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Each operating system lets apps see different keys, so what OpenWhispr can accept as a shortcut changes from one machine to the next. The default on every platform is the safe choice — it types nothing if it slips through — and if dictation is working there’s no reason to change it. This page is the full map for when you want something else, or you’ve moved between machines and wonder why a key that worked on one is refused on the other. Every shortcut lives under Settings → Hotkeys under App.

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At a glance

A modifier is a key that changes what other keys do — Ctrl, Alt, Shift, Cmd, Option, Win and Super. Most shortcuts combine one with something else; the interesting cases are the ones that don’t. Everything marked No is refused when you try to set it, with a message saying why — never bound silently to a key that will never fire.

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macOS

A Mac has the most ways to start dictation without typing anything: the Globe key, a right-side modifier on its own, or a side-button on your mouse. All three go through a small helper bundled with the app, because the normal shortcut system can’t see them. Globe is handled for you. macOS has its own idea of what Globe should do — switch input source, show emoji. While OpenWhispr owns the key it sets that system option (Press Globe key to, under System Settings → Keyboard) to do nothing, and puts your original choice back when it quits. You don’t need to change it by hand, and if you change it yourself while the app is running, your choice wins. Right-side keys work alone. Right Option, Right Ctrl, Right Shift or Right Cmd on their own each make a good dictation key. Right Option is what setup suggests, and it’s the fix for the one thing a Mac refuses (below). Mouse side-buttons. If your mouse has buttons 4 and 5 — the two on the side, on most mice — you can bind either by clicking it while the hotkey field reads Listening…. They need the Accessibility permission, which you’ve already granted if pasting works.

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What a Mac refuses

A combination made only of modifiers — Control+Option, Command+Shift — is refused here and nowhere else: “Two-modifier shortcuts are not supported on macOS. Use a right-side modifier on its own (e.g. RightOption), or add a regular key.” Do what it says: use Right Option on its own, or add a regular key so the combination becomes something like Control+Space. Globe can’t be combined with anything else either — “The Globe/Fn key can only be used by itself.” — and neither can a mouse button.

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Hold on a Mac

Hold works with Globe, a right-side key, a mouse button and any combination that includes a modifier. The one shape it can’t do is a single ordinary key such as F8 on its own, because macOS doesn’t tell the app when a key like that is released. Pick one and switch to Hold and you’ll see: “Hold-to-talk needs a key macOS can see you release: Globe, a right-side key like Right Option, or a shortcut with a modifier. Tap works with any key.”

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Reserved on macOS

The combinations you’re most likely to bump into: Cmd+Space (Spotlight), Cmd+Q, Cmd+W, Cmd+H, Cmd+M, Cmd+Shift+3, Cmd+Shift+4 and Cmd+Shift+5 (screenshots), and Cmd+Option+Esc (Force Quit). The app refuses these with “[key] is reserved by the system”.

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If Globe stops responding

Globe Hotkey Unavailable means the helper that watches for Globe couldn’t start. Your other shortcuts keep working. The helper restarts itself after your Mac wakes from sleep; if the message stays, quitting and reopening OpenWhispr gives it another try.

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Windows

Windows is the most permissive platform. The default Ctrl+Win, any other two-modifier combination, and a right-side key on its own — Right Ctrl, Right Alt, Right Shift, Right Win — all work, because a small keyboard helper bundled with the app watches for keys the normal shortcut system can’t see. Combinations with a letter or an F-key go through the normal route and work too. During setup OpenWhispr suggests Right Ctrl first, then Ctrl+Win.
If your keyboard uses Right Alt for accents or symbols — the key is labelled AltGr on many layouts — you can bind Right Alt and it will work, but every accented character or symbol you type with it would also start or stop dictation. Use Right Ctrl instead.

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Hold on Windows

Hold works with any dictation key. If the helper that watches for key presses is missing or fails, you’ll see Push-to-Talk native listener not available and dictation runs in Tap until it’s back.

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Reserved on Windows

Alt+Tab, Alt+F4, Ctrl+Alt+Delete, Ctrl+Shift+Esc, Win+L, Win+D, Win+E, Win+R, Win+S, Win+X, F5, F11, Home, End and Print Screen are refused as reserved. Win+H is not refused — it’s Windows’ own voice typing shortcut, and binding it puts two dictation systems on one key. Avoid it anyway.

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If a key is already taken

“[key] is already registered by another application.” means something else on your PC claimed it first. “Could not register [key]. It may be in use by another application.” is the same thing when Windows didn’t say who. Pick another key, or quit the other app to find out which.

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Linux

Linux is really four platforms, because OpenWhispr hands shortcut registration to your desktop when it recognises one — GNOME, KDE or Hyprland — and each has its own rules. Everything else goes through the normal shortcut system, with limits of its own. Two things are the same on all four: a right-side key on its own is refused (“Right-side single modifier hotkeys are not supported on Linux.”), and the Globe key and mouse buttons are macOS-only.
Default: F8. GNOME only accepts a shortcut that includes a regular key, so the usual Ctrl+Super can’t be registered here and the app uses F8 instead — on Wayland and X11 alike.Shortcuts are registered as GNOME’s own custom shortcuts, so they appear under Settings → Keyboard, and GNOME refuses a key that’s already used by one of your other custom shortcuts. Each OpenWhispr shortcut takes one key; Add another hotkey isn’t offered.Hold works on GNOME 48 or newer with no setup, because those versions can tell the app when you release the key. Older GNOME can’t, so Hold there needs the input group — see Everything else for the command.

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True everywhere

  • Hold is for dictation only. The voice assistant, translation and meeting shortcuts are always Tap, whatever key they’re on.
  • Hold gives up after five minutes if it never sees you release the key, so a missed release can’t leave a recording running forever.
  • If your key can’t be registered when the app starts — another app got there first, or your desktop refused it — OpenWhispr tries F8, then F9, then Ctrl+Shift+Space, uses the first that works, and tells you: Hotkey changed — “X” was unavailable. Using “Y” instead. Your chosen key is kept and tried again at every launch, so once the conflict is gone it comes back on its own. A Reset to [key] link under the field takes you back to the platform default whenever you’ve strayed from it.
  • If you’d saved Hold and your current key can’t do it, the app quietly puts you back on Tap the next time it starts.
The rules that apply to every shortcut on every platform — three keys at most, a letter or digit never on its own, one key per OpenWhispr shortcut — are in Choosing a shortcut that works.