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The hotkey: start, stop and change it

One key combination starts a recording and the same one stops it. It works from any app, even when the VoiceKeyboard window is hidden in the tray.

How start and stop work

Press Ctrl+1 once to start recording and once more to stop. Clicking the POWER tube on the LIVE screen does the same. A recording also ends by itself after a stretch of silence; see auto-stop.

The hotkey works whichever window is in front, so you never need to switch to VoiceKeyboard to dictate. The text goes to the window you are working in.

How to tell that it is listening

  • A click sounds when a recording starts and when it stops.
  • The REC lamp lights and the POWER tube glows, brighter while you speak.
  • The status screen on LIVE shows ● REC and a running clock; READY means it is waiting.

The Google engine needs about a second to start listening. While it connects, the REC lamp blinks; when sound really reaches the recogniser you hear a quiet tick and REC stays lit. Start talking after the tick. If Google has not started within three seconds, the ERROR lamp lights until it does. Soniox and the offline models record from the first moment, so there is no tick.

Assign another hotkey

  1. Open the LIVE screen. The HOTKEY plate on the POWER panel shows the current combination, for example CTRL+1.
  2. Click it. It reads "PRESS KEYS…".
  3. Press the new combination. It needs at least one of Ctrl, Shift, Alt or Win plus another key, for example Ctrl+Shift+D. A single key on its own is not accepted.
  4. A Windows notification confirms it: "Hotkey set: Ctrl+Shift+D". It is saved at once.

Press Esc instead to cancel; the old hotkey stays.

If the combination is already taken, the notification says "Could not register this hotkey." and the previous one keeps working. Another program, or a second copy of VoiceKeyboard, has claimed it. Pick a different combination.

Things that do not start a recording

  • A left click on the tray icon only shows or hides the window. It never starts or stops dictation.
  • While the microphone calibration window is open, the hotkey is ignored. Close the window first.

Changing the engine or the language during a recording restarts it with the new choice, so you can switch without pressing the hotkey twice.