Setup &
support.

What you’ll need.

• An Apple Silicon Mac running macOS 26 or later.
• Microphone, Speech Recognition, Accessibility, and Input Monitoring permissions.
• Downloaded Apple speech assets for default Local and Raw. Local cleanup also needs Apple Intelligence to be enabled and ready.
• Your own OpenAI API key and separately billed API usage if you choose Online.

Alfred is optional. Plainlet runs on its own.

Your first dictation.

1. Once a public download is available, move Plainlet into Applications before granting permissions.
2. Open the app and look for the microphone in the menu bar. Use Permissions & Diagnostics to check the required permissions.
3. Review the actual processing destinations. Start with default Local or Raw using a short fictional phrase.
4. Click an editable field, hold Right Option, speak, then release. The modifier can be changed in Settings.
5. Check that the text was inserted. If the display says Copied only, click your intended field and press Command-V.

If you see “Copied only.”

Your successful result is on the clipboard. Plainlet uses copy-only when the original destination cannot be safely confirmed. Click the intended field and press Command-V. Use Copy Last Result to copy the final text again.

If cleanup changed words you want to recover, use Copy Before Cleanup. This version already includes replacement rules; it cannot restore words missed by recognition or undo a replacement.

If local cleanup is unavailable.

Check Apple Intelligence and model readiness. Try Raw to use Apple transcription without model cleanup. A skipped-cleanup result should still deliver the corrected transcript. First-use speech-asset downloads can take additional time.

If Online reports an account or key error.

Check API billing, model access, and key permissions directly in your OpenAI account. An app purchase will not include API credit. These errors are not silently hidden by local fallback.

Default Local and Raw work independently of your OpenAI account. Advanced or imported provider settings may still use OpenAI, so review the actual processing destinations.

If the held key does not start a recording.

Open Permissions & Diagnostics and check the listener plus Accessibility and Input Monitoring permissions. Secure Keyboard Entry and some macOS-protected contexts may prevent the trigger from being observed. The app does not bypass those protections.

Useful details for a support request.

• Plainlet version and build, plus your macOS version.
• The selected profile and actual providers shown in Settings.
• The destination application and whether the field was editable.
• The status message, what you expected, and steps using a fictional phrase.
• A content-free Processing Diagnostics report, if it helps explain the issue.