> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.openwhispr.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Hold or tap

> Press once to start and again to stop, or hold the key while you speak. Which you can use depends on your platform.

OpenWhispr can start dictation two ways, and you choose which:

* **Tap** — press the hotkey to start, press it again to stop. This is the
  default.
* **Hold** — hold the hotkey down while you speak, release to stop.

The setting is under **Settings** → **Hotkeys** under **App**, labelled
**Activation Mode**, directly beneath the dictation hotkey field.

## Which one to pick

Tap suits longer dictation — a paragraph, an email — because you aren't holding
a key for a minute. It also survives you pausing to think.

Hold suits short bursts, and it's harder to leave running by accident. If you've
ever walked away from a recording that was still going, hold fixes that
permanently.

## Where hold works

| Platform | Hold available?                                    |
| -------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| macOS    | Yes                                                |
| Windows  | Yes                                                |
| Linux    | Only with keyboard input access set up (see below) |

## Linux setup

On Linux, hold needs permission to read keyboard input devices, which your user
account doesn't have by default. If it isn't set up you'll see **Hold to Speak
needs setup** in settings, with the command to run:

```bash theme={null}
sudo usermod -aG input $USER
```

Log out and back in afterwards — group membership isn't picked up until you do.
Until then the Hold option stays unavailable and dictation runs in tap mode.

## When the choice isn't offered

On Linux desktops where OpenWhispr hands shortcut registration to the desktop
environment — GNOME, KDE, or Hyprland — the app doesn't see the key being
released, only that it was pressed. Where that applies and the input-device
access above isn't in place, the mode is fixed at tap.

Everywhere else the control is always shown.

<Snippet file="still-need-help.mdx" />

## Related

* [Your hotkeys](/help/dictation/hotkeys)
* [Choosing a shortcut that works](/help/dictation/choosing-a-shortcut)
* [My hotkey doesn't work](/help/fix/hotkey-not-working)