Troubleshoot dictation

Find the last step that worked before changing settings. Dictation has four distinct parts: shortcut detection, microphone capture, speech recognition, and pasting into the target app.

Save a transcript that already appeared

If the caption contained the right words, focus the intended field and choose Paste last dictation from Nock’s tray/menu or its recovery notice. This dictation-only action is separate from the older Paste Last Transcript shortcut, which can hold a spoken agent request too. Read Paste last and dictation recovery for what each action restores and how voice-history retention affects recovery after restarting.

If Nock says it could not confirm a paste, check the destination before trying again. If a clipboard notice appears, click the field and paste normally. Do not repeatedly retry while delivery is uncertain; you could insert the same words twice.

The shortcut does nothing

1. Open Settings → General → Shortcuts and check the current Dictation Mode binding.
2. Hold it deliberately; a quick tap is not a dictation.
3. On Mac, check Settings → Permissions for the keyboard access state. If Fn opens Apple’s emoji picker, use the globe-key control in Nock’s permissions area to open Keyboard settings and set Press 🌐 key to Do Nothing.
4. On Windows, confirm you are using the configured Ctrl + Win chord and that Windows has not reserved or intercepted it.

Do not change microphone or model settings until Nock reacts to the shortcut.

Recording starts but no words appear

Check the active input device and speak close enough for its level to move. Review microphone access in Settings → Permissions. On Mac, the speech helper can appear separately as Nock Speech in system privacy settings. Then open Settings → Dictation → Where your voice is turned into text and read the status line. A local model may still be downloading, may not support the selected language, or may not run on the computer. Cloud recognition requires an available account route or your own supported key.

Automatic selection does not switch recognition services partway through a recording. To keep audio local even when recognition is unavailable, turn on Never send my voice off this computer; Nock will explain why it cannot continue rather than use cloud speech.

The caption is right, but no text is inserted

Keep the destination app in front until paste finishes and make sure a real text field has focus. Try a basic text editor. If that works, the first app may not accept the paste or focus may have changed. Check Accessibility permission on Mac; Windows uses its input helper and has no matching Accessibility grant. Use the clipboard notice or Paste last dictation to recover the words after checking what already arrived.

Words are recognized but look different

Set Polishing to Off for a comparison, and temporarily disable matching replacements. Check your language setting and Your words list. Polished is an online cleanup request and may reshape wording; when exact text matters, use Off or Light and review it. See dictation cleanup.

What to include in a report

Share the app version, operating system, input device, destination app, shortcut, and which step failed. A short non-sensitive example such as “caption correct, no paste in app X, works in a plain text field” is useful. Do not include API keys, private recordings, or confidential text.