💬 Why typing less in Windows 11 might be a good thing.
Be honest. How often are you halfway through typing an email, a report, or a set of meeting notes and think, there must be a quicker way to do this?
I see it all the time with clients. People know voice dictation exists, but they’ve either tried it once and sworn never again, or they only use it in emergencies because it needs so much fixing afterwards.
That’s starting to change in Windows 11.
Microsoft is rolling out a new feature called Fluid Dictation and it’s one of those quiet upgrades that sounds small but can make a real difference to how you and your team work day to day.
So what actually is Fluid Dictation?
At a basic level, it’s a smarter version of the voice dictation tool that’s already built into Windows 11, but with AI doing more of the heavy lifting in the background.
The biggest improvement is that it cleans things up as you speak.
Those little verbal habits we all have, the “um”, “erm”, “like”, or half-finished sentences, get smoothed out automatically. It also does a much better job with punctuation, grammar, and sentence flow, so you don’t end up with a big wall of text that needs rewriting.
Instead of dictating something rough and then spending ten minutes fixing it, you get something that already looks like a proper first draft.
Why this actually matters for businesses
This isn’t just a nice toy. Used properly, it can save a surprising amount of time.
Think about things like:
Dictating meeting notes straight after a call, without having to tidy them up later
Writing emails faster when you’re thinking quicker than you can type
Field staff capturing job notes hands-free and ending up with something clean enough to send to a client
Anyone who struggles with typing getting ideas down more comfortably
Less editing means less friction. Less friction means people actually use the tools available to them. And that usually leads to better notes, clearer communication, and fewer things slipping through the cracks.
What about privacy?
This is usually the first question I get, and it’s a fair one.
Microsoft has been clear that Fluid Dictation runs on the device itself. Your voice and dictated text are not being sent off to the cloud. Sensitive areas like password fields also have dictation disabled by default, which is exactly what you want to see.
From an IT and security point of view, that’s reassuring.
The catch, and there is one
Right now, Fluid Dictation only works on Copilot+ PCs. These are newer Windows 11 machines designed specifically to handle AI features locally, without relying on the cloud.
If you’re on a standard Windows 11 laptop or desktop today, you won’t see this feature yet.
That said, this is a clear signal of where things are heading. More AI features running directly on your device, helping with everyday tasks without compromising privacy.
Why I’m paying attention to this
I’m always interested in technology that quietly improves how people work, rather than adding more noise.
Fluid Dictation is a good example. It doesn’t change your job. It just removes a bit of friction from things you already do every day. And over time, those small gains add up.
If you’re curious about Copilot+ PCs, or you want to understand how tools like this might fit into your business setup, that’s exactly the sort of conversation my team and I have with clients all the time.
No pressure. No buzzwords. Just practical advice based on how you actually work.
If that sounds useful, get in touch and let’s have a chat.
