Press your dictation shortcut once to start and again to stop. You do not need to hold it down. Find your current shortcut in Settings → Recording.
Record and finish
- Click the text field where you want to write.
- Start with your shortcut, Home, or the TessFlo menu.
- Wait until TessFlo is listening, then speak.
- Press the same shortcut or choose Stop.
- Wait for transcription and any enabled writing cleanup. Check the text in your destination or under Latest dictation.
Live captions are a preview. They can change, and they do not insert words into another app as you speak. Saved spellings, replacements, and cleanup can also change the final text.
Cancel instead of finishing
Choose Cancel recording on the overlay, or use your Cancel shortcut. Its initial default is Option+X. Global cancellation may need Input Monitoring permission; the on-screen control is an alternative.
Cancellation may take a moment. It discards the active operation without delivering text or saving a completed history entry. It cannot undo text already delivered—edit that in the destination app.
Choose automatic or manual pasting
Open Settings → Text output:
- Automatic: enable Paste into the active app. Allow TessFlo in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility, then return and choose Check again if shown.
- Manual: leave automatic paste off. TessFlo copies completed text to the clipboard. Review it, click the destination, and press Command+V.
Automatic paste runs as soon as processing finishes, without a review step. Choose manual delivery if you want to check text first. Microphone permission is required for recording; Accessibility is only required for automatic paste.
Keep a copy in the clipboard controls whether text stays on the clipboard after a successful automatic paste. A failed paste can still leave text there for recovery. Copying or pasting can replace existing clipboard contents.
Adjust delivered text
In Settings → Text output:
- Add a space after each dictation adds a trailing space. It starts off.
- Format delivered text adds paragraph breaks. It starts off.
- Keep a copy in the clipboard starts on. It is only adjustable when automatic paste is enabled.
Your choices are saved. Settings → Models → Remove filler words starts on and removes sounds such as “um” and “uh.” Turn it off to keep them. This is separate from writing cleanup.
When recording stops by itself
Stop after silence starts on and can finish recording after 30 seconds without detected speech. TessFlo also has a 30-minute recording limit. Neither limit can recover audio the microphone did not capture.