How to use Voice My Stories

Your account holds spaces. Think of each space as a notebook on a shelf: one for Mum’s stories, one for a book club, one just for your own ideas.

Each space holds stories, and each story is made of segments: a recording with its words written out, or a piece you typed.

A space is private until you share it. Each shared space has its own link and its own password, and that sign-in opens that one space’s recorder and nothing else — never your other spaces, and never your account.

You sign in to your own account and see every space, story and word.

1. On Your spaces, press New space. Your very first space is made right on that page.
2. Type a Name, such as Dad’s stories. The Address fills itself in from the name — change it if you like. It goes after your account name to make the space’s link: voicemystories.com/sam/dads-stories
3. If it says Available, press Create. If not, it says why: pick another.

Your account name comes first in every link: it’s the name you chose when you signed up, and it can’t be changed. An address only has to be different from your other spaces. Use 3 to 64 lowercase letters, numbers, dots, hyphens or underscores. How many spaces you can have depends on your plan.

Open a space by clicking its card. There you can Rename it, and Change address while it isn’t shared. Once it’s shared, the address is the link you gave out, so it stays fixed until you turn the link off.

To delete a space, press the bin in the corner of its card, then Delete space. Only an empty space can go: delete its stories first, including the ones in its Deleted tab, for good. You can make it again with the same address.

1. Open a space and press New Article. Type the story’s name and press Create — the story opens.
2. Press the red Record button and start talking. If your browser asks to use the microphone, allow it.
3. While you record, a timer runs and a moving line shows the microphone can hear you. If it stays flat while you talk, stop and check your microphone.
4. Press Stop when you’re done. The recording is saved as a new segment in the list on the left. A long recording is saved in parts, each its own segment — the bar shows which part you’re in.
5. The words appear a moment later. Click a segment to listen to it and correct its words; changes save as you type.
6. Add text adds a segment you type. Drag the handle at the left of a segment to change the order, and open Full Story to read the whole story from start to finish.

Export story, at the top of a story once it has words, makes a file of all of them: choose Download PDF or Download Word. Exports are free. Export segment does the same for one segment.

Download audio saves every recording in the story as one ZIP file. Download, under a recording’s player, saves just that one.

Deleting is never sudden. The bin on a story’s card (Move to Deleted) and Delete segment inside a story move it to the space’s Deleted tab, where Restore brings it back.

Delete permanently (or Delete all) in the Deleted tab erases the words and recordings for good. It can’t be undone.

A space is private until you create its recording link — its Recording link card says “Only you can see this space.” The link comes with its own sign-in name and password, so whoever has them can record into that one space from a phone — someone else, or you on another phone. It never opens any other space: that sign-in can record into its own space and nothing else.

1. Open the space. In its Recording link card, press Create recording link.
2. Choose Their sign-in name and Their password: at least 10 characters, with a capital letter, a number and a symbol, and not easy to guess. Write the password down — it isn’t shown again. Press Save.
3. Press Copy link and send them the link, their sign-in name and the password.
4. They open the link and sign in once, with their sign-in name as Username and the Password. That phone then stays signed in for a year.
5. They choose a story under Story, or New story… to start one, then press the big red Record button, and Stop when they finish.
6. Their recording arrives in that story in your space, written out. They can Play and Delete their recordings, but they never see the words. A recording they delete goes to the space’s Deleted tab, where you can restore it.
7. Change password or Turn off link signs them out straight away.

Don’t open the link in the browser you use for your own account: it will say “This is the wrong account”. Try it on another phone or browser.

Make a space for each part of your life, and share only the ones you mean to. A few ideas:

Your plan sets how many spaces you can have and how much you can record each month. One plan covers every space on your account.

Every recording counts toward the month’s time — in every space, including recordings made through a shared login. Deleting a recording doesn’t give the time back.

The time starts again each month. Once you’re signed in, the line at the top of every page names your plan and how much recording time is left; Subscription shows your spaces, what you’ve recorded this month and the day it starts again.

A plan only ever stops something new being added. Nothing is deleted because of a plan, and you can always read, play and export what you’ve made. Typing, sharing and downloads stay free on every plan.

See your plan on Subscription

Account, at the top of every page once you’re signed in, opens a menu:

• Privacy choices — how your corrections may be used.
• Subscription — your plan and what you’ve used, and changing or cancelling a paid plan.
• Bills and cards — every payment and refund, with its invoice to download, and your saved cards. Adding or removing a card, or changing the one that pays your plan, happens on Stripe’s secure page.
• Report a problem — tell us about something wrong, and how reports are handled.

Sign out, beside it, signs this browser out. Guide brings you back to this page.

Your account name, the first part of every space’s link, is shown on the Account page: press Account at the top of any of the pages above to get there.

Need a hand? Email support@voicemystories.com.