Why isn’t Dictop pasting into my Mac app?
Quick answer — November 3, 2026: First check whether Dictop is still recording, transcribing or refining your text. Then check the destination field, macOS Accessibility permission and the selected delivery method. Copy does not insert automatically. If processing finished, recover the text from saved history before recording again; Insert Latest Transcription requires a saved transcript. If transcription failed, retry the last recording when its audio remains available.
1. Check whether the text is ready
In on-demand mode, stop recording to begin transcription. A paused recording has not finished. Dictop’s menu bar control shows a recording timer, transcription progress, or a pencil icon during AI refinement. Hover over it to check the tooltip.
Let transcription and refinement finish. Repeatedly pressing the start/stop shortcut changes what Dictop does at each stage: during transcription it cancels that work; during AI refinement it stops refinement and delivers the text after replacements. It is not a general “paste again” shortcut.
If an editor window is waiting, Edit text before pasting is enabled. Choose Paste to deliver the text, Copy to put it on the clipboard, or Cancel to stop delivery. This review step applies to on-demand mode with Paste selected. See review before pasting.
2. Put the cursor in an editable field
Return to the destination app and click inside the actual draft, message box or document body. Confirm that you can type there. A selected window or a visible document is not enough if the text field does not have focus.
Try an ordinary editable draft in another app. If insertion works there, continue with manual copying and pasting in the original destination while checking that editor’s behavior. This separates a destination-field problem from a problem affecting every app.
3. Check Accessibility permission
Paste and Type need macOS Accessibility permission. Open Apple menu → System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility and enable Dictop. If it is missing, use the add button to find and add the app. These are Apple’s steps for granting Accessibility access.
Dictop also shows an Accessibility Permission control in its Insertion settings when Paste or Type is selected and permission is missing. After granting permission, return to your destination field before testing again.
Already enabled, but still not pasting?
After an app update or a switch between versions, macOS can retain an Accessibility permission entry that no longer works for the installed copy of Dictop. Try removing that entry and adding the app again:
- In System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility, select Dictop in the list.
- Click the minus (−) button to remove its permission entry.
- Click the plus (+) button, open the Applications folder, and select Dictop to add it back.
- Make sure Dictop is enabled, return to your destination field, and try a short dictation again.
This can refresh a stale permission entry even when Dictop already appeared to be allowed.
4. Check the delivery method and clipboard
Open Settings → Insertion → Text Delivery → Method:
| Method | What to expect | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Paste | Automatic insertion into the active app; previous clipboard contents restored afterward | Accessibility permission and field focus |
| Type | Simulated typing into the active app | Accessibility permission and a US English keyboard layout |
| Copy | Transcript placed on the clipboard | Paste it yourself in the destination |
These choices apply to on-demand dictation. Continuous mode pastes processed passages directly and bypasses this method selector and the review editor.
After automatic Paste, pressing Command-V may paste your earlier clipboard item because Dictop restores it. To paste the transcript yourself, explicitly copy it from history or the review editor. For text outside Type’s supported keyboard mapping, use Paste or Copy. The insertion guide explains these choices.
5. Recover the work before speaking again
Open History from Dictop’s menu bar context menu and look for the completed transcript. Copy the needed text, return to your draft and paste it manually.
Alternatively, focus your destination and use your configured Insert Latest Transcription shortcut. It requires Save transcriptions to be enabled and reads the latest saved entry. Check that entry first: if the failed attempt was never saved, the latest entry may be older. Save while searching or editing also affects whether on-demand work is saved while you use history. See history and reuse.
For an on-demand recording with no completed text, try Re-attempt Transcription in the menu bar context menu, or the Retry last transcription shortcut configured in Recording settings. Wait until Dictop is idle. This retries the last recording’s audio when it remains available; it does not recover unsaved text or guarantee audio survives a restart. Check saved text and available audio before repeating your speech.
By Dictop · Reviewed