Settings: Word Corrections and Shortcuts

Word Corrections

Open Settings → Word corrections to add recurring misheard terms, preferred spellings, and optional comma-separated aliases to your word list. Choose a global scope or an app bundle ID, add the entry, then choose Save changes. An app scope without a bundle ID or a near-duplicate of an existing entry is rejected; to change an entry, remove it first.

Settings shows whether each correction is active, never applies, or is overridden by another correction. Steno always keeps a few common words as spoken, such as cloud and code, so a correction for one of them shows as Never applies. Saving a correction for a common word such as won asks for confirmation.

For example, use steno kit with preferred spelling StenoKit, or add swift ui with preferred spelling SwiftUI. These rules correct the transcript after recognition. They do not train the speech model.

Corrections apply to every dictation, however clearly it was spoken, including corrections that only change capitalization, such as github to GitHub. Corrections that join words also apply to short dictations. Corrections don't chain into each other, an app-specific correction takes precedence over an all-apps correction for the same word, and a correction doesn't rewrite text that already has its preferred spelling. Terms such as C++, C#, and .NET can be corrected.

Text Shortcuts

Open Settings → Text shortcuts. Enter a trigger, its expansion, and scope, choose Add shortcut, then Save changes. The expansion can contain more than one line. A short trigger such as brb can expand to I'll be right back when that trigger is present in the recognized text.

Triggers are trimmed, and Settings doesn't accept a blank trigger or an app shortcut without a bundle ID. When triggers overlap, the longer trigger wins, an app shortcut beats an all-apps one, and an expansion is never expanded again.

Choose a phrase you do not commonly dictate literally. Check History if recognition does not produce the trigger you expected.

Scope Rules

Global rules apply across apps; app-scoped rules require the target app's bundle identifier to match. Use an app scope when a term or expansion would be inappropriate elsewhere. Corrections and shortcuts are saved on your Mac and applied before text insertion.

Examples

For a repeated reply, define review reply as Thanks for sending this. I will review it today. Test the trigger in its intended app, inspect the completed text, and adjust or remove the rule if it expands at the wrong time.

Do not use punctuation words as generic shortcut triggers unless you deliberately want to replace their literal use. Prefer specific phrases.