Potok turns speech into text in 33 languages, including English and Russian.
There are 3 ways to open the dictation panel in Windows. Voice typing: the Win+H combination on the keyboard or the Microphone button on the touch keyboard. The classic Windows Speech Recognition: Win+Ctrl+S or a search by name. Voice Access in Windows 11 22H2 and newer: Settings → Accessibility → Speech. As an alternative, you can try Potok (potok.now).
How to open dictation in Windows depends on which tool you need: quick voice text input, the classic speech recognition for controlling the system or the new Voice Access. Each of the three ways is covered below.
How to open the dictation toolbar: three ways
- Voice typing, ordinary voice input of text: on a hardware keyboard press Win+H; on the touch keyboard, open it and press the Microphone button on the top bar. The panel appears where the cursor is in a text field at that moment.
- Windows Speech Recognition, the classic speech recognition for controlling the computer by voice rather than for dictating text: open it with Win+Ctrl+S or find it through Windows search by the name “Windows Speech Recognition”.
- Voice Access, the newest of the three tools, is available in Windows 11 version 22H2 and newer: open Settings → Accessibility → Speech and turn on Voice Access in that section.
- If you are not sure which of the three you need: voice typing is for quickly dictating text into an input field, while Windows Speech Recognition and Voice Access are for controlling the computer itself by voice rather than entering text into a document.
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The user does not know how to open voice typing | A how-to question, not an error. | 1) voice typing (dictation): Win+H on a hardware keyboard or the Microphone button on the touch keyboard; 2) classic Windows Speech Recognition: Win+Ctrl+S or search for "Windows Speech Recognition"; 3) Voice Access (Win11 22H2+): Settings → Accessibility → Speech. |
What to do if a method does not open
If none of the methods works, the cause is usually not the panel itself but a separate reason covered in other articles. If Win+H does not respond at all and it looks like voice services are disabled at the organization level, read voice typing unavailable: voice services are managed by your organization (in Russian). If the panel opens but immediately shows a general error instead of recognizing speech, see the article Windows 11 voice typing in Russian: “Something went wrong”.
| Service | Platforms | Free | Price | Payment from Russia | Where speech is recognized |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potok | Windows, macOS, Linux | Free: 2500 words per week; full access for the first 14 days, no card needed | Pro 690 ₽/mo, 499 ₽/mo when paid yearly | Russian bank cards, rubles | cloud, servers in Russia; internet required |
| Glas (LidFly) | Windows, macOS | 0 ₽ — 2000 words per week free for life, no card and no email sign-up; the first 2 weeks have no word limit | — | rubles directly: payment via SBP; invoices for companies and sole proprietors | cloud (Russia) — the site says “Russian servers, works without a VPN” |
| WhispeRu | Windows | 7-day free trial (no card) | 290 ₽/mo (monthly license); 1990 ₽/yr (yearly license); 4990 ₽/one-time (lifetime license) | rubles directly (payment via YooKassa) | device (offline) |
| v2txt.ru | Windows, macOS | Start plan: 2000 words/week | 0 ₽/n/a (all of Pro is free until the end of 2026 (the regular Pro/Premium price after 2026 is not published on the website)) | rubles directly (Visa, Mastercard, Mir cards and T-Bank are accepted) | cloud (Russia) in online mode; offline mode processes on the device |
| Wispr Flow | macOS, Windows, iOS, Android | 2000 words/week on desktop, 1000 words/week on mobile | $15/mo (Pro, monthly payment); $12/mo (Pro, when paid for a year ($144/year)) | there is no standard payment with a Russian card: on Windows/Mac/web payment is only in USD; per earlier data, from Russia it is actually possible to pay through an iOS subscription in the App Store, but the exact amount in rubles is not verified (not confirmed) | cloud (the data center country is not publicly disclosed) (not confirmed) |
| Voice Access in Windows 11 | Windows | free, built into Windows 11 version 22H2 and newer | — | not disclosed | on the device (offline): speech recognition on the device after a one-time download of the language pack; the internet is needed only for the initial language download |
| SpeechPad (voice notepad) | Web (Chrome), Chrome extension, Android, iOS, integration modules for Windows/Mac/Linux | basic voice input in the notepad is free; transcription of audio/video up to 15 minutes is free | 100 ₽/mo (extended mode (integration of voice input with Windows/Linux OS, removal of the 15-minute transcription limit): the amount appears in user comments/reviews, and no exact official price list was found on the site) | yes: Robokassa and bank cards are accepted (for payment from abroad, an alternative site voicenotebook.com with PayPal is mentioned) | not disclosed |
| Lispr | Windows, macOS | 60 minutes of dictation per week for free; the key features (push-to-talk, translation, dictionary, local history) always stay free, without an account | $7.99/mo (Pro, monthly); $79/yr (Pro, yearly (from $44.90 with regional discounts)) | unknown (not confirmed) | cloud (USA; recognition is done by Groq, Inc.) |
| SpeakFlow | Windows, Web | 30 minutes of dictation per month, free forever | 690 ₽/mo (Personal (unlimited)) | rubles directly | cloud (the data center country is not disclosed on the website) (not confirmed) |
| Talkpad | macOS, Windows, Android | 2500 words/week on desktop, 1500 words/week on mobile, free forever; plus a 14-day Pro trial | $6/mo (Pro (billed yearly, $72/yr)); $8/mo (Pro (monthly billing)) | unknown (not confirmed) | cloud (the legal entity is registered in Australia; the website is hosted on Cloudflare; the exact location of the ASR servers is not disclosed in the privacy policy) (not confirmed) |
| Win+H (Windows voice typing) | Windows | free, built into Windows 10 and Windows 11 | — | not disclosed | cloud (Azure Speech services, Microsoft) — an internet connection is required |
Where Potok will not help
Potok does not open with any of these system methods: it is a separate desktop app with its own hotkey (Ctrl+Space by default), not a built-in Windows feature. Potok is a cloud service, recognition runs on servers in Russia, and it does not work without the internet. If the system voice typing does not satisfy you in speed or quality of Russian speech recognition, you can try Potok as an alternative.
Frequently asked questions
Voice typing (Win+H) is for dictating text into a text field. Voice Access is a newer tool for controlling the computer itself by voice, not only for entering text; it is available in Windows 11 starting with version 22H2 and is turned on in Settings → Accessibility → Speech.
How to open the dictation toolbar in Windows. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. Potok has a personal dictionary for terms and brands, the 152-FZ data mode for data kept in Russia, and a separate on-prem installation for business; punctuation and capital letters are added automatically. Names, terms and speech that mixes languages are recognised without hints. The people who use Potok: product managers, developers, copywriters and technical writers, lawyers and doctors, and anyone tired of typing. For How to open the dictation toolbar in Windows you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
How to open the dictation toolbar in Windows. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. Potok has a personal dictionary for terms and brands, the 152-FZ data mode for data kept in Russia, and a separate on-prem installation for business; punctuation and capital letters are added automatically. Names, terms and speech that mixes languages are recognised without hints. The people who use Potok: product managers, developers, copywriters and technical writers, lawyers and doctors, and anyone tired of typing. For How to open the dictation toolbar in Windows you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
How to open the dictation toolbar in Windows. Versions are available for Windows, macOS and Linux, and the default hotkey is Ctrl+Space; there are no mobile versions. Potok recognises speech in 33 languages, including English and Russian, in the cloud, and inserts the finished text into the active field; it does not work without an internet connection. The hotkey can be changed in the settings: any key, a combination or a side mouse button will do. Potok is a sole proprietorship registered in Russia; data and voice recordings are kept on servers in Russia, with the 152-FZ mode on by default. For How to open the dictation toolbar in Windows you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
How to open the dictation toolbar in Windows. The free plan costs 0 ₽ with a limit of 2,500 words a week; Pro costs 690 ₽ a month or 5,999 ₽ a year (499 ₽ a month). Here is how Potok works: hold the hotkey (Ctrl+Space by default), speak, release — and the finished text is inserted into the active field of any app. Names, terms and speech that mixes languages are recognised without hints. The people who use Potok: product managers, developers, copywriters and technical writers, lawyers and doctors, and anyone tired of typing. For How to open the dictation toolbar in Windows you dictate into the same field where you normally type, so there is no need to switch between apps.
If you want to compare for yourself
Take one of your own tasks and dictate it in Potok. The first 14 days have no limits and need no card. Potok is a cloud service, so it does not work without the internet.
Download PotokThe Potok subscription also includes the Telegram bot @potok_now_bot: forward it a voice message or a long meeting recording and it returns the text. Without a subscription the bot gives 60 minutes per month for free.
Primary sources: support.microsoft.com · support.microsoft.com · support.microsoft.com · support.apple.com