# Dictation

Hold **Fn / Globe**, speak, and release. Nock turns your recording into text and pastes the finished result into the app that has focus.

## Use dictation

1. Click inside the destination text field.
2. Hold your dictation shortcut and speak naturally.
3. Watch the live caption below the notch.
4. Release and allow a moment for recognition and insertion.
5. Review the words before sending or submitting them.

Text is inserted after the recording finishes. Nock keeps listening briefly after release to capture the final word. **Escape** cancels without inserting text. To speak without holding a key, use [hands-free recording](/nock/hands-free).

## Recover a missing paste

Nock uses the clipboard to insert text and normally restores what was there before. If it cannot confirm the paste or insertion fails, it can leave the transcript on your clipboard temporarily and show a notice.

Click a real text field and press **Control + Command + V** to paste the latest transcript again. This is useful when focus changed during recording. A terminal receives a paste too: dictation does not decide whether the text is safe to execute, so review it before pressing Return.

## Recognition and cleanup

Recognition may use a cloud speech provider. Audio sent for cloud recognition leaves your Mac. [Polishing](/nock/dictation-polish) and [replacements](/nock/replacements) happen locally after recognition. Add unusual names to your [dictionary](/nock/dictionary) to improve supported recognizers' spelling.

## A reliable daily workflow

Keep focus in the destination field until insertion finishes. Switching to another window immediately after release can send the paste somewhere unintended. For longer text, dictate a paragraph at a time and check names, dates, and punctuation between paragraphs. The maximum recording length is a ceiling, not a requirement to make one long recording.

If you prefer reviewing text before it becomes an agent request, use the [composer mic button](/nock/dictation-button). If you need to recover a recording, do that before making another: [Paste Last Transcript](/nock/paste-last) keeps only the latest recognized recording, including agent requests.

## Limits and troubleshooting

The desktop recording ceiling is 20 minutes, with a warning before the limit. At that ceiling the app finishes the recording and attempts insertion. This is not a guarantee that a speech service accepts one recording of that length: hosted recognition has separate duration and request-size limits and can end or reject a recording earlier. Prefer short recordings, especially when testing. Your account must have access to dictation.

No caption: check [microphone input](/nock/microphone). Caption but no insertion: check Accessibility in [permissions](/nock/permissions) and confirm the destination field has focus. Fn doing something else: review [keyboard shortcuts](/nock/keyboard-shortcuts).