Customizing Your Keybind

Your keybind is the key you hold or press to record, and you can change it to whatever suits your hands. EnviousWispr arrives set to the right Option key.

Change the key that starts dictation

1. Open Keybinds. Click the EnviousWispr icon in your menu bar, choose Open EnviousWispr, and go to Keybinds.
2. Select the keybind box. Click the keys field in the Start / stop recording row.
3. Press your new keys. Press the keys you want to use.

The new combination saves immediately and appears in the box. Click into any text field and try it to confirm it works.

Which keys can I use?

You can choose almost any combination that fits how you work.

• A key with modifiers. Any key, with or without Command, Option, Control or Shift.
• A modifier on its own. A modifier key by itself, such as Option alone or Control alone. Your hand never has to leave the keys it already rests on.
• The Globe key on its own. The 🌐 Globe key, labelled Fn on some keyboards, can be your recording keybind. Choose it on its own: press Globe by itself, not Globe together with another key.

Use the Globe key without macOS interfering

macOS may already use the Globe key to switch keyboard languages, open the emoji picker or start its own dictation. If that happens while you dictate, open System Settings, go to Keyboard, click the Press 🌐 key to menu and choose Do Nothing.

Your Globe key stays set as your dictation keybind either way. This only stops macOS doing its own thing at the same time.

Does the key change between push to talk and toggle mode?

No. The recording keybind stays the same in push to talk and toggle mode. Switching modes changes what a press does to your recording, never which key you press.

If holding a key down is uncomfortable, toggle mode asks less of your hand. One press starts recording and the next press stops it, so nothing has to be held.

Pressing another key right after your keybind

When your push-to-talk keybind is a modifier key used on its own, pressing another ordinary key during the first second can dismiss the recording. Keys matching an eligible configured shortcut are exempt. A dismissed recording is thrown away: nothing is pasted or kept, even with Escape Recovery on.

After the first second, extra keys do not cause this dismissal. A locked recording and toggle mode are not affected.

For this kind of push-to-talk keybind, an ordinary key already down prevents a new recording from starting. Release that key, then press your keybind again.

Secure Input prevents the listener from seeing ordinary keys, so this typing protection is unavailable while it is active. When the app detects that this affects a qualifying dictation, it can show a short notice. The app checks about every five seconds, so a very short Secure Input period may go unnoticed. Bare-modifier dictation can continue.

Change the cancel key

Pressing Escape ends the current recording without pasting anything. To use a different cancel key, open Keybinds and change the Cancel recording row.

Escape Recovery is on unless you switch it off. With it on, your cancel keybind keeps the recording and offers to paste it back rather than discarding it. Keep that in mind before you reassign the key. See Escape Recovery.

Change the Quick Add key

The Keybinds page has an Add selected word to Dictionary row under Shortcuts. Highlight a misheard word anywhere on your Mac, press it, and a small panel offers to add the right spelling to your dictionary. It is Control Shift W unless you change it. See Adding a Word From Your Selection.

Paste or copy my last dictation

Two more keybinds sit under Shortcuts: Paste last dictation and Copy last dictation. They reuse the last thing you dictated, so you never have to say it twice.

• Paste last dictation is Control Command V unless you change it. It pastes into the app you were in when you pressed the keys.
• Copy last dictation is Control Command C unless you change it. It puts your last dictation on your clipboard, ready for Cmd+V anywhere.

The menu bar menu has the same paste as Paste Last Dictation, with the start of the text shown under it. See History for which dictation counts as the last one.

While EnviousWispr is running, pressing either combination usually runs EnviousWispr’s action rather than the other app’s. In Terminal, Control Command V is normally Paste Escaped Text, and some apps, such as Final Cut Pro, use Control Command C. If you rely on those, choose different keys here.

Why a key combination will not save

A keybind box refuses two kinds of combination:

• Keys another keybind on the page already uses.
• Standard Mac shortcuts such as Cmd+C, Cmd+V and Cmd+Q, so a new keybind cannot break copying, saving or quitting.

Choose a combination that is not reserved and is not already used by another EnviousWispr keybind.

A keybind says Not active

A box also refuses a combination that includes a single key a more important keybind uses on its own. For example, you set your recording keybind to Right Command, and another row’s combination includes Command. Both Last Dictation defaults use Command.

The recording keybind wins. The other row then says Not active and names the keybind that took its keys. Choose another combination for that row.

My keybind does nothing

If Keybinds warns that macOS reports your combination as already taken, pick a different combination there.

If a keybind does nothing and no warning appears, another app or a macOS feature may be using the same combination. Try a different one.

A modifier key used on its own as a keybind, such as Right Option or Globe, also needs the Accessibility permission. If it does nothing, see Accessibility Permission Not Working.