Dirty hands? Dictate your invoice notes with voice-to-text

Updated: May 11, 2026 · For tradespeople with greasy hands and a phone that doesn't understand knuckles.

Watch a working tradesperson try to type a note on their phone:

1. Wipe hand on shop towel
2. Realize hand is still greasy
3. Wipe on different shop towel
4. Realize phone screen is also greasy
5. Use knuckle to unlock phone
6. Realize the on-screen keyboard doesn't work well with knuckles
7. Give up, write nothing
8. Three weeks later, can't remember why this invoice was so weird

This is a real workflow problem most invoice apps ignore. Daily Invoice Maker v5.10 ships a voice-to-text mic button on every notes field that matters.

The 3-tap workflow

Tap 1: Open the invoice you're working on. Tap the notes field.

Tap 2: Tap the small blue Dictate button that appears under the textarea (or the small mic icon on the Estimates page).

Tap 3: The button turns red and pulses. Speak: "Replaced the kitchen P-trap and tightened the cold supply line. Recommend customer also replace the angle stops in 6 months." Tap the button again to stop.

The transcript appears in the textarea. Edit if needed. Save the note. Total elapsed time: maybe 8 seconds.

What it can do

The mic uses the device's native SpeechRecognition API — the same engine your phone uses for Google Assistant or Siri dictation. Which means:

• It handles trade jargon. Words like "P-trap," "angle stop," "TXV valve," "GFCI outlet" usually transcribe correctly because the speech engines are trained on a wide vocabulary.
• It handles light background noise. A working job site is fine. A jackhammer 10 ft away is not.
• It shows a live interim transcript as you speak so you can see if it's mishearing in real time.
• It works offline on modern Android (the speech engine ships with the device).

Where it appears

v5.10.1 wired the mic into three notes editors:

• Desktop invoice list inline notes — click into any invoice's notes column, mic appears beneath
• Mobile invoice card notes — expand a card, tap to edit notes, mic appears beneath
• Estimates modal NOTES textarea — small mic icon next to the NOTES header

More notes fields (Service Log entries, etc.) will get the mic in future versions.

Browser support

Voice recognition uses a web standard called the Web Speech API. Support today:

• ✓ Chrome (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android)
• ✓ Edge (Windows, Mac)
• ✓ Safari iOS 14.5+ (with permission)
• ✓ Android Capacitor WebView (the app on Android)
• ✗ Firefox (still hasn't shipped support — same story since 2018)

If you're using a browser without support, the mic button quietly hides itself. The notes field still works normally — you just type instead. No error, no broken layout.

Permission prompts

The first time you tap the mic, the browser/Android asks for microphone permission. Tap Allow. The permission is remembered, so you only see the prompt once.

If you accidentally tapped Deny, the next mic tap pops an alert: "Microphone access is blocked. Please enable it in your browser/device settings." Go to your device settings, find Daily Invoice Maker, toggle Microphone permission on.

Privacy notes

Speech recognition on Chrome and modern Android uses on-device models for short utterances — what you say doesn't leave the device for casual dictation. Longer or more complex audio may briefly route through the platform's cloud service (Google/Apple), processed and discarded.

Daily Invoice Maker itself never records, stores, or transmits audio. We only see the final transcript text — same as if you typed it. The mic activates only while you're holding the button "on."

This is the same privacy model your phone uses for any other dictation. If you're comfortable using "Hey Google" or Siri, you're comfortable with this.

Useful tricks people forget

"Period" and "comma" do what you'd expect. Saying "Replaced the P trap period Recommend angle stop replacement period" gives you "Replaced the P trap. Recommend angle stop replacement."

"New line" or "new paragraph" adds line breaks.

Numbers transcribe. "Charged one hundred eighty five dollars and fifty cents" → "Charged $185.50". Useful for amounts.

It appends, not replaces. Speaking adds to whatever's in the field. So you can dictate part of a note, type a correction, then tap mic again to add more. No accidental erase.

Pair this with customer signature on completion for a complete on-site workflow: capture signature → dictate the note → mark complete. Customer doesn't even see you fumbling with the keyboard.

Frequently asked questions

Does this require an internet connection?

On modern Android, no — the speech engine runs on-device. On older devices or on iOS Safari, brief network access may be needed. The mic button works regardless.

How accurate is the transcription?

Native English with clear pronunciation: typically 95-98% accurate. Heavy accent, fast speech, or background noise can drop it to 80-90%. Always review the transcript before saving — editing one word is faster than typing the whole thing.

Will my voice be saved or analyzed?

No. Daily Invoice Maker never records or stores audio. The native speech engine processes the audio in real time and returns text. The audio itself is discarded as soon as the transcript is generated.