User Manual

Master the art of offline voice utility. (v3.13.0)

Voice to Text (Listen)

The core power of OneSentence is converting your spoken thoughts into text instantly, without ever needing an internet connection.

1

Trigger

Press ⌘ + 5 to start recording. You will see the menu bar icon change to show an exclamation badge.

2

Speak

Speak clearly into your microphone. Since OneSentence uses local implementations of OpenAI's Whisper and NVIDIA's Parakeet models, you can speak in dozens of supported languages (with Whisper supporting nearly 100 languages, and Parakeet focusing on 25 European languages) with total privacy. The default recording limit is 300 seconds, but this can be adjusted in Settings.

3

Stop

Press ⌘ + 5 again to stop. The app will immediately begin offline processing.

The "Success" Sound

Wait for a subtle completion tone. This sound is your confirmation that the AI has finished transcribing and your text is ready.

5

Paste Anywhere

The transcribed text is now on your system clipboard. Just press ⌘ + V in any app to paste your thoughts.

Text to Speech (Read)

Transform any English text on your screen into a professional narration using pro-audio AI voices specialized for high-fidelity English.

How to trigger:

  1. Highlight any text in any application (Browser, PDF, Email, etc).
  2. Press ⌘ + 6.
  3. OneSentence utilizes Clipboard Snapshot technology to automatically copy the selection and begin speaking using the Supertonic engine, while preserving your previous clipboard content.
  4. Intelligent Ducking: OneSentence will automatically lower the volume of other audio sources (like music or browsers) while it is reading.
  5. Now Playing: Your active reading session will appear in the macOS Now Playing widget, allowing you to pause or stop using your media keys.
  6. To stop early, just press ⌘ + 6 again.

Snippets (Universal Palette)

The Universal Palette puts your entire library of canned responses, code snippets, and templates at your fingertips. It works in every application on your Mac.

1

Setup

Open Settings > Snippets and select a folder on your Mac where you want to store your snippets. OneSentence will watch this folder for changes.

2

Create

Create plain text files in your snippets folder. Supported formats:

  • .txt or .md: Standard text files.
  • .snippet: Useful for distinguishing snippet files.
  • .yasnippet: Compatible with Emacs YASnippet format.
3

Trigger

Press ⌘ + ⇧ + Space (Command + Shift + Space) anywhere. A floating search bar will appear.

4

Paste

Type to fuzzy-search your files. Use Arrow keys to navigate. Press Enter to paste the content into your active application. OneSentence uses a "Smart Paste" mechanism that preserves your clipboard history.

Local History & Search

Every transcription you make is securely logged in a local database on your Mac, ensuring you never lose a thought.

How to find past recordings:

  1. Open the OneSentence menu from your menu bar and click History...
  2. Use the search bar at the top to instantly filter your past transcriptions by keywords.
  3. Hover over any entry and click the Copy icon (or just click the entry itself) to copy the text back to your clipboard.
  4. You can delete individual entries or clear your entire history using the provided buttons.

Power Features

Refine Punctuation

OneSentence automatically optimizes the text before reading. It adds missing periods, formats smart quotes and dashes, and caps repetitive marks to ensure the text remains clean and readable for the speaking voice.

Adjustable Timeout

By default, recording for transcription stops automatically after 300 seconds to prevent accidental runaway captures. You can increase or decrease this in the Speech-to-Text section to match your dictation style.

Read transcription back to me

When enabled in Settings, OneSentence will automatically read your transcribed text back to you immediately after transcription finishes. This is perfect for eyes-free confirmation of your dictation.

Settings Reference

General

Application

Launch at Login

Keep OneSentence ready in your menu bar every time you start your Mac.

Shortcuts

Listen & Read Selection

Customize your global hotkeys for Listen (default ⌘5) and Read Selection (default ⌘6). These work system-wide.

Speech-to-Text

Recording Timeout

Configure how long the app should listen before automatically stopping. Adjustable from 10 seconds to 10 minutes.

Text-to-Speech

Playback Speed

Adjust the narration speed from 0.5x to 2.0x.

Diffusion Steps

Control the quality of AI voice synthesis. Higher steps (up to 30) result in more natural speech but require more processing time.

Refine Punctuation

Automatically polishes transcription with professional formatting, smart quotes, and intelligent spacing.

Repair Encoding Errors

Detects and corrects distorted characters caused by encoding issues during transcription.

Alerts & Feedback

Sound Effects

Hear confirmation tones when you start or stop recording, or when an error occurs.

Visual Alerts

Displays a native-style "Pill" HUD at the top of your screen to provide visual status for hotkey actions.

Read transcription back to me

Automatically speaks the text aloud after recording.

Voices

OneSentence comes pre-installed with 10 professional AI voices (5 Male, 5 Female) specialized for high-fidelity English narration. All voices are available immediately for offline use without additional downloads.

  • Instant Selection: Choose any voice from the curated list. Your selection is applied instantly across the entire system.
  • Zero Latency: Because all voice parameters are already on your Mac, there is no waiting time when switching between different personas.

Models

Transcription Engine

Choose the engine that powers your transcription. Whisper (OpenAI) offers industry-leading accuracy and multilingual support, while Parakeet (NVIDIA) provides an exceptionally fast TDT model with low latency.

Whisper: Hardware Acceleration

When using Whisper on macOS 14+, OneSentence can utilize the Apple Neural Engine (ANE). This offloads processing to dedicated AI cores, maximizing battery efficiency. Alternatively, you can use Standard (Metal) for high compatibility and GPU acceleration. ANE requires a separate model download.

Transcription Language

You can choose "Auto" to have the model discern the language automatically from your first few words, but selecting a specific language improves transcription speed and prevents detection errors.

On-Demand Downloading

OneSentence only downloads the models you actually use. You can switch models at any time; the app will securely download and verify the new assets automatically. For Whisper, you can choose between base, small, and large models.

Background Prewarming

Enable this feature to initialize transcription resources in the background when the app starts. This reduces the initial delay for your first capture request.

Audio

Precision control over your hardware. Switch between any connected audio device without restarting the app.

Output Device Select which speakers or headphones OneSentence uses when reading text aloud to you.
Input Device Select which microphone OneSentence should use for "Listen" mode.
System Integration Duck other audio sources: When enabled, OneSentence will automatically lower the volume of other applications while it is actively speaking or recording.

Snippets

Manage your snippet libraries for the Universal Palette.

Snippet Source Folder

Select the directory on your Mac where OneSentence looks for your snippet files. You can change this at any time to switch between different libraries (e.g., Personal vs. Work).

Reload Snippets

OneSentence automatically detects changes in your snippets folder, but you can force a manual reload here if a new file isn't showing up immediately.

History

Access your past transcriptions.

Local Database

Every transcription is safely stored on your device using a robust local database. No cloud syncing.

Full-Text Search

Instantly find past dictations by searching for keywords or phrases. Click any entry to copy it back to your clipboard.

Licensing

Manage your trial and activate Pro features.

Free Trial Status

View how many days are left in your 15-day free trial. All Pro features are fully unlocked during this period.

Activate License

Enter your license key (from Lemon Squeezy) to permanently unlock OneSentence Pro or activate a subscription.

Maintenance

Built-in tools to manage your local data and prepare for a clean uninstallation if needed.

Configuration

Reset Settings

Restores all application preferences and hotkeys to factory defaults. This is useful if you want a fresh configuration but want to keep your downloaded AI models.

Deep Cleanup

Factory Reset

The most comprehensive cleanup option. This deletes all local models (~4GB), custom settings, and hotkeys. OneSentence will return to its initial setup state next time it is opened. This does not delete the application bundle itself.

Troubleshooting

Enable Debug Logging

When enabled, detailed logs and recorded audio files are written to the application data folder for troubleshooting. You can open the log folder directly from this section to inspect or share diagnostic data.