# Offline voice dictation

> Press a shortcut, speak, and the text is pasted into the app you are using. Everything runs on your PC.

Source: https://sidewhisper.app/docs/offline-voice/

## Dictate in four steps

1. Open Settings, then Voice, and download a model with **Use**. Free includes Tiny (English), Tiny (multilingual), Small and Moonshine Tiny.
2. Click into the app where you want the text, such as an email or a document.
3. Press `Alt+A` and speak. A compact overlay shows live audio activity.
4. Press `Alt+A` again. Side Whisper transcribes, applies your Dictionary and Snippets, and pastes the result.

The default shortcut is configurable. Dictation always keeps a shortcut: it is the one global shortcut you cannot turn off.

## Models

A model downloads only when you choose it. Parakeet and Moonshine downloads are checked against a SHA-256 hash, Whisper downloads against their expected size. Settings show each model’s storage size and a recommended amount of RAM. Treat the RAM figure as guidance, not a measured minimum. Models run on the CPU of a 64-bit Windows PC. Parakeet and Moonshine do not need an NVIDIA GPU or CUDA.

| Model | Languages | Plan |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Tiny (English) | English | Free |
| Tiny (Auto) | Multilingual, translate to English | Free |
| Small | Multilingual, translate to English | Free |
| Moonshine Tiny | English | Free |
| Large Turbo | Multilingual | Pro |
| Large | Multilingual, translate to English | Pro |
| NVIDIA Parakeet v3 | 25 languages including Romanian, auto-detect | Pro |

Each model’s licence is shown in Settings. Parakeet is CC BY 4.0, with NVIDIA attribution.

## Dictionary and Snippets

- **Dictionary** fixes names, acronyms and recurring mistakes. For example, “side whisper” becomes “Side Whisper”.
- **Snippets** expand a spoken trigger into a longer saved block. For example, “sig” becomes your email signature.
- Free keeps up to 25 Dictionary entries and 25 Snippets. Pro has no limit.
- Both export and import as separate JSON files.

## Pasting

Choose to copy the result or to auto-paste it with `Ctrl+V`. Auto-paste works in any app that accepts a paste. The final text can remain in Windows clipboard history or in the destination app. Those systems decide that, not Side Whisper.

## Privacy

> **Note.** Dictation runs on your PC. There is no Side Whisper cloud transcription service, and recordings and transcripts are not uploaded. You need the internet only to download a model.