Let’s get NoteHand working.

Reopen the app. The first-launch setup resumes at the first incomplete step: consent, permissions, the speech model, the AI provider, the export folder and dictation.

Choose one in Settings › General › Markdown export. Meetings recorded before that are kept in the app and their Markdown files are written once a folder exists. The app cannot write notes anywhere except the folder you choose.

In the menu bar, at the top right of the screen. Click the icon for recording controls, recent meetings, dictation, the Library, Coach and Settings.

Check that NoteHand has Screen Recording permission (check 1), then quit and reopen the app. Confirm how the recording started: a detected meeting records the meeting app and your microphone, while a manual recording started with ⌘⇧R records the microphone only. On macOS 14.2 or later you can also turn on Core Audio system capture in Settings › Recording, which records the meeting app’s audio through a different path. If the issue continues, tell support which app or browser you used and how you started recording.

Detection covers the Zoom, Microsoft Teams, FaceTime, Slack (huddles) and Discord apps, and browser tabs in Chrome, Safari, Arc, Edge or Firefox whose title shows a Google Meet, Zoom, Webex or Teams meeting. Reading window titles needs the Screen Recording permission and a relaunch after granting it. Detection waits about two seconds for the meeting to be under way. For anything else, press ⌘⇧R or choose Start Manual Recording from the menu bar; that records your microphone, so a phone on speaker works.

In this version, recording starts on its own when a supported meeting is detected, and the Coach window opens. Click the menu bar icon and choose Stop & Generate Notes, or use the End Call button in the Coach window. You can delete the meeting from the Library afterward. There is no per-app switch for detection in this release.

A detected recording stops when your microphone, the call audio and the meeting window have all been quiet for the grace period, 20 seconds by default, and settable to 10, 20, 30, 45 or 60 seconds in Settings › Recording. A manual recording stops after 15 minutes of silence. Stop & Generate Notes ends a recording immediately.

Audio is written to disk as it is captured. On the next launch the meeting appears in the Library marked as interrupted, with a retry that transcribes what was captured. Open the meeting and check the transcript before relying on it.

Download a speech model (check 2). Recording is disabled until at least one Whisper model is installed.

Time depends on the recording length, the model size and the Mac. Small is the recommended balance; Base and Tiny are faster and less accurate. Coach uses its own, typically smaller, model set in Settings › Models. If a stage appears stuck, send support the stage, the duration and the model.

Transcription is automated and can mishear names, figures and dates. Compare important details with the recording, which is kept with the meeting, and correct the notes in the Library. A larger speech model usually helps; Re-transcribe from audio in the meeting’s transcript header reruns transcription with the current model.

The AI provider did not respond. Check Settings › Models (check 3). With Ollama, make sure it is running and the model is present. With a cloud provider, check the error shown on the meeting and confirm the account can make requests. Then choose Regenerate notes in the meeting’s transcript header. Do not send your API key to support.

Check which stage is still running. If transcription is incomplete, the speech model and the recording length set the pace. If the transcript is ready but notes are pending, the language model or provider is the bottleneck; a small local model on a long call is the slowest case.

Confirm that recording is active, that transcript text is appearing and that a provider and model are set for Coach in Settings › Models. Coach runs a cycle about every 30 seconds while recording, and needs speech in the transcript and a model that responds within that time. If an error appears, include its wording when you write to us. Coach can be paused and resumed from the menu bar.

Check whether the error is in the transcript or only in the generated notes. Compare important details with the recording, then edit the summary, decisions, action items or open questions in the Library. Edits are saved to the app and the Markdown file is rewritten to match.

Coach is a window on your Mac. Nothing joins the call and nothing is announced. If you share your whole screen, that window is part of what you share, so check what is visible before sharing.

Dictation is off until you turn it on in Settings › Dictation. A speech model must be installed. If another app already uses ⌥Space, change the shortcut there.

In the App Store build that is how it works: place your cursor in the field and press ⌘V. That build never asks for the Accessibility permission and contains no code for it, because App Review Guideline 2.4.5 limits Accessibility to accessibility features. The direct download can type the text in for you, but only once you grant NoteHand that permission. macOS does not let the app ask, so open Settings › Dictation, choose Set Up Auto-Insert, and NoteHand walks you through adding it in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility. Until that is done it copies, as before.

Choose Re-insert Last Dictation from the menu bar, or Re-insert in Settings › Dictation. It delivers the text the same way dictation itself does: typed into the app you are using if you are on the direct download and have granted Accessibility, and otherwise put back on the clipboard for you to paste. The text is held in memory only and is gone when the app quits.

A quick tap of the shortcut starts hands-free listening; tap again to finish. It ends on its own after five minutes so a forgotten session cannot run indefinitely. Turn tap-to-lock off in Settings › Dictation to make the shortcut strictly hold-to-talk.

Dictated audio is processed in memory and discarded; nothing is written to disk. The recognised text passes through the clipboard, which replaces whatever was on it. When the direct download types the text in for you, it puts your previous clipboard back afterwards, which Settings › Dictation does by default.

In the folder you chose, organised as YYYY/MM/YYYY-MM-DD-title.md. Right-click a meeting in the Library to reveal its file in Finder.

Yes, in Settings › General › Markdown export. New meetings are written to the new folder. Files already written stay where they are.

No. The Library shows the app’s own record. If you edit the note inside NoteHand, the Markdown file is rewritten to match, which replaces any edits you made to the file outside the app. Renaming a meeting also rewrites the file under its new name.

The recording, transcript, notes and search entry from the app’s storage, and the Markdown file from your export folder. Copies you made elsewhere, or that a sync service already uploaded, are not touched.

Settings › General › Keep meeting audio removes the audio files of completed meetings after a period you choose, at the next launch. Transcripts, notes and search stay. Audio kept for a pending retry is not removed.

Migration Assistant carries the app’s storage across with the rest of your user data, and your exported files travel with your folder. Check the Library after migrating, and restore the purchase from Settings › About.

The App Store purchase is tied to your Apple Account. On the other Mac, sign in with the same Apple Account and choose Restore Purchases in Settings › About. A direct licence key covers up to three Macs at a time: paste the same key into Settings › About on each one. If you have run out of places, deactivate a Mac you no longer use from that same pane, or write to us.

Choose Unlock from the prompt that appears when a recording is blocked, or from Settings › About. Everything you recorded during the trial stays. See pricing.

Keys are tied to the email address you bought with. Enter that address below and we will send the key again.

Purchases through the Mac App Store follow Apple’s refund process, which you start from your Apple Account. For a licence bought directly, write to support@notehand.io within 14 days and we refund the US$19.99 through Stripe, no reason needed. The key is then cancelled and the Macs it unlocked go back to the trial. The full wording is in the terms.

The App Store version installs through Apple Business Manager and device management tools, and the unlock is an in-app purchase tied to an Apple Account. The direct download is a signed and notarised disk image you can distribute yourself, unlocked with a licence key. Either way, write to sales@bitsummit.ca before rolling out and we confirm the purchasing route. See pricing for both routes.

The security page sets out what is processed where, the permissions and why. Send specific questions or your questionnaire to sales@bitsummit.ca.