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When you search for information on private, offline dictation, you’ll find something intriguing: the majority of options mainly serve Mac users. Meanwhile, Windows users, who represent a significant portion of the global workforce, often end up being directed towards cloud services, leaving them to hope for the best with those solutions.
We believe this approach is misaligned. Let’s explore what it truly takes to dictate effectively on a Windows PC while ensuring your voice stays securely on your device.
Why “local” is harder than it sounds
Changing your speech into text is just one part of the process. The first step gives you a bunch of words without any punctuation or capitalization, and it doesn’t tell you if you’re writing an email or using a terminal. The real work happens next: cleaning up that text and formatting it for the app you’re using.
Many tools that claim to work locally only do the first part on your device and send the rest to the cloud, like locking your front door but leaving the window wide open.
With Voxor’s Local Mode, both parts happen right on your computer: the speech recognition and the cleanup that makes your text look good in your app.
What Local Mode actually does on Windows
Here’s what you need to know for Windows, where things can vary a lot more than on Macs:
- Easy setup: Local Mode downloads its model once, then runs on your CPU. There’s nothing else to configure on any standard x64 Windows PC that meets the minimum below.
- Uses your graphics card: If you have an NVIDIA graphics card, Voxor adds a GPU pack for faster results. AMD and Intel graphics work too for the cleanup. If there’s a problem with the graphics card, Voxor will automatically switch to using the CPU, so you can keep dictating.
- Works offline: Once Local Mode is set up, you can dictate with no internet connection at all. Great for when you’re on a plane or just want to unplug!
- Your privacy matters: In Local Mode, Voxor doesn’t send your words, what app you’re using, or any screenshots out into the world. While signing in and updates do need the internet, your dictation stays private.
Things to keep in mind
We want to be clear about what to expect:
- You’ll need a decent PC. Running speech recognition and formatting together needs some power. Voxor won’t turn on Local Mode if your device has low specs (like under 4GB of memory or fewer than 2 processor cores), and the size of the model it uses will depend on how powerful your memory and graphics are.
- Right now, Local Mode only works on regular x64 PCs with Windows. If you’re using a Windows laptop with an ARM processor, this feature isn’t available yet.
- Cloud mode isn’t all bad! For many users, the cloud is a good option because it doesn’t take up much space on your device and works on almost anything. The important thing is that you get to make the choice, and it’s a clear one.
Three questions to ask any dictation tool
Whether you’re considering Voxor or another tool, if you’re dictating sensitive information, ask:
- Does the speech recognition happen on my PC or somewhere else?
- Does the cleanup and formatting happen on my PC or elsewhere? (This question is often forgotten!)
- Can I turn off the internet and still dictate?
If the answers are “my PC, my PC, yes,” you’re in a good spot! You can check Voxor yourself: turn on Local Mode, switch off your Wi-Fi, and keep dictating.
If you’re on Windows and want to try it out, Voxor for Windows is the best place to start. And if you’re curious about how we handle cloud mode, take a look at our privacy policy! Still weighing your options? We compared the best dictation apps for Windows, the built-in one included.