Record your voice from the Home screen, a widget, a shortcut and more. Turn the recording into text with AI, or save the audio as an attachment.
Ways to start
| From | Platform | How | What opens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home screen | iOS, Android | Tap Audio | The recording bar. The audio goes into your draft. See Record on the Home screen. |
| Widget | iOS, Android | Tap the Voice widget. On iOS, it also works on the Lock Screen. See Widgets. | The Voice sheet |
| Automation | iOS, Android | Open quickDraftObsidian://voiceNote (iOS) or send the NEW_VOICE_NOTE intent (Android). See Automation. | The Voice sheet |
| Siri, Spotlight or the Action button | iOS | Run the Voice Note shortcut, or say “Take a voice note in Quick Draft”. See Siri and Shortcuts. | The Voice sheet |
| Quick Settings | Android | Tap the Voice tile. See Quick Settings tiles. | The Voice sheet |
| App icon | Android | Long press the Quick Draft icon and tap Voice | The Voice sheet |
| Voice Bubble | Android | Tap the floating bubble, over any app | Records, transcribes and saves without opening Quick Draft. See Voice Bubble. |
Voice sheet
The Voice sheet is a small recording screen that starts recording right away. Unlike the Home screen, it saves straight to the active Route and then closes. It has the same controls as the recording bar below, with two differences:
- Transcribe saves the text to the note, and Stop saves the audio to the note.
- Leaving the sheet, for example by switching apps, cancels the recording.
Record on the Home screen
- Tap Audio in the capture bar. (If you moved it, it’s in the More (…) popup. See Capture actions.)
- Speak.
- Finish in one of these ways:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Cross | Cancels the recording and throws the audio away. |
| Pause / Resume | Pauses the recording. The timer stops until you resume. |
| Transcribe | Stops the recording and turns it into text. The text goes in at the cursor and the bar closes. |
| Stop | Stops the recording and adds it to the draft as an audio attachment, without transcribing it. |
While you’re recording, the screen stays on.
Limits and interruptions
- 10 minutes: a recording stops at 10 minutes. You feel a vibration, and the audio is added to the draft as an attachment. Tap Transcribe on the attachment if you want the text.
- Leaving the app: if you leave Quick Draft while recording, the recording stops and is added to the draft as audio, so nothing is lost.
- Transcription failed: the recording is kept and the bar stays open. Tap Transcribe again to retry. If your AI usage limit is reached, or your own key or server has a problem, a dialog explains what to do. See Troubleshooting.
Microphone problems
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| Voice Recording is not available | Tap Retry. If it keeps failing, restart the app. |
| App needs access to your microphone to record voice. | Allow microphone access when asked. |
| Microphone access is disabled. Please enable it in the app settings. | Turn on the microphone for Quick Draft in the system settings, then try again. |
| The Voice Bubble is recording | The Android Voice Bubble is using the microphone. Finish or cancel that recording first. See Voice Bubble. |
Play and transcribe recordings later
Each recording in the draft is an audio attachment.
- Tap play on the attachment to open the playback bar. You can pause and resume, drag the slider to seek, and close the bar.
- Tap Transcribe on the attachment to insert its text at the cursor. The audio stays in the draft.
You can also attach recordings you already have: tap File and pick audio files. They become playable recordings you can transcribe, just like ones made in the app. See Capture actions.
Recordings from the Voice Bubble
On Android, if the Voice Bubble is still recording when you open Quick Draft, its recording is handed over to the app and transcribed here. If the app’s recorder is busy, the audio is added to the draft instead. See Voice Bubble.
File names and language
- Recordings are named with the Voice recording name pattern in Settings → Note content (default
MM-DD-YYYY_HH-mm-ss). See Attachments > File names. - To set the language or languages you speak, see Transcription languages. To pick the transcription model, see Choosing AI models.