How to dictate text instead of a voice message in Zalo

Potok transcribes Russian speech; this site has been translated into English for convenience.

Zalo on a computer (Windows or macOS) accepts ordinary text in the message field. You can type it as usual, and Potok (potok.now) helps you dictate it instead of a voice message. You hold the hotkey (Ctrl+Space by default), say the message and release: Potok gives about 900 characters per minute by voice, and the text goes straight into the send field.

A one-minute voice message takes the recipient the same 60 seconds to listen to, while the same amount of text can be read in a few seconds. If you want a Zalo message to be quick to skim rather than replay, text instead of a voice message is the faster option; a general look at this kind of replacement is in the overview of turning voice messages into text.

Before you record a voice message in Zalo

1. Think about whether the recipient can listen right now. If they are in a noisy place, in a meeting or driving, text is easier and faster to read than a voice message is to work through.
2. If the message is important and people come back to it later, such as an address, a time or a number, text is easier to quote and forward than a voice message: you do not have to replay it to check something.
3. If typing is slow or awkward, because your hands are busy or the screen is small, dictate the text by voice instead of recording a voice message: hold the Potok hotkey (Ctrl+Space by default), say the message and release, and the text goes into the Zalo message field by itself.
4. If the message is long, several sentences in a row, dictating it whole is usually faster than typing: you speak, release the hotkey, and the text lands in the field by itself.
5. Send it as an ordinary text message: the recipient reads it at once, without opening or listening to a recording.

If voice messages tire you more than they help in general, here is a separate look at why voice messages annoy many people.

Dictating a long message as text in Zalo

You can dictate a whole long message in one go, several sentences in a row, without stopping to type each word. The Potok hotkey is held while you speak: release it, and all the text lands in the field at once, not word by word. If a long message contains numbers, amounts or times, you can just say them: Potok writes them as digits itself, for example saying “dvesti pyatdesyat rubley” (two hundred fifty rubles) gives “250 ₽”. The text goes exactly where the cursor is at that moment, so you do not have to move it to the right place by hand. Typing a long message usually has to be done in parts, glancing at the screen now and then, while by voice you can say it whole in one go without losing your train of thought.

Who does not need Potok here

Potok is a cloud service: recognition runs on servers in Russia, and dictating text will not work without the internet. If Zalo is open on a phone rather than a computer, Potok is not there: it has no apps for Android and iPhone and works only on a computer. And if you need to quickly fix what was said by voice after dictation, that will not work: Potok has no voice commands and no voice editing, only the keyboard and mouse.

Frequently asked questions

Built-in dictation and Potok

Primary sources: zalo.me · help.zalo.me · help.zalo.me