Create a note by voice
Say “create a note”
and start talking.
You are in the middle of something — a spreadsheet, an email, a call — and a thought arrives that you want to keep. Press the command key, say “create a note”, and Lickety comes to the front on its Notes screen with a blank note open and the cursor already in the title. Say the title. Tab. Say the note. You never reached for the mouse, and nothing left your PC.
How it works
Lickety has two hotkeys: one for dictation, one for commands. The command key listens for a short phrase and acts on it instead of typing it. “Create a note” is one of the phrases that ships built in — nothing to set up, nothing to switch on.
- Press the command key — Ctrl + NumPad 5, unless you have changed it — and say “create a note”.
- Lickety opens on Notes with a new, blank note and the cursor in the Title box. It does this from wherever you were: another program, the tray, a different Lickety screen.
- Press the dictation key and say the title. A title is a title, not a sentence, so Lickety leaves the full stop off the end.
- Tab to the body and dictate. Everything Lickety normally does to your words happens here too — your vocabulary, your corrections, numbers, dates, times, line breaks.
- Press Save note. Or walk away: a note you never typed anything into is thrown away without asking, and a note you changed is asked about before it is lost.
Creating the note and filling it are voice. Tab, Save and the category picker are the keyboard or the mouse — this is one phrase that saves you three clicks, not a claim that you never touch the machine again.
The phrases that work
Any of these, said to the command key: create a note, create note, create a new note, new note, make a note. If the recogniser hears node instead of note — it does sometimes — that works too. And if you already have a command of your own using the same words, yours wins; the built-in phrase only answers when nobody has claimed it.
A worked example
You are reading an email about a deck project. Press the command key and say “create a note”. Lickety comes up on Notes with the cursor in the title. Then:
- Deck project measurements
- Deck project measurements — no full stop: it is a title
- overall fourteen by twenty-two feet. Joists at sixteen inches on centre. Forty-two boards at twelve feet, add ten percent for waste, so order forty-seven
- Overall 14 by 22 feet. Joists at 16 inches on centre. 42 boards at 12 feet, add 10% for waste, so order 47.
Press Save note, Alt+Tab back to the email, and carry on.
What makes it different
It is one phrase, not three steps
Other tools make you open the notes app, then start a note, then find the title. “Create a note” does all three, from whatever you were doing.
It asks before it loses anything
Say “create a note” while an unsaved note is open and Lickety asks whether to save that one first — the same question the New note button asks. Cancel puts you back where you were.
The note is a real note
Categories, search, sort, merge, print, export to Word, PDF, Markdown or CSV, and it goes into every backup. It is not a scratch window that disappears. Everything the Notes screen does applies to it.
Private and offline
The command, the recognition and the note all happen on your PC. There is no account, nothing is uploaded, and it works with the internet off. Nothing is recorded as audio at any point — it is text from the first moment.
Where to find the rest
Say “what can I say” to the command key, or press the What can I say? button on the Commands screen, and Lickety lists everything it understands: its own screens, your folders, web search, any program on your Start Menu, and “create a note” under its own Notes heading — plus every command you have added yourself.
Questions
Do I have to be on the Notes screen first?
No. Say “create a note” from any program, with Lickety minimised or in the tray, and it comes up on Notes with the new note open.
What if I already have a note open with changes I haven’t saved?
Lickety asks whether to save it before opening the new one — the same question the New note button asks. Cancel keeps you in the note you were in.
Why doesn’t my title end with a full stop?
Because it is a title. When the cursor is in the Title box, or in the Notes search box, Lickety leaves the sentence-ending full stop off. A question mark or a comma you spoke inside the title stays.
Can I change the words?
The built-in phrases are fixed, but a command of your own using the same words wins over the built-in one, so you can route “new note” anywhere you like. Lickety also accepts “node” for “note”, because speech recognisers sometimes mishear it that way.
Does it work offline?
Yes. The recognition, the command and the note are all on your PC. Nothing is sent anywhere and there is no account.
Is the note safe?
Notes are kept on your PC in the same encrypted file as your dictation history, are never trimmed by the history limit, and go into every backup you make.
What is the difference between the dictation key and the command key?
The dictation key types what you say into whatever window you are in. The command key does what you say — opens a folder, a program, a website, a Lickety screen, or a note — and types nothing.
Lickety — $79, once
Windows 10 & 11. No account, no upload, nothing renews.