> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vowen.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Shortcuts reference
> Every global recording shortcut, in-app shortcut, and bindable key or mouse button.
Three tables: the global recording shortcuts and their platform defaults, the fixed shortcuts
that work inside the Vowen window, and the complete set of keys and mouse buttons the shortcut
recorder will accept.
## Global recording shortcuts
Configured in **Settings > Shortcuts**, except the meeting panel binding, which lives in
**Notes settings > Recording Defaults**.
| Action | macOS default | Windows and Linux default | Enabled by default | Hold / Tap |
| ------------------------ | ----------------- | ------------------------- | ------------------ | ------------------------------------ |
| Transcription Shortcut | `Fn` | `Ctrl + Shift` | Yes | Hold or Tap. Default Hold |
| Command Mode Shortcut | `Alt + Shift` | `Alt + Shift` | Yes | Hold or Tap. Default Hold |
| Hands-Free Mode | `Fn + Control` | `Ctrl + H` | Yes | Always press-to-start, press-to-stop |
| Start New Note | `Cmd + Shift + N` | `Alt + N` | No | Single press |
| Paste Last Transcription | `Cmd + Shift + L` | `Ctrl + Shift + L` | No | Single press |
| Cancel Recording | `Escape` | `Escape` | Yes | Single press |
| Meeting panel | `Cmd + \` | `Ctrl + \` | Yes | Single press |
**Cancel Recording** and the **meeting panel** are both on out of the box. Cancel Recording
discards the recording in progress; if the recording was started in Tap mode or hands-free,
Vowen offers an undo that resumes it. Recordings started by holding a key are never resumable,
because the key release already ended them.
### Hold versus Tap
Only the **Transcription** and **Command Mode** rows carry the Hold/Tap pill, on the primary
binding and on each alternative independently.
| Mode | Behavior |
| ---- | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Hold | Push to talk. Release the key to stop and transcribe. Default |
| Tap | Press once to start, press again to stop |
**Hands-Free Mode** is press-to-start and press-to-stop by definition and has no pill.
**Start New Note**, **Paste Last Transcription**, **Cancel Recording** and the **meeting panel**
are single-press actions with no pill either. Per-tone shortcuts do have the pill.
A mouse-bound shortcut in Hold mode stops when you release the button, and also stops if you
press the same button again. In Tap mode it only stops on the second press.
### Alternative bindings
Adding more than one binding per action is a Pro feature.
See [Plan limits](/reference/plan-limits).
Transcription, Command Mode and Hands-Free each accept a list of alternatives. Every
alternative carries its own enable toggle, and on Transcription and Hands-Free its own
AI-enhancement override.
| AI override | Behavior |
| --------------- | --------------------------- |
| Enhance with AI | Always runs the AI enhancer |
| Off | Never runs the enhancer |
The primary binding has no AI pill. It follows your global enhancement setting. New
alternatives are created with the override set to Off.
### Conflicts and the grace period
Two shortcuts can never be bound to the same combination. The recorder checks the global
bindings, every alternative and every per-tone shortcut before saving, and refuses a duplicate
with an explanation.
When two shortcuts share a prefix, such as `Fn` and `Fn + Control`, Vowen waits **500 ms**
after the first match before committing. If the more specific combination arrives inside that
window it wins, which is what lets you start dictating on `Fn` and upgrade into hands-free by
tapping the extra modifier without releasing.
### Meeting panel constraints
The meeting panel toggle is a real Electron global shortcut rather than a hook binding, and it
is only registered while all three of these hold:
Outside a meeting the key belongs to whatever app you are in.
The panel is an extension of the indicator. Turning off **Show floating indicator while
recording** also disables the panel shortcut, and the settings row greys out.
It needs at least one modifier plus one ordinary key. Mouse buttons, `Fn` chords, the ISO
102nd key, modifier-only chords and bare single keys are all rejected up front.
## In-app shortcuts
These work inside the Vowen window and are not configurable.
| Action | macOS | Windows and Linux | Where |
| ------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------- | ---------------------- | ------------------------------ |
| Open or close the command palette | `Cmd + K` | `Ctrl + K` | Anywhere in the window |
| Focus the page search box | `Cmd + F` or `/` | `Ctrl + F` or `/` | Any list page |
| Back | `Cmd + Left` | `Alt + Left` | Anywhere |
| Forward | `Cmd + Right` | `Alt + Right` | Anywhere |
| Note tabs: Summary, Transcript, Ask AI | `Cmd + 1` / `2` / `3` | `Ctrl + 1` / `2` / `3` | An open note |
| Meeting panel tabs: Ask AI, My Notes, Transcript | `Cmd + 1` / `2` / `3` | `Ctrl + 1` / `2` / `3` | The meeting panel |
| Open the find bar | `Cmd + F` | `Ctrl + F` | Summary and transcript editors |
| Open find and replace | `Cmd + Shift + F` | `Ctrl + Shift + F` | Summary and transcript editors |
| Close the top-most overlay, or clear the list selection | `Esc` | `Esc` | Anywhere |
| Dismiss the meeting panel | `Esc` | `Esc` | The meeting panel |
| Open Settings | `Cmd + ,` | `Ctrl + ,` | Application menu |
| Minimize window | `Cmd + M` | `Ctrl + M` | Application menu |
| Close window | `Cmd + W` | `Ctrl + W` | Application menu |
| Hide Vowen | `Cmd + H` | Not bound | Application menu, macOS |
| Quit Vowen | `Cmd + Q` | `Ctrl + Q` | Application menu |
### Search focus
`/` is ignored while your cursor is already in a text field, otherwise you could never type a
slash into the box it just focused. `Cmd + F` works from a text field, matching browser
behavior. Shift is allowed with `/`, because several keyboard layouts need it to produce the
character. Both stand down while a modal is open, and only the search box actually visible
on screen responds.
### Back and forward
The history holds the last **10** locations. The chord is ignored while your cursor is in a
text field or a rich-text editor, and while any modal is open. On macOS `Cmd + Left` means
"move the caret to the start of the line", and stealing it would break editing a title or a
summary. The settings modal is deliberately not part of the history.
### Note and panel tabs
The digit chords read the physical key code, so they work on layouts where the digit row needs
a modifier, and the numeric keypad counts too. Unlike back and forward, they stay live while
your cursor is in the title, the summary editor or the Ask AI composer, because the chord is
not a text-editing gesture on any platform. They stand down while a modal is open.
The digits map to fixed tabs, not to positions. In a note, `1` is always Summary, `2` always
Transcript and `3` always Ask AI, even when the optional My Notes tab is present between
Transcript and Ask AI. In the meeting panel the order is different: `1` is Ask AI, `2` is
My Notes, `3` is Transcript.
### Escape
Escape goes to whatever is on top, and only that. Open dialogs form a stack, so closing a
picker you opened over the settings modal leaves the settings modal open behind it. With
nothing open and rows selected on Notes or Transcribe, Escape clears the selection. While the
meeting panel has focus the main process suppresses the global bare-Escape cancel binding, so
dismissing the panel does not cancel the meeting recording.
## Bindable keys and mouse buttons
The shortcut recorder captures physical key codes, so what it stores is the key's position on
the board, not the character your layout produces.
### Modifiers
| Modifier | Variants captured |
| ----------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| Control | `Control`, `LeftControl`, `RightControl` |
| Alt / Option | `Alt`, `LeftAlt`, `RightAlt` |
| Shift | `Shift`, `LeftShift`, `RightShift` |
| Command / Windows | `Meta`, `LeftMeta`, `RightMeta` |
| Fn | macOS only, captured through the native hook |
Left and right variants are distinguished, so `Left Alt + Space` and `Right Alt + Space` can do
different things.
### Ordinary keys
| Group | Keys |
| ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Letters | A through Z |
| Digits | 0 through 9, from the number row |
| Function keys | **F1 through F24** |
| Whitespace and editing | Space, Enter, Tab, Backspace, Delete, Insert |
| Navigation | Arrow Up, Down, Left, Right, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down |
| Punctuation | `-` `=` `[` `]` `\` `;` `'` `` ` `` `,` `.` `/` |
| ISO 102nd key | Extra key on ISO boards, left of `1` on Mac layouts and next to Left Shift on PC layouts |
The ISO 102nd key is stored as a positional token rather than a character, because what it
types varies by layout: `º` on Spanish, `§` on UK Mac, `<` on German and French PC boards. The
keycap renderer translates the token through the active layout map.
Because punctuation is captured by position and never translated, a combination that lands on
a punctuation key on one layout may sit on a different character on another. `Ctrl + /` fires
on QWERTY but not on AZERTY.
**Escape** is not capturable, with one exception: the Cancel Recording row, where it is the
default. Everywhere else Escape has to keep closing things.
### Mouse buttons
| Button | Stored as | Notes |
| ------------ | --------- | ------------------------------------- |
| Middle mouse | `middle` | |
| M4 | `m4` | Usually "back" in browsers |
| M5 | `m5` | Usually "forward" in browsers |
| M6 | `m6` | Captured only through the native hook |
| M7 | `m7` | Captured only through the native hook |
| M8 | `m8` | Captured only through the native hook |
Left and right click are deliberately not bindable, because binding them would swallow
ordinary clicking.
M6, M7 and M8 have no equivalent in the browser mouse event model, so they can only be
captured by the native hook. If your mouse reports them, the recorder will still pick them up.
A mouse binding is button-only. Recording a mouse button clears any keyboard part of the
binding, and the hook matches on the button alone.
Mouse buttons cannot be bound to **Cancel Recording**, to the **meeting panel**, or to a
**per-tone shortcut**. Those three recorders open with mouse capture disabled.
### While the recorder is open
Opening the recorder suspends Vowen's own hotkeys, so pressing your transcription combination
rebinds it instead of starting a recording. They are resumed when the dialog closes.
## Related
Every settings row and its default.
Longer explanations of the in-window keys.
Ways people combine bindings.
Which shortcut features need Pro.