Skip to content

Releases: DavidHiFi/freedictate

FreeDictate 1.0.1

Choose a tag to compare

@DavidHiFi DavidHiFi released this 25 Sep 02:06

FreeDictate 1.0.1

Patch release. No change to how dictation works: hold Ctrl+Win, speak, release, text pastes at the cursor.

Fixes

  • -Audit only looked at the HKCU Run key, so a machine that starts FreeDictate through Task Scheduler reported "Not installed. No autostart entry." even though it was starting fine. That false alarm could lead someone to add a second autostart entry. The audit now reports all three places autostart can live: the Run key, a FreeDictate scheduled task, and a Startup folder shortcut.
  • -Install no longer adds the Run key when a scheduled task or Startup shortcut already starts the app. Two mechanisms mean two copies of the app, and every take pastes twice.

Run -Audit first if you want to check without changing anything.

Upgrade

Download freedictate.zip over your existing folder, or run the one-liner again. Existing settings, transcripts, and autostart are preserved.

irm https://github.com/DavidHiFi/freedictate/releases/latest/download/Install.ps1 | iex

Unchanged

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\Install-FreeDictate.ps1 -Uninstall

MIT licensed. Source: https://github.com/DavidHiFi/freedictate

FreeDictate 1.0.0

Choose a tag to compare

@DavidHiFi DavidHiFi released this 25 Sep 01:01

FreeDictate 1.0.0

Unlimited local speech-to-text dictation for Windows 11. Hold Ctrl+Win, speak, release. Text pastes at your cursor. Everything runs on your PC through faster-whisper, so there is no account, no cloud call, and no weekly limit.

Install

Python 3.10 or newer from https://www.python.org/downloads/ first (tick "Add python.exe to PATH"). Not the Microsoft Store build.

Open PowerShell and paste:

irm https://github.com/DavidHiFi/freedictate/releases/latest/download/Install.ps1 | iex

That downloads freedictate.zip, extracts it to %LOCALAPPDATA%\FreeDictate, installs the Python packages, fetches the Whisper model once (about 500 MB), and adds one autostart entry.

Prefer to do it by hand: download freedictate.zip, extract it anywhere, then run

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\Install-FreeDictate.ps1 -Install

Add -Audit instead of -Install to check first without changing anything.

Use

  1. Click any text field.
  2. Hold Ctrl+Win and speak.
  3. Release. Text pastes at the cursor and stays on the clipboard for a Ctrl+V fallback.
  4. Esc cancels a take with nothing pasted.

One beep when listening starts, a higher beep when text pastes, a low beep when a take is discarded.

If you also use Wispr Flow, quit it or rebind its push-to-talk key first. Both listen to Ctrl+Win, so running both pastes twice.

What it changes

Two things: files in %LOCALAPPDATA%\FreeDictate, and one Run key named FreeDictate under your user hive for autostart. The installer exports that key to backups\ before writing it. It never touches mic routing, audio apps, drivers, display settings, or services.

Uninstall

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\Install-FreeDictate.ps1 -Uninstall

Then delete the install folder. No restart needed.

Changelog

  • First release. Hold Ctrl+Win push-to-talk, faster-whisper local transcription, auto-paste at cursor, beeps, filler removal, transcript log, one-line installer, read-only audit mode, and one-key uninstall.
  • Added --preload so the installer downloads and caches the model up front instead of on the first dictation.

MIT licensed. Source: https://github.com/DavidHiFi/freedictate