Help
Everything Lightmorphic Talk does, in pictures.
The same help that lives inside the app, on one page. There are only three things to learn, and they are all done with the floating button.
Click to talk
Click once, speak, click again. Your words are typed where the cursor is.
Right-click to teach
Highlight a misheard word, right-click the button, and type how it should be spelt.
Drag to move it
Press and drag the button anywhere on screen that suits you.
Getting started
There is no setup beyond allowing it to type, once.
What does Lightmorphic Talk actually do?
It turns your speech into typed text, entirely on this machine. Click the floating button, speak, click it again, and what you said is typed wherever the cursor is, in any application. Nothing is sent to the internet to do this.
How do I dictate?
Click the floating button once to start listening, speak, then click it again to stop. What you said is typed wherever the cursor was when you clicked.
Why did it ask for a permission when I first opened it?
On a Wayland desktop, no app is allowed to type into other windows unless it asks first. Lightmorphic Talk asks once, during setup: click Share when your desktop's own permission window appears. Without that, it still hears you, but nothing gets typed.
Can I move the floating button?
Yes, press and drag it anywhere on screen. On Wayland the desktop decides exactly where it lands when you let go, rather than Lightmorphic Talk; on X11 it drops exactly where you release it.
The floating button has disappeared. Where did it go?
It is probably sitting behind another window. Click the Lightmorphic Talk icon in your system tray and it comes back to the bottom of the screen. On GNOME this can happen fairly often: GNOME does not let apps stay on top the way other desktops do, so it is not a fault in Lightmorphic Talk.
Is there a fix for the button going behind windows on GNOME?
Yes, an optional GNOME Shell extension that keeps it on top. Get it from the gnome-extension folder on GitHub, with install steps in its README.
How do I change the app's language?
Settings, then General, then Language. It changes straight away, no restart needed.
Can it start automatically when I log in?
Yes, the "Start automatically" switch in Settings, under General.
Teaching it words
Names, jargon and places it keeps mishearing only need correcting once.
How do I teach it a word it keeps getting wrong?
Highlight the misheard word wherever it was typed, then right-click the floating button. It reads the highlighted word straight away and asks how it should have been spelt. From then on it corrects that word automatically.
It asked me to type the word instead of reading my highlight. Why?
On Wayland, an app is not allowed to read text highlighted in another app; only X11 allows that. Type the misheard word by hand instead, and the rest of the dialog works the same.
What does the personal dictionary switch do?
Turns the whole feature off: no words you have taught it get corrected any more, and right-clicking the floating button no longer offers to teach it one, until you switch it back on.
Where can I see, edit or remove the words I have taught it?
Settings, then Dictionary, lists every word pair. Click a row's remove icon to delete it, or use Export and Import to back the list up or move it to another machine.
Sounds
While dictating you are looking at your document, not at the button, so a sound is the cue that actually reaches you.
Can I turn off the start and stop sound?
Yes, the Sounds switch in Settings, under either General or Sounds.
Can I change what sound it makes?
Settings, then Sounds, has ten to choose from. Click the small triangle beside any of them to hear it before picking.
Microphone
If dictation is going wrong, this is the first place to look.
How do I pick which microphone it listens to?
Settings, then Microphone, lists every microphone your system knows about. Choose one from there.
How do I check my microphone is working?
Settings, then Microphone, then Test. It records three seconds and shows you the level it picked up, plus what it understood.
Typing and cleanup
How the words get in, and what is tidied up on the way.
What is the difference between "paste" and "type"?
Paste puts your words on the clipboard for a moment and pastes them in one go: fast, and safe with formatting. Type simulates each keystroke instead, which some applications need but is slower and cannot be used with rich text. The setting is in Settings, under Output.
Why is my old clipboard content gone after dictating?
Paste mode uses the clipboard for a moment to insert your words, and normally restores whatever was on it before. Turn on "Keep on clipboard" in Settings, under Output, if you would rather it left your last dictation there instead of putting the old content back.
Does it remove "um" and "uh" automatically?
Yes, if "Remove filler words" is switched on in Settings, under Output.
Does it apply my taught words automatically?
Automatically, as long as "Apply my dictionary" is switched on in Settings, under Output. Every dictation is checked against the words you have taught it before it is typed.
History
Off unless you ask for it, and never leaves this machine even then.
Does it keep a record of what I have dictated?
Only if you turn it on: the History switch is off by default. When it is on, a local, on-this-machine log of your dictations builds up in Settings, under History.
Can I export or clear my history?
Settings, then History, has both. Export saves it to a file, and Clear deletes it for good.
Troubleshooting
The four things that actually go wrong, and what to do about each.
It hears me and shows the words, but nothing gets typed.
The typing permission from first setup was likely lost, which can happen after a desktop update or a Wayland session restart. Lightmorphic Talk tells you when this happens: open Settings and restart the app to be asked for permission again.
It is cutting off the start or end of what I said.
Check Settings, then Microphone, then Test first, to make sure the right microphone is selected and picking up a healthy level. If dictations are still being cut short, restart Lightmorphic Talk from Settings, under Maintenance.
It keeps mishearing the same word.
Teach it: highlight the word after it is typed, then right-click the floating button. See Teaching it words above.
How do I report a problem?
Settings, then Maintenance, then View log gives you the log file to attach. Email it to talk@lightmorphic.com, or open an issue on the issue tracker.
Updates and privacy
One coloured dot beside the version number is the entire update system.
- Grey — checking.
- Green — you are up to date.
- Amber — a new version exists. Click to download it.
- Blue — downloaded. Click once more to restart into it.
- Red — GitHub could not be reached. Hover for the reason.
Your words
Speech recognition runs on this machine. No audio and no text is ever sent anywhere. Lightmorphic Talk makes two kinds of network request in its whole life: the one-time download of the speech model, and the update check you ask for. History is kept only if you switch it on, and only here.