Guide
Brain dump by voice
A brain dump works when getting the thought out costs nothing. Saying it out loud skips the typing, and sorting can wait until your head is clear.
The method
- Capture without editing. Start a recording and say everything on your mind, in any order. Do not fix sentences while you talk.
- One thought, one note, when you can. Short notes are easier to sort than one long one. A new recording takes one shortcut.
- Sort later. When you are done, read the transcripts, give each note a project, and delete what no longer matters.
Doing it with Talki
- Press ⌘ ⇧ Space from any app to start and stop. In the direct download you can also hold Fn and talk.
- Each recording runs up to 5 minutes. If a thought runs long, add another recording to the same note.
- The original recording is saved before any transcription, so nothing you said is lost if a model fails or mishears. You can replay it while you sort.
- Assign notes to projects afterwards and filter the library by project. Search finds a phrase across notes and transcripts.
- Names and terms you use often go in the personal dictionary (up to 1,000 terms), so they come out spelled your way.
- Optional AI cleanup tidies the edited text with your own OpenRouter key. The original transcript stays as it was.
Keep it private
Your brain dump stays in Talki's library on your Mac. With Apple on-device recognition the audio does not leave the Mac; with an OpenRouter key it goes to OpenRouter and the model you chose. Notes you no longer want go to Trash, and permanent deletion asks first.
Next step
Get Talki, then try one five-minute dump and sort it the next morning. The voice notes guide shows how notes, projects and search work together.