Dictating
The core dictation workflow — how to record, the shortcuts, the two transcription modes, and the limits to know about.
Updated June 2026
Dictating with THOHT is press‑talk‑press. This page covers the recording panel, every shortcut, the two transcription modes and how to choose between them, the recording length limits, languages, and the live preview.
The recording panel
When you start recording, a small floating panel appears. It never steals focus from the app you're typing into, so your cursor stays put. The panel shows:
- A live waveform and a running timer.
- Cancel (Esc) — stop and discard the recording.
- Pause / Resume — pause mid‑thought without ending the take.
- Stop & Transcribe — finish and transcribe.
- A Minimize button — hide the panel while recording continues.
- An "Audio too quiet" hint, with a shortcut to your Sound input settings, if your microphone level is low.
With Pro, the panel also shows tappable chips to pick an AI Polish style or a translation language for that one recording, plus the Live Preview button.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Action | Default | Rebindable? |
|---|---|---|
| Start / stop recording | ⌥D | Yes — Settings → Hotkeys |
| AI Polish text Pro | ⌥C | Yes — Settings → Hotkeys |
| Cancel recording | Esc | No |
| Dismiss the result | Esc | No |
The recording shortcut is a toggle: press once to start, again to stop. You can change ⌥D and ⌥C to any combination you like in Settings → Hotkeys.
On-device vs cloud transcription
THOHT has two ways to turn speech into text.
| On‑device | Cloud Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Your Mac | THOHT's transcription service |
| Internet needed | No | Yes |
| Privacy | Audio never leaves your Mac | Audio is sent for transcription, then discarded |
| Available on | Apple Silicon | Any Mac (required on Intel) |
| Max recording | 30 minutes | 9 minutes |
On‑device is the default on Apple Silicon and needs no subscription. Cloud transcription is an optional Pro feature — some people prefer it for speed, especially on M1/M2 Macs. Turn it on in Settings → Transcription. On Intel Macs, cloud is the only option, so transcribing at all requires Pro.
You don't pick a model
There's no model to choose or tune. THOHT ships one carefully chosen on‑device engine and downloads it for you. It just works.
Recording length limits
A single recording is capped to protect quality and stay within service limits:
- On‑device: up to 30 minutes per recording.
- Cloud: up to 9 minutes per recording.
As you approach the cap, the panel warns you so you can wrap up — you won't be cut off mid‑sentence without warning. For longer material, just record in separate takes. These are per‑recording caps, not daily quotas; for those, see Limits & quotas.
Languages
THOHT automatically detects the language you're speaking — there's no language to set for dictation. It handles a very wide range of languages (80+), and switches per recording based on what it hears.
The app's interface language is a separate setting (Settings → General); changing it doesn't affect what language you can dictate in.
Live Preview
Live Preview Pro shows the transcription appearing in real time, in its own floating panel, while you're still speaking. It's available on Apple Silicon with Pro.
Turn it on in Settings → Transcription; once enabled, a Live Preview button appears on the recording panel. It's useful when you want to see that THOHT is hearing you correctly before you commit the text.
Something unclear or out of date? Let us know.