Manual Windows
Dictating into other apps
How your words get from Neato Echo into whatever you're typing in — and what to do when they don't.
Neato Echo works in any application that accepts typed text: your email client, a chat window, a document, a code editor, a browser form. There's no list of supported apps to check, because it isn't integrating with them — it's putting text where your cursor already is.
Knowing how it does that explains every case where it doesn't.
What actually happens
When you finish dictating, Neato Echo:
- Copies the finished text to your clipboard.
- Sends the paste keystroke to whichever window has focus.
- Puts your previous clipboard contents back a moment later.
That's it. Nothing is typed character by character, and nothing is injected into the other application.
Two consequences worth knowing:
- Your clipboard is borrowed, not taken. It's restored afterwards — unless it changed in the meantime, in which case Neato Echo leaves the newer contents alone rather than overwriting something you copied.
- Focus decides everything. The text lands wherever the cursor is when dictation finishes. Click into the target field before you stop speaking, not after.
The two settings
Both are under Settings → Preferences under App, in the Clipboard group:
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic pasting | On | Pastes the text into the active app when dictation finishes |
| Keep transcription in clipboard | Off | Leaves the dictation on your clipboard instead of restoring what was there before |
Turn automatic pasting off and Neato Echo becomes copy-only: dictate, then paste where you like. Some people prefer that in apps where they want to review before committing.
What Windows needs
Nothing — it works out of the box. There are no accessibility permissions to grant.
When the paste doesn't land
Nothing appears, but the text is in my history
The transcription worked and the paste didn't. Press Ctrl+V — the text is on your clipboard, which is the deliberate fallback for every failure in this path. Then see the text doesn't paste for the cause.
It pasted into the wrong window
Whatever had focus when dictation ended received the text. This most often happens when a notification or another app steals focus mid-dictation.
It pasted twice
A known issue with a specific cause on Windows rather than something about the app you were in. The text pasted twice has it.
My terminal ignored it or pasted something strange
Terminals use a different paste shortcut, and Neato Echo switches to it when it recognizes one. Editors, IDEs and terminals covers what it recognizes and what to do when yours isn't on the list.
The app answered me instead of typing
That's the voice agent, not the paste path. It answers instead of typing explains the trigger and how to turn it off.
Fields that refuse pasted text
Some secure entry fields reject text that arrives from a paste, whatever is doing the pasting. That's the other application's decision, not something Neato Echo can work around — and not something we'd want to. The transcription stays on your clipboard either way.
Related
Still need help?
Write to [email protected] with your Windows version, your Neato Echo version (Settings → System), and what you were doing. A person reads every message.