Typing feels clinical, distant. Speaking is more natural: 'Feeling frustrated about the project delay but I think it's actually anxiety about the presentation next week. The delay is just easier to be mad about.' Voice captures emotional nuance that typing often loses.
Long letters and personal writing
You want to write something meaningful to someone — a thank you note, a letter to your future self, a eulogy, a heartfelt message. The formality of typing creates distance. Speaking brings warmth: 'Dear grandma, I've been thinking about those summers at your house and how much they shaped who I am...' Write from the heart, literally.
Why Bear users choose Blurt over built-in dictation
| Blurt | macOS Dictation | |
|---|---|---|
| Activation | Single hotkey, instant response | Double-tap Fn or click microphone icon |
| Speed | Text appears in under 500ms | 2-3 second delay common |
| Accuracy | Consistent, reliable transcription | Often fails silently or mishears words |
| Natural speech | Handles thinking-out-loud patterns well | Best with formal, dictation-style speech |
Frequently Asked Questions
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