MicJotAbout the beta

Troubleshooting

Every dictation is kept somewhere: a pending file, History or the clipboard. Start from what you saw.

MicJot didn't type anything

  • What you saw: you spoke, the bar closed, nothing appeared.
  • Why: the paste could not be verified and the fallback could not write either (common in some web views and Electron apps), or Accessibility is not granted.
  • Fix: the text is on your clipboard; press ⌘V. The notice “Couldn't insert the text here. It's on your clipboard: press ⌘V to paste it.” says so when MicJot knows; Home's transcript list marks a dictation that did not reach its app with a small glyph and a tooltip.
  • Next: check Accessibility under Settings → Privacy → Permissions. If it keeps happening in one app, send diagnostics and name the app.

Text landed on the clipboard instead

  • What you saw: “Couldn't paste here. The text is on your clipboard.” or “MicJot needs Accessibility to paste.”
  • Why: the app refused ⌘V or could not be read back; without Accessibility, MicJot does not post ⌘V at all. Texts for password fields or excluded apps are also left on the clipboard rather than stored.
  • Fix: ⌘V. Grant Accessibility if the notice names it.
  • Next: if an app never accepts the paste, use ⌃⌘V after clicking into the field; that runs the same verified paste.

Nothing happens when I hold Fn

  • What you saw: no bar, no chime.
  • Why: in order of likelihood: System Settings → Keyboard → “Press 🌐 key to” is not set to “Do Nothing”; MicJot cannot see Fn (another app takes it first, and Input Monitoring is not granted); a password field or secure prompt holds Secure Event Input, which pauses the key; another app owns the same shortcut.
  • Fix: set the Globe key to Do Nothing; allow Input Monitoring when the setup's key screen or Settings → Privacy → Permissions offers it; click into an ordinary text field; check Settings → Dictation, which names the conflicts it can see.
  • Next: try Right Command as the key to tell a Fn problem from a permission problem.

Microphone is “connecting”, or the first word is lost on Bluetooth

  • What you saw: “Connecting to the microphone…” on the bar, or a dictation missing its first word.
  • Why: a Bluetooth headset needs about 0.7 seconds to switch into microphone mode. MicJot plays the chime only when the microphone is live, and keeps it open for 90 seconds after each dictation so the next one starts instantly.
  • Fix: wait for the chime before speaking, keep “Keep the microphone ready” on, or lengthen the standby window in Settings → Dictation. A wired microphone or the built-in one has no warm-up.
  • Next: a dictation that ends in silence within 1.5 s of a cold start is reported as “still connecting”; say it again.

The model download stalls

  • What you saw: the progress bar stops, or the download ends with an error.
  • Why: the connection dropped. Files are pinned to one published version and checked by size and SHA-256.
  • Fix: click Retry, in the setup window's strip or on the Speech model row that Settings → Dictation shows until the model is ready; an interrupted download resumes from the bytes on disk, and a file that fails verification is fetched again. A cancelled download keeps its partial files.
  • Next: dictate anyway. What you say before the model is ready is kept and typed into the field, History and the clipboard once it is; there is one model (Whisper Large v3 Turbo, about 630 MB) and no smaller one to switch to.

macOS says it cannot check MicJot

  • What you saw: “Apple cannot check ‘MicJot’ for malicious software”, with Move to Trash and Done.
  • Why: you have a private-beta build, which is not notarized. The public release will not show this.
  • Fix: click Done, open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to the bottom, click Open Anyway, confirm, and click Open when the warning returns (Apple's steps). Control-click → Open no longer bypasses the check on current macOS. Your tester instructions have the same steps and the file's checksum.
  • Next: if you did not receive the build directly from the owner, do not open it.

Permissions look granted but don't work

  • What you saw: the Accessibility switch is on, yet MicJot says it needs Accessibility, or the dictation key does nothing.
  • Why: macOS keys grants to the app's code signature. A macOS upgrade, a migration from another Mac, or a build signed with a different identity makes the old grant stale while its switch stays on.
  • Fix: in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility select MicJot, remove it with −, add it again with +, and switch it on; the same for Input Monitoring. Quit MicJot from the menu bar and reopen it.
  • Next: the Terminal commands on the permissions page reset the grants so MicJot asks afresh.

MicJot said it was still starting

  • What you saw: “MicJot was still starting; please say that again.”
  • Why: a very short utterance on a cold microphone, or a start lost to a stall, so the recording held nothing usable.
  • Fix: say it again; the microphone is warm now.

Only silence or faint noise

  • What you saw: “sent only silence”, “only faint noise” or “virtual audio device”.
  • Why: the chosen microphone is muted or mis-cabled, an interface has its gain down, or a loopback driver (BlackHole, a meeting app's virtual device) is the system default input.
  • Fix: pick the real microphone in Settings → Dictation; the picker shows transport and input count and warns about virtual and aggregate devices. When your selected microphone is unplugged, MicJot uses the system default and says so once.

Settings crashed on the level meter (fixed in 0.3.1)

Opening Settings while a Bluetooth headset was still in its standby window crashed 0.3.0. Update to 0.3.1: the meter now refuses safely and shows “The level can't be shown right now”; dictation is unaffected.

How to send diagnostics

Save Diagnostics… (app menu or Settings → General) writes a zip to Downloads with the event log, crash reports and a settings summary: never what you said, your keys or your history. Attach it to your email. See diagnostics.