Choose your platform, then start with the symptom you can see. These steps use Presspeech's built-in setup and diagnostics controls before asking you to reset anything.
On macOS, open Presspeech.app again from Applications, Finder, or Spotlight. On Windows, launch Presspeech again from the Start Menu. The running app restores its setup or settings window instead of starting a second dictation process.
Open Setup Checklist on macOS or Setup on Windows. Wait for the speech model to report ready, then use the built-in microphone and hotkey checks.
Choose Try Dictation. If the private scratchpad works, the model, microphone, and hotkey path are ready; continue with the paste and focus steps for your platform.
Model retries and update checks use the documented network connections, but dictation audio is not uploaded. See the privacy page for the complete network surface.
Open Support → Setup Checklist… and choose the affected Microphone, Accessibility, or Input Monitoring row. If the grant still does not appear, quit and reopen the copy in Applications, return to Setup Checklist, and choose Try Again. Presspeech then resets only that stuck permission entry and asks macOS again.
Check the connection and retry first. If Presspeech reports an incomplete or corrupt cache, choose Support → Reset Speech Model Cache…. This deletes only the local model cache, then downloads and verifies a fresh copy; it does not remove settings or dictionary rules.
Confirm Settings → Hotkey shows the intended key and that Input Monitoring is granted in Setup Checklist. Use Settings → Hotkey → Reset Hotkey to Default to test Right Option. If a different app reserves that key, record another supported right-side modifier or F-key.
Confirm Accessibility is granted, click the destination text field, then hold the hotkey without changing apps until transcription finishes. If the HUD or menu says Copied — press ⌘V to paste, the finished transcript is already on the clipboard: return to the intended field and paste it manually instead of dictating it again.
Presspeech also uses this safe fallback when it cannot verify the same destination. Some Electron/Chromium-based apps do not consistently expose the focused-window information the current Mac app checks, so the notice can appear even when the window looks unchanged. If Presspeech instead says Couldn't paste — use Copy Last Transcript, choose that menu action before trying again.
Open Settings → Behavior, turn off Restore clipboard after paste, and retry with non-sensitive text in TextEdit. The option is off by default; disabling it leaves the new transcript on the clipboard and avoids restoring old content before a slow target has consumed the paste. Remove the unintended text from the destination before continuing, and include the target app's name with privacy-safe diagnostics if you report the problem.
Unmute the Mac in Control Center or Sound settings, then reopen Presspeech. The app uses a local watchdog and recovery marker to restore audio after an interrupted recording, and checks that marker again at launch. If it happens again, copy diagnostics before quitting.
The notice means a local marker remained after the previous process ended; nothing was sent anywhere. Choose Copy Diagnostics or Open Log from the notice if you want to report what happened.
Keep Setup open and wait for the selected model to report ready. A hotkey press while it is preparing is intentionally ignored. If Setup reports a failure, choose Retry Speech Model. Check the connection and available disk space; on an NVIDIA system, also update the display driver or select a local Whisper model in Settings.
In Setup, select the intended input, speak during the local level check, and choose Check Again. If it cannot open, use the buttons for Windows Microphone Privacy and Sound Input settings. Turn on Microphone access and Let desktop apps access your microphone, then confirm the input under Settings → System → Sound → Input. Windows does not show a separate Presspeech toggle for this desktop app.
Confirm the model says ready and check the selected key in Setup or Settings. If Right Alt types @, €, or accented letters, your keyboard uses it as AltGr; Presspeech deliberately leaves that chord alone. Choose F8 or another available modifier or F-key and retry in Try Dictation.
Click the destination text field before pressing the hotkey and keep that window focused until transcription finishes. If the notification says Transcript copied, not pasted, the finished transcript is already on the clipboard: return to the intended field and press Ctrl+V instead of dictating it again. This fallback is used when focus changed, the original window could not be identified, or the target is running as administrator. Reopen an elevated target normally when possible; do not run Presspeech as administrator as a workaround.
Unmute the affected output from Windows Quick Settings or Settings → System → Sound, then reopen Presspeech. Recordings normally restore each playback device to its previous mute state, including when the configured maximum length stops a recording. Copy diagnostics if the state is not restored.
Choose Open Startup Settings, find Presspeech under Settings → Apps → Startup, and review the system setting. Then return to Setup or Settings and retry Finish Setup or Save; Presspeech keeps the window open when registration fails rather than claiming success.
On macOS choose Support → Copy Diagnostics; on Windows choose Copy Diagnostics from the notification-area menu. The report includes bounded app, system, model, permission, microphone, settings, update, and log state.
Include short reproduction steps, the affected platform and version, whether the model reached ready, and whether Try Dictation worked. For Windows model failures, include CPU, GPU, and driver details when available.
Choose Report a Problem… in Presspeech or open the bug report form. Use the private vulnerability-reporting form instead for a security issue.
GitHub issues are public. Diagnostics omit transcript text, audio, and dictionary contents. Do not add dictated text, audio, references, dictionary or shortcut contents, credentials, or other private data yourself.
Prefer plain text? The repository also keeps a concise Markdown recovery reference.