Skip to main content
You spoke and released the hotkey, but nothing was typed.
  1. Check your cursor placement — Make sure a text field is focused in the target app before dictating.
  2. Check permissions — On macOS, Scout needs Accessibility permission to paste text. See Permissions.
  3. Check your microphone — Open Settings → Audio and run a mic check. See Microphone Issues.
  4. Check your internet connection — Scout needs an active connection to stream audio to the speech engine.
  5. Try a different app — If it works in one app but not another, the target app may be blocking clipboard paste.
Pressing the dictation hotkey does nothing.
  1. Make sure Scout is running — Check for the Scout icon in your system tray (Windows) or menu bar (macOS).
  2. Check for conflicts — Another app may have claimed the same hotkey. Try changing your hotkey in Settings → Hotkeys.
  3. Restart Scout — Close and relaunch the app.
  4. macOS: Check Accessibility — Hotkey detection on macOS (including the Fn key) requires Accessibility permission. See Permissions.
You said a command like ‘period’ but Scout typed the word instead.
  1. Try speaking more clearly — Voice commands use normalized word matching, so speaking the command clearly helps.
  2. Check for boundary requirements — Commands like “number one” and “bullet point” require a natural boundary (start of speech, after a pause, or after another command). Saying “number one” mid-sentence is treated as regular text.
  3. Try the multi-word alias — Single-word commands like “pipe” or “arrow” can sometimes be missed. Try “pipe sign” or “arrow sign” instead.
You added a word to your dictionary but it’s not being corrected.
  1. Check the spelling — Open Settings → Dictionary and verify the word is spelled correctly.
  2. Speak the word clearly — Fuzzy matching works within a threshold. If the speech engine’s output is too different from your dictionary entry, it won’t match.
  3. Short words are harder to match — Words under 3 characters aren’t eligible for fuzzy matching.
  4. Dictionary syncs automatically — New entries take effect on your next dictation session. No restart needed.
You said a trigger phrase but it wasn’t replaced.
  1. Check the trigger — Open Settings → Quick Phrases and verify the trigger phrase is correct. Triggers must be at least 2 words.
  2. Say the trigger exactly — Quick phrases use exact normalized matching. The words must match — paraphrasing won’t work.
Triggers that exactly match a built-in voice command are rejected when you create them to prevent conflicts.
Scout shows a connection error or transcription stops mid-sentence.
  1. Check your internet — Scout needs a stable connection for real-time streaming.
  2. Check if the speech engine is down — Rare, but outages happen. Try again in a few minutes.
  3. Restart Scout — This resets the connection.
  4. Check your firewall — Scout needs outbound access on port 443. No special rules needed beyond standard web traffic.