Quick Start

Get your first transcription in 2 minutes

Follow these steps to make your first transcription with Speakly.

Step 1: Complete Onboarding

When you first open Speakly, you'll be guided through a quick setup process:

  1. Grant microphone permission
  2. Choose your transcription engine (Local or BYOK)
  3. Test your microphone
  4. Learn the keyboard shortcuts

Step 2: Make Your First Recording

The default shortcut is the Right ⌘ key on its own on macOS, and Right Ctrl + Enter on Windows. Out of the box it works both ways — hold it down while you speak, or tap it once to start and tap again to stop:

  1. Press the shortcut once — the recording pill appears at the bottom
  2. Speak normally into your microphone
  3. Press the shortcut again to finish — or, if you held it down, just let go
  4. The text is pasted where your cursor was
Can't find the shortcut?
It is shown under Settings → General → Keyboard shortcut, next to the Recording shortcut label. Click View to change the keys — the same window also holds How it behaves, where you choose between holding, tapping, or both.
Recording Indicator
Look for the floating pill that appears when recording. It shows audio levels and recording duration.

Step 3: Use Your Transcription

By default, Speakly pastes the transcribed text where your cursor is. If nothing on screen takes text — you brought an app forward but never clicked its box — nothing is pasted: the transcription waits on your clipboard and the pill tells you to click where you want it and paste. The same happens if the paste itself fails: the pill says Copied — press Ctrl+V to paste it (⌘V on a Mac), and the text is on your clipboard.

Quick Start — Speakly