Voice to Text for FigJam
Brainstorming sessions move at the speed of thought, but typing can't keep up. Whether you're adding sticky notes during a workshop, capturing feedback in a design critique, or documenting action items in a retrospective, switching from ideation to typing kills momentum. Blurt lets you speak directly into FigJam. Hold a button, say your idea, release. Text appears instantly on your sticky. Your hands stay free to drag, connect, and organize. Your mind stays in the flow.
The Typing Problem
Ideas evaporate while you're still typing the last one
The brainstorm is flowing. Someone says something brilliant that sparks three connected thoughts. But you're still hunting for keys, typing out your previous idea. By the time you hit the last period, those new thoughts are gone. Typing speed becomes the bottleneck for creative thinking, and the best ideas are the ones that slip away.
Sticky note creation breaks your facilitation rhythm
You're running a workshop and need to capture points as participants share them. But every sticky note requires: click, type, click away. You're looking at your keyboard instead of reading the room. You miss nonverbal cues and lose the thread of conversation because you're focused on transcribing, not facilitating.
Retrospectives become typing marathons
The team has lots to say in the retro. What went well, what didn't, what to try next. But thirty sticky notes later, everyone's hands are tired and ideas are getting shorter. The notes go from thoughtful observations to terse fragments because typing fatigue sets in halfway through the session.
Design critiques lose nuance when feedback is typed
You have specific, detailed feedback about the spacing, hierarchy, and user flow. Explaining it verbally would take 15 seconds. But typing it into a sticky? That's a minute of condensing your thoughts into shorter phrases. So you write 'fix spacing' instead of explaining exactly what you mean and why it matters.
Remote collaboration feels slower than in-person whiteboards
In a physical room, you'd grab a marker and scribble on a Post-it in two seconds. In FigJam, every sticky requires clicking, positioning, then typing. The digital overhead makes remote workshops feel sluggish compared to the immediacy of a real whiteboard. Ideas get lost in the latency of the interface.
How It Works
Blurt works anywhere you can type in FigJam. Sticky notes, text blocks, comments, shape labels, connector annotations. If there's a cursor, Blurt works.
Click into any text field
Sticky note, text block, comment, or any element where you'd normally type.
Hold your hotkey and speak
Press your chosen shortcut and say what you want to capture. Blurt handles punctuation automatically.
Release and keep collaborating
Text appears instantly. No delay, no extra steps. Move to the next sticky or drag elements around.
Real Scenarios
Rapid sticky note capture during brainstorms
The team is ideating on user onboarding improvements. Ideas are flying. Click new sticky, hold your hotkey, say 'What if we showed a progress bar during signup to reduce abandonment?' Release. Next sticky. 'Could we pre-fill fields using LinkedIn data?' You're capturing complete thoughts at speaking speed, not abbreviated fragments at typing speed.
Design critique feedback that's actually useful
You're reviewing a checkout flow redesign. Click to add a sticky near the payment form, hold and speak: 'The credit card field should auto-format as users type. Currently nothing indicates where to put spaces, which causes validation errors and user confusion.' Detailed, actionable feedback in 5 seconds.
Sprint retrospective without typing fatigue
It's Friday retro time. In the 'What went well' section, hold your hotkey: 'The new API caching reduced load times by 40 percent and we got positive feedback from the beta users.' Full context captured. 'What didn't work' section: 'Our estimation was off because we didn't account for the legacy system integration complexity.' Honest, detailed reflection without tired fingers.
Workshop facilitation while staying present
You're facilitating a journey mapping session. As participants describe pain points, you capture them in real-time: 'User gets frustrated when the app asks for the same information they already provided in onboarding.' Your eyes stay on the participants, not the keyboard. You catch the nonverbal reactions and can follow up on emotional responses.
User research synthesis on the board
You're clustering interview findings in FigJam. For each insight, hold and speak: 'Four out of six participants mentioned they wanted to see pricing earlier in the flow.' Then: 'The word trust came up repeatedly when discussing the checkout hesitation.' Synthesis happens at the pace of your analysis, not your typing.
Meeting notes that capture full context
You're using FigJam to document a stakeholder meeting. As decisions are made, capture them: 'Agreed to push the launch date by two weeks to allow for additional accessibility testing. Sarah will own the updated timeline.' Complete notes without looking away from the screen.
Connector and shape annotations in diagrams
You're building a user flow diagram. For each connector, add context: 'User clicks CTA only if social proof section is visible above the fold.' Label shapes with detailed descriptions: 'Error state shown when payment fails, includes retry option and support link.' Your diagrams become self-documenting.
Why teams choose Blurt over built-in dictation for FigJam collaboration
| Blurt | macOS Dictation | |
|---|---|---|
| Activation speed | Single customizable hotkey, instant start | Double-tap Fn, wait for system UI |
| Response time | Text appears in under 500ms | 2-3 second delay, breaks brainstorm flow |
| Design vocabulary | Handles 'wireframe', 'user flow', 'stakeholder' correctly | Struggles with design and business terms |
| Focus preservation | No system UI, stays in FigJam | Dictation panel appears, disrupts view |
| Reliability | Consistent transcription every time | Occasional silent failures require retry |
Frequently Asked Questions
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