Scribe troubleshooting: when dictation does not land
The known dead ends and their fixes: SmartScreen, busy microphones, stolen hotkeys, apps that fight paste, Signed out, and the allowance meter.
Updated June 12, 2026
Windows blocked the installer
SmartScreen's "Windows protected your PC" panel is expected on the beta: the installer is not yet code-signed and we say so on the download page. Click More info, then Run anyway.
If there is no Run anyway option, your machine likely has stricter app-control policy (common on work laptops). That is an IT policy, not a Scribe fault; install on a personal machine or ask your admin.
"This app can't run on your PC"
You have the other architecture's installer. Regular Intel and AMD PCs want the main x64 download; Snapdragon and other ARM machines want the Windows on ARM build. Download the matching one from the Scribe page; nothing needs uninstalling first.
The pill says the mic is in use
Another app holds your microphone exclusively (a call, a recording app, sometimes a browser tab that never let go). Close it or end the call, then hold the hotkey again.
If no app seems guilty, check Windows Settings, Privacy & security, Microphone: make sure microphone access is on for desktop apps. Scribe uses your default input device; if you switched headsets recently, confirm Windows points at the one you are speaking into.
Holding the hotkey does nothing at all
Most often another app registered the same global shortcut first (Ctrl+Space is popular with input-method switchers and some launchers). Open Scribe's settings from the tray and switch to Ctrl+Shift+Space or hold-F9.
If the tray icon itself is missing, Scribe is not running: start it from the Start menu, and consider the launch-at-startup toggle so it is always there.
It transcribed, but the text landed nowhere
Scribe places text by briefly using the clipboard and sending paste to the focused app. A handful of targets resist synthetic paste: some terminals, games in fullscreen, and apps running elevated (as administrator) when Scribe is not.
First check the simple case: was the cursor actually in a text field when you released? If a stubborn app is the culprit, dictate into any editor and move the text over; an explicit copy-only fallback for hostile apps is on the beta list.
Clipboard etiquette: Scribe restores the text you had on the clipboard after placing. If the clipboard held an image or files, Scribe leaves it alone entirely rather than risk it.
The pill says Signed out
Your device token is no longer valid: usually because you disconnected this computer from your account page, or signed out inside Scribe. Open Scribe from the tray and run Connect again; it is the same 8-character code flow as setup and takes under a minute.
"That's this month's minutes"
Dictation shares your plan's monthly allowance with the studio, so when the meter is spent, both pause until the 1st. The settings window shows where you stand at a glance.
If you keep hitting the ceiling on a Free account, that is the honest signal the Creator plan fits your volume: it carries hours per month, shared across dictation and narration, with no per-word meter on either.
Dictation is slow to place
The round trip is your audio traveling to cantari.io, transcribing, and returning: normally a second or two for a spoken sentence. If it is consistently slower, the usual suspect is the connection (VPNs and hotel Wi-Fi especially). Scribe waits up to 45 seconds before giving up with an error rather than dropping your words silently.
Still stuck?
Email us from the help page: a real person answers while the product is young. Include what the pill said, and whether the tray icon was its normal self, coral (listening), dimmed (processing), or carrying an amber dot (attention): those four states are the app telling you where it stopped.