Live text

Check whether your engine supports it

MicMyDay can show text while you speak or while a provider processes your finished recording. The timing depends on your engine.

• Nemotron: transcribes continuously while you speak, using a local model.
• Whisper and Parakeet: can refresh a local preview during recording. They transcribe the finished recording again for the final result.
• Apple Speech: can show words while you speak when live text and on-device recognition are enabled and the language is available on this Mac.
• OpenAI API and Custom: can return words progressively after recording stops, when the selected model and server support streaming.

The dedicated Gemini connection returns a finished transcript. Some Whisper API models also return their result in one step.

Preview local dictation while you speak

1. Choose Whisper, Parakeet, or Nemotron under Settings → Engine and download a model.
2. Open Settings → Overlay and enable Show the overlay while recording.
3. Under Live preview, enable Preview what you are saying above it.

The words appear in a panel beside the recording indicator. Preview text may change as more speech provides context. The finished transcript follows your usual cleanup, rewrite, and delivery settings.

Nemotron’s Live model shows words sooner. Live, steadier uses slightly longer pieces of audio, with the same language coverage. See local models and Nemotron’s language support.

Choose the display behavior

For Apple Speech or a compatible streaming provider, use Settings → Engine → Live text → While the transcript arrives to choose:

• Off: the default. Wait for the finished result.
• Show in the overlay: display arriving words in the recording indicator, then deliver the finished text.
• Type into the app as it arrives: insert arriving words directly when your other settings allow it.

For visible overlay text, enable Settings → Overlay → Show the overlay while recording and choose Compact or Wide. Mini does not display the arriving words.

Why direct typing may use the overlay

A rewrite, active spelling corrections, or an active filler-word list needs to prepare the text before it is inserted. In those cases, MicMyDay displays the incoming text in the overlay and delivers the processed result afterward.

Clipboard-only delivery also uses the overlay instead of direct typing. To use direct typing, enable automatic pasting and turn off rewriting, active corrections, and filler removal. Otherwise, the finished text is delivered after cleanup.

Choose overlay display when you want to preview arriving words while keeping cleanup and rewriting enabled.

Recover from interrupted typing

Keep the destination field focused until typing finishes. Clicking or typing stops further insertion, and MicMyDay puts the remaining text on the clipboard. Text containing line breaks or tabs also uses this handover. If another app moves focus automatically, text can follow the new focus.

Check the status in the menu-bar panel:

• Partly typed · press ⌘V for the rest: place the cursor after the existing words and paste the remainder.
• Partly typed · ⌘V replaces it with the full text: select or remove the partial text before pasting the complete replacement.

Pressing Esc cancels processing but does not undo text already typed. After successful direct typing, the full result is also copied to the clipboard.

If no words appear progressively

For a local preview, check that your model is ready and both the overlay and its Live preview option are on. For Apple Speech, enable live text and on-device recognition, and check language availability. For hosted live text, check the selected model and server’s streaming support; choose Compact or Wide for words inside the indicator.

Models that return a complete transcript deliver it in one step using your usual insertion settings.