Skip to main content
Pick the thing that’s going wrong. Each page is a single problem with the checks that resolve it, in the order worth trying. If something is broken rather than confusing, skip ahead to sending us a debug log — it’s the single most useful thing you can attach to an email.

​
Dictation

Nothing was transcribed

You spoke, and you got “No Audio Detected” or an empty result.

My microphone isn't working

No microphones listed, permission denied, or the wrong device is picked up.

I lost a dictation

Re-transcribe from history, and recover something you cancelled.

The text doesn't paste

Transcription works, but nothing lands in the app you’re typing into.

My text is pasted twice

Duplicated text on Windows.

My hotkey doesn't work

Nothing happens on the shortcut, or another app has taken it.

The words come out wrong

Wrong names, wrong language, or accuracy that dropped.

It answers me instead of typing

You dictated a question and got a reply rather than your words.

​
Meetings

Meeting audio isn't captured

Only your voice is recorded, or nothing is.

​
Installing, launching and updating

OpenWhispr won't open

Installed, but no window appears — or the panel is off-screen.

Antivirus blocks OpenWhispr

Windows Defender, Norton, or a firewall prompt.

Updates and reinstalling

Failed updates, permissions that stopped working, and a clean reinstall.

​
Network, models and cloud

Can't reach OpenWhispr Cloud

Connection errors, corporate proxies and certificate warnings.

A model won't download

Downloads that fail, stall, or fail to install afterwards.

Local transcription isn't working

Whisper or Parakeet on your own machine.

Network allowlist for IT

Every host the app contacts, for firewalls, proxies and DNS filters.

​
Account

I paid but still see the Free plan

Your subscription went through and the app hasn’t caught up.

It says I hit a daily limit

What the limit actually is, and when it frees up.

​
Linux

Clipboard and system audio on Linux

Wayland clipboard behaviour and PipeWire capture.

​
Getting help

Email support@openwhispr.com — a real person reads every message, on every plan. Tell us your operating system, your OpenWhispr version (Settings → System, under Updates — look for Current version), and what you were doing when it went wrong.

​
Send us a debug log

If something is failing rather than just confusing — dictation producing nothing, a transcription erroring, audio not being picked up — a debug log usually turns a few days of back-and-forth into a single reply. It’s the most useful thing you can attach. Debug mode records what OpenWhispr is actually doing — audio processing, API requests and system operations — so a problem that’s hard to describe becomes something we can read.
1

Turn debug mode on

Open Settings, choose System under System, and switch on Debug mode under Debug Logging.
2

Make the problem happen again

The log only captures what happens while debug mode is on, so reproduce the issue after switching it on.
3

Open the logs folder

Click Open Logs Folder in the same Debug Logging section. The path to the current log is shown there too, under Current log file.
4

Attach the most recent log

Send us the newest file in that folder along with your email.
Prefer the command line, or need debug mode on before the app finishes starting? Launch with --log-level=debug, or set OPENWHISPR_LOG_LEVEL=debug in the .env file in your app data directory.
Debug logs are plain text files, so you can open one and read it before you send it. They’re a record of what the app was doing rather than a copy of your notes, though some entries include short excerpts of what was said or generated — commonly the first 100 characters of a transcript or AI response, and in a few cases (like a raw transcription-service reply) up to around 1,000 characters — logged as-is with no redaction. Skim the file before sending, and tell us if you’d rather redact or trim a section — we can work with a partial log. Switch debug mode off once you’ve sent the log — it writes to disk continuously.
  • Discord — ask other users
  • GitHub Issues — for reproducible bugs and feature requests, if you’d rather file one
  • Getting help — what to include, and where to go for what