Help

Microphone and Accessibility permissions

Pepys asks for the microphone so it can hear you, and for Accessibility so it can paste into the app you are using and listen for your shortcut.

If dictation does nothing, open System Settings > Privacy & Security, check that Pepys Dictate is switched on under both Microphone and Accessibility, then quit and reopen Pepys.

Shortcuts stopped working (Secure Input)

macOS blocks every app from seeing key presses while Secure Input is on. Password fields turn it on briefly; some apps leave it on, for example Terminal with Secure Keyboard Entry enabled, or a password manager window left open.

Pepys shows a warning when this happens. Close the password field or window, or turn off Terminal > Secure Keyboard Entry. If it persists, locking the screen and unlocking it clears a stuck Secure Input.

Model downloads

The speech model (about 740 MB) and the formatting model (542 MB, or 1.3 GB for higher accuracy) download once. Downloads resume if interrupted and are checked before use.

Without the formatting model, dictation still works with basic formatting. You can download it later from the Formatting screen.

Licence keys

Paste your key in Settings > License. Activation needs the internet once; after that Pepys works offline.

A licence works on up to 3 Macs. To move it, choose Deactivate on the old Mac first. If you see “too many attempts”, wait a minute and try again.

Text doesn't appear in an app

Some apps ignore the paste shortcut. Pepys then types the text instead, and if that fails it leaves the text on your clipboard with a notice, so you can press Cmd+V.

“Recovered your last dictation”

If Pepys closed while you were speaking, it saves the audio as it goes and offers it in History next time. Open History and choose Retry to transcribe it.