SottoScribe User Guide

Getting started

First launch

When you first run SottoScribe, you can either enter a license key or start a free 7-day trial to try all features.

• The trial gives you full access to everything — no restrictions
• After 7 days, you'll need to purchase a license to continue
• To upgrade during your trial, go to the system tray menu → License... → Enter License Key

Finding SottoScribe

SottoScribe runs in your system tray — the small icons near your clock at the bottom-right of your screen. If you can't see it, click the ^ arrow to show hidden icons. Right-click the icon to access settings and features. Use the hotkey to dictate, and your words appear wherever your cursor is.

Menu overview

You can also open these windows by voice — say show settings show tools or show voice commands

• Settings — Opens a settings window with three tabs:
  • Dictation — Speech model accuracy, variation, and spelling preferences
  • AI Cleanup — Enable grammar correction and choose AI model size
  • Preferences — Hotkey, microphone, dictation mode, overlay position, sound effects, startup, pause media
• Tools — Opens a tools window with five tabs:
  • History — View and paste recent dictations
  • Snippets — Create text shortcuts
  • Terms — Add words the speech model mishears
  • Apps — Configure voice-activated app launching
  • Web — Configure voice-activated web shortcuts
• Voice Commands — Quick reference of all voice commands
• System Status — Shows whether the speech and AI engines are running, and which hardware they're using (GPU or CPU)
• License — View license status or enter a key

Improving accuracy

A basic speech model is included and works incredibly well immediately. For improved accuracy, select a larger model from Settings → Dictation → Accuracy — it will download automatically. Larger models need more processing power — a modern PC or graphics card is recommended.

AI Cleanup

AI Cleanup fixes grammar and spelling in your dictation. Enable it via Settings → AI Cleanup. The first time you enable it, you'll download an AI model (~400MB–2.4GB depending on your choice). The AI corrects grammar, fixes punctuation, and capitalises proper nouns while preserving your meaning.

Choosing a hotkey

Select your preferred hotkey from Settings → Preferences. Left-side options suit right-handed users; right-side options suit left-handed users.

Dictation modes

Choose your dictation mode from Settings → Preferences. Place your cursor where you want text to appear, then use your hotkey.

Hold to dictate (default): Hold your hotkey to start dictating, release to transcribe. Best for short dictation.

Start/Stop: Tap your hotkey to start dictating, tap again to stop. Best for longer sessions.

Spoken punctuation

These are automatically converted during dictation.

Text editing

Control text by voice. These commands work during dictation.

General commands

Keyboard actions

Text formatting

Fix wrong word (homophones)

Words that sound the same but have different spellings (like "there", "their", "they're") can sometimes be transcribed incorrectly. Select the wrong word and say "swap" to fix it.

Literal mode (emails & URLs)

For emails, URLs, or words that get mangled by speech recognition. Say "literally it's" then speak naturally with special character names.

Special characters: "at" → @, "dot" → ., "dash" → -, "underscore" → _, "slash" → /, "space" → (space)

Dictation history & tools

SottoScribe remembers your last 20 dictations. Say show history or show tools to access them.

Voice commands

History

Say show history to open the History tab. Click any entry to paste it at your cursor. History is stored in memory only and cleared when SottoScribe closes — nothing is saved to disk.

Snippets

Say show snippets to open the Snippets tab. Snippets let you say a short trigger phrase and have SottoScribe type something longer. Perfect for text you use repeatedly.

To add a snippet, click Add, enter a trigger phrase and the text you want typed, then click Save.

Custom Terms

Say show terms to open the Custom Terms tab. Fix words that the speech model consistently gets wrong. Add the incorrect word and what it should be — SottoScribe will automatically correct it.

To add a term, click Add, enter the wrong word and the correction, then click Save.

App Launcher

Say show apps to open the Apps tab. Launch applications by voice — say "open [app name]" to launch an application instantly.

Default apps

These apps work out of the box on most Windows systems:

Custom apps

Add your own apps:

1. Click Add to create a new entry
2. Place your cursor in the trigger field and speak the trigger word (or type it)
3. Click Browse to select the application
4. Click Save to add the app

Web Shortcuts

Say show web to open the Web tab. Open websites by voice — say "open [shortcut name]" to launch the website in your default browser.

Built-in shortcuts

SottoScribe includes these shortcuts by default:

Adding custom shortcuts

Add your own shortcuts:

1. Click Add to create a new entry
2. Enter a trigger word (what you'll say after "open")
3. Enter the URL (web address)
4. Click Save to add the shortcut

Clipboard commands: Instant

Copy text first, then say the command. The corrected text is pasted instantly without AI processing.

Case changes

List operations

Formatting

Extraction

Data transformation

Counting

Text manipulation

Clipboard commands: AI enhanced

These require AI Cleanup to be enabled. Copy text first, then say the command.

Summarisation

Grammar & style

Extraction (AI)

Explanation

Navigation

Control your browser and windows by voice.

Browser

Scrolling

Tabs

Windows

File Operations

Quick Calculator

Supports: plus, minus, times, divided by, percent, squared, cubed. Example: "quick maths 15 percent of 200" → 30

Settings

Say show settings or right-click the SottoScribe icon and select Settings.

Hotkey

Choose a hotkey combination that works for you. Left-side options are ideal for right-handed users; right-side options are designed for left-handed users.

Dictation mode

AI Model

Choose the AI model for grammar cleanup. Models are downloaded on first use.

Other settings

Troubleshooting

Microphone not detected

1. Check your microphone is plugged in and working
2. Open Windows Settings → System → Sound
3. Ensure your microphone is set as the default input device
4. In SottoScribe, go to Settings → Preferences and select your microphone from the dropdown

Poor transcription accuracy

Hotkey not working

AI Cleanup not working

If grammar cleanup isn't working:

1. Check AI Cleanup is enabled in Settings → AI Cleanup
2. On first use, the AI model downloads automatically (~800MB-2GB depending on your choice). Wait for the download to complete.
3. After download, the AI server starts automatically — give it a few seconds
4. If you have a graphics card (NVIDIA or AMD), check your drivers are up to date for faster processing

Slow transcription

Transcription speed depends on your hardware. A graphics card (NVIDIA or AMD) significantly speeds up processing. If it's too slow, you can switch to a smaller speech model in the settings.

Still stuck?

Get in touch and we'll help.

Under the hood

SottoScribe uses state-of-the-art open source AI, running entirely on your machine.

Speech recognition

Industry-leading speech-to-text that handles accents, background noise, and natural speech patterns. A basic model is included; larger models can be downloaded for better accuracy.

Grammar cleanup

A local AI fixes spelling, grammar, and punctuation without sending your text anywhere. The AI model downloads automatically on first use (choose Best, Standard, or Light in Settings).