A message lands in a Teams channel and you answer without breaking stride — you don’t stop what you’re doing, you just say it. With Clavio listening, you speak your reply and it drops into the Teams compose box in a casual tone, then sends itself the moment you finish. When it’s an announcement rather than a quick reply — a heads-up to a whole channel, a status post the team will read — Clavio shifts to a composed, formal tone and waits, so you read it back before it goes out. Chat and channel posts want different voices, and Clavio remembers which is which per context, so one app carries you from a two-line reply to a polished announcement, all of it hands-free.
Reply by just saying it — always-on for Teams
Teams is where the quick back-and-forth runs all day, and clicking into the box to type each time is the thing that slows you down. So set Clavio to always-on for Teams: no key to press, no name to call. It’s listening while you work in another window, and when a message needs an answer you just say it — the words land in the compose box wherever your cursor sits. Because it only answers to your enrolled voiceprint, a teammate talking beside you or on the call never sets it off. Prefer a deliberate trigger? A wake word or a single hotkey does the same job — but for the pace of team chat, always-on is what turns a reply into something you say instead of type.
Casual for chat, composed for a channel post
A quick reply in a thread and an announcement to a whole channel aren’t written the same way, so Clavio doesn’t force one voice on both. Set Teams to a casual tone as the default — relaxed and conversational, the way you’d actually fire off a reply — and it strips the “um”s and false starts and punctuates for you, so you never say “comma” out loud. Then, when you’re posting something the whole team will read, reach for a formal tone for that message: the same spoken thought comes out composed and clean, the way an announcement should read. Clavio remembers the register you chose, so you’re not flipping a global switch every time — casual for the fast stuff, formal when it counts.
Auto-send on, so a reply fires while your hands are busy
For the quick replies, turn auto-send on: the casual message lands in the box and sends itself the instant you stop talking, so you never reach for the keyboard at all. That’s what makes Teams answerable while your hands are on something else — a reply goes out while you keep working, and dropping a link or an answer into a live meeting chat takes a sentence, not a scramble to unmute and type. Announcements are the one place you slow down on purpose: for a channel post, switch auto-send off so Clavio types the composed version and waits, letting you read it back before it reaches the whole team. Fast and hands-free for chat; a deliberate beat for anything the org will see.
One voice for the whole loop — chat, posts, and beyond
Teams is one stop in your day, not all of it. The same voice that fires off a channel reply writes the announcement above it, the meeting-chat link during a call, and everything past Teams: the follow-up email, the doc you’re updating, the ticket you file after the standup. Clavio types into each the same way it types into the Teams box, and remembers the tone per app — casual in chat, formal for an announcement, tidy in email — so you’re never resetting anything as you move. One way to talk covers the whole loop, and because it only answers to your voice, a noisy channel call nearby never posts a stray message. That’s what hands-free team chat actually feels like: you talk, and the reply, the post, and the follow-up all get written.
Recommended Clavio settings for Microsoft Teams
| Setting | Recommended | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Activation | Always-on (or wake word / hotkey) | Teams chat moves fast — always-on means a reply is just something you say while you work, with no key to press. Only your enrolled voice sets it off. |
| Polish level | Casual for chat, formal for posts | A thread reply should read relaxed; a channel announcement should read composed. Set casual as the default and switch to formal for posts. |
| Auto-send | On | Quick replies send themselves the moment you stop talking — fully hands-free. Flip it off for an announcement so you can read it back first. |
| Personal dictionary | Add teammates, teams, projects | Keeps @-mentions, team and project names, and acronyms coming through spelled right instead of guessed at. |
| Meeting chat | Casual, auto-send on | Drop a link or a quick answer into a live meeting’s chat by voice — hands-free, without unmuting or breaking away from the call. |
Talk to Teams, hands-free, with Clavio
Clavio is an AI dictation app for Mac. It sits in your menu bar and types finished text wherever your cursor is — a Teams chat reply, a channel announcement, the meeting chat, plus your email, docs, and the browser. For Teams you set a casual tone for quick replies and switch to formal for posts, and keep auto-send on so a chat reply fires the moment you stop talking (turn it off for announcements so you read them back first). A personal dictionary keeps teammate @-mentions and project names intact, and an on-device voiceprint means only your voice sets it off. Free to try: 3,000 words a month, no card, macOS 14+ on Apple Silicon. Pro is £12/month for unlimited.
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Common questions
Does Microsoft Teams already have voice typing?
Teams has no dictation of its own. Your Mac has a built-in one you can switch on, but it types raw words in a single flat register and makes you speak punctuation out loud — wrong for chat, where a reply should read relaxed, and wrong for a post, where it should read composed. Clavio gives you both: a casual tone for quick replies and a formal one for announcements, punctuation handled for you, and auto-send so a reply goes out the moment you finish.
Can I reply in Teams fully hands-free?
Yes. Set Clavio to always-on for Teams, keep the tone casual, and turn auto-send on — then a message needs only your voice: you say the reply, it lands in the compose box, and it sends itself the instant you stop talking. No key to press, no button, nothing to hold.
Will it sound too stiff for chat, or mangle names?
No — casual tone keeps a thread reply relaxed and conversational, not the buttoned-up register you’d want in an announcement, and it strips filler and punctuates for you. To keep @-mentions, team and project names, and acronyms exact, add them to Clavio’s dictionary and they come through spelled right instead of guessed at.
Can I dictate a channel announcement, not just a quick reply?
Yes, and that’s where the two registers earn their keep. For a post the whole team will read, switch Teams to a formal tone and turn auto-send off: Clavio types the composed version and waits, so you read it back before it goes out. Casual with auto-send on for the fast replies; formal with a review step for anything the org sees.
Can I use the same voice beyond Teams?
Yes — that’s the point of a system-wide app. Clavio types into your chat reply, your channel post, and the meeting chat the same way it types into email, a doc, or the browser, and remembers the tone per app: casual in Teams chat, formal for a post, tidy in email. One way to talk covers the whole loop.