Keyboard shortcuts on macOS and Windows

Updated October 7, 2026

Flow Keyboard lets you customize the shortcuts you use for voice input, hands-free dictation, translation, and Voice Edit. The available shortcuts differ slightly between macOS and Windows, so this guide explains both.

Selected text: dictation or voice editing?

On macOS 1.2.0, with the default shortcuts, select text and hold Fn to give a voice-edit instruction. Fn + Space starts hands-free dictation and Fn + Shift starts translation; selecting text alone does not turn either mode into voice editing. If you customize the shortcuts, use your configured keys.

macOS and Windows: hands-free with the middle mouse button

In Flow → Settings → Keyboard Shortcuts, enable the middle mouse button option. Click the mouse wheel to start hands-free recording, then click again to finish. You do not need to hold it down.

When enabled, Flow takes over middle-button clicks, so other apps will not receive them. Turn this option off when you need an app’s normal middle-click behavior.

Customize the cancel shortcut

Esc is the default, not the only option. In Keyboard Shortcuts, select Cancel Flow and record your preferred key or key combination to cancel the current recording or processing. After changing it, use the new shortcut instead of Esc.

Windows: use a single key for hands-free mode

On Windows, Hands-free Mode can use either Right Ctrl or Right Alt as a single-key shortcut.

To set it up, open Settings → Keyboard Shortcuts → Hands-free Mode, click the current shortcut, and press Right Ctrl.

If you assign Hands-free Mode to Right Alt while Right Alt is already used for push-to-talk, Flow automatically reassigns the conflicting shortcut instead of letting two actions own the same key.

Windows shortcut rules

• Push-to-talk can use Left Alt or Right Alt as a single key.
• Hands-free Mode can use Right Alt or Right Ctrl as a single key.
• Letters, numbers, Space, Enter, Shift, Win, Left Alt, and Left Ctrl are not accepted as single-key hands-free shortcuts.
• Recording shortcuts containing the Windows key are not supported.
• Ctrl + Space is not supported for Flow recording shortcuts on Windows because it commonly conflicts with Windows and input-method behavior.

How the recording shortcuts work

Voice Input / Push-to-talk: hold the shortcut while speaking, then release it to finish and insert the text.

Hands-free Mode: press once to start recording without holding a key. Press the hands-free shortcut again to finish. On macOS, pressing the primary Voice Input key while hands-free is active also finishes recording.

Translation Mode: press once to start a hands-free recording that outputs text in your selected target language.

Voice Edit: select text first, then use the Voice Edit shortcut and say how you want the selected text changed.

macOS: primary and backup shortcuts

macOS supports both a primary shortcut and an optional backup shortcut for each voice action. Backup shortcuts are disabled by default and are useful with external keyboards or setups where Fn is inconvenient.

Turn on Enable Backup Shortcuts in Keyboard Shortcuts to use both columns at the same time. You can also record your own combinations. Flow supports modifier-only shortcuts and can distinguish left and right Control, Option, and Command when you record a side-specific shortcut.

Another way to enter hands-free mode on macOS

You can also double-press your primary Voice Input shortcut to enter hands-free mode. With the default setup, that means double-pressing Fn.

Conflicts and restoring defaults

Flow checks for conflicts while you record shortcuts. On macOS, conflicts between Flow actions are blocked and common macOS system shortcuts can trigger a warning. On Windows, unsafe or unsupported global shortcuts are rejected.

If your shortcut setup becomes confusing, use Restore Defaults in the Keyboard Shortcuts section. The defaults are the combinations we test most extensively.