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Appearance

Chris Smashe edited this page Jun 17, 2026 · 4 revisions

Appearance & Overlay

The Appearance page controls how TypeWhisper looks and how the dictation overlay is laid out while you record.

The Appearance page: overlay layout controls (Position, Left content, Right content, Auto-hide delay, Window position) and a live Preview of the recording overlay bubble

Overlay layout

The current Linux build's Appearance page centers on the dictation-overlay layout shown above, plus a live Preview. There is no theme selector and no separate "Text" widget on this page.

Control What it does
Position Where the overlay sits — Top or Bottom (default Bottom).
Left content Widget shown on the left side of the overlay bubble (default Waveform).
Right content Widget shown on the right side (default Timer).
Auto-hide delay How long the post-dictation feedback bubble stays visible. Slider from 0–5 s; 0 hides the bubble entirely (default 1.5 s).
Window position Drag the overlay anywhere to move it; Reset to default restores the Top/Bottom placement.

Overlay widgets

Each content slot picks from a fixed set of widgets:

Widget What it shows
None Nothing in that slot.
Indicator A recording indicator dot while dictation is active.
Timer Elapsed recording time.
Waveform A live audio-level waveform driven by your microphone input.
Clock The current time of day.
Profile The active profile name.
Hotkey mode The current recording mode (Toggle / Push to talk / Hybrid).
App name The name of the app you are dictating into.

The dictation overlay during an active recording, showing the indicator level bars, status text, and timer

Tiling window managers: on Hyprland, Sway, and similar, recording is shown as a desktop notification instead of the floating overlay, so the overlay layout controls above do not apply.

For how these widgets behave during a recording — including live partial transcripts and token-by-token LLM streaming — see Dictation.

Related pages

  • Dictation — activation modes, the recording overlay, and dictation settings.

Changelog

Date Change
2026-06-17 Initial version.
2026-06-17 Added Appearance / overlay screenshot.
2026-06-17 Added recording-overlay screenshot.
2026-06-17 Replaced inaccurate widget list and theme reference with the real overlay options, Position/Left/Right/Auto-hide/Window controls, and the tiling-WM notification note.

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