The menu bar capybara
The capybara in your menu bar is a status light. His speech bubble turns red and breathes while you are recording, becomes a spinner while your words are being transcribed and cleaned up, flashes green when the text has been inserted, and turns orange if something went wrong. When nothing is happening he sits in the menu bar's own color and blinks every few seconds.
He is also a button. Behind him is a small popover with the controls I reach for most: Start Dictation, the mode and microphone pickers, Transcribe file, Regenerate, Insert last, and my last three dictations. Below: each of those, the other icon styles, and the colored status switch.
What each color means
- Plain, no color. Idle. The icon is a template image, so it matches a light or dark menu bar like every other item up there.
- Red bubble, breathing. Recording. The three dots in the bubble bounce while he listens, the same way the typing indicator does inside the app.
- Spinner where the bubble was. Transcribing, or the cleanup model is working. Version 1.4 made this spinner visible on a light menu bar, and 1.3.1 fixed it running backwards.
- Green bubble. Your text was just inserted.
- Orange bubble. That dictation hit an error.
What is in the popover
Start Dictation does the same thing as tapping your dictation key, Right Command by default, for when your hand is already on the mouse. While a dictation is running, the button is replaced by three round controls: cancel, pause or resume, and stop and insert. While the app is thinking, only cancel remains.
Mode picker. The left pill shows the current mode. Its menu lists your modes numbered 1 to 9, in the same order as the number keys you can press mid-dictation. Any modes past nine sit under More modes. With Post-transcription analysis turned off, the picker is grayed out, because modes do nothing in that state. Clicking the grayed picker explains why and offers to turn analysis back on.
Input picker. The right pill chooses which microphone YapToText listens to. System Default follows whatever macOS is using; below it is every input device on the Mac.
Transcribe file opens a file picker. Choose an audio or video file and YapToText transcribes its audio track. The text goes to your clipboard and into History, and is typed into the app you were using when you picked the file, the same way a live dictation is.
Insert last types your most recent dictation into the app you were just using. It is grayed out until History has something in it.
Recent shows your last three dictations, two lines each, with a copy button beside every one. See all opens History. Before your first dictation this area just tells you which key to press.
The row along the bottom quits the app, opens the tip jar, opens the main window, and opens Settings.
Regenerate from the menu bar
Regenerate rewrites text you already have. It flips the popover to a short menu with two choices. Most recent dictation redoes your last dictation as any other mode: a spoken message becomes an email, a rambling note becomes clean prose. Selected text rewrites whatever is selected in the app you were just using, in any mode, and the rewrite replaces the selection in place. Selected text also lists your AI Actions as one-shot edits.
The modes offered are the ones with AI cleanup turned on, because Raw Transcription has nothing to regenerate with. After you pick, the popover shows Regenerating as, holds for a beat, then fades out so the app can switch back and paste.
Reading selected text needs the Accessibility permission. Without it, dictation still works and copies to the clipboard, but Regenerate cannot see what you selected. See Privacy for what each permission is used for.
Icon styles
The capybara is the default, but he is not the only option. The Menu bar icon picker, in Settings under System and again on the Home page, offers five styles:
- Capybara. The mascot, with the speech bubble as the status light.
- Microphone. The standard mic symbol. Outline when idle, filled while recording, with the spinner in the corner while processing.
- Mini waveform. Nine small bars drawn from the live microphone level. A resting wave when idle, your real voice while recording. This one has no spinner and no green flash; the bars are the whole story.
- Speech bubble. A plain bubble, outline when idle and filled while recording.
- Minimal dot. One small dot that swells a little with each breath while recording.
The icon at the top of the popover changes to match, so the thing you clicked and the thing that opened always look like the same app.
Colored status
Colored status in the menu bar is a switch in the same System section, on by default. With it on, every icon except the Mini waveform tints with the dictation state: red while recording, green on insert, orange on an error. With it off, the icon stays monochrome in every state and adapts to the menu bar. The spinner and the outline-to-filled change still tell you what is happening.
The Mini waveform is a special case. With colored status on, its bars light up in your accent color while a session is live and go back to monochrome at rest, so color means listening or working, not always blue. A Visualizer color picker appears under the switch if you want the bars in a color of their own, and Match accent puts it back.
Hiding the icon
Show the menu bar icon is a switch on the Home page. Turn it off and the capybara leaves the menu bar. Everything else keeps working: the shortcut still starts a dictation and the floating panel still appears. If you hide both the menu bar icon and the Dock icon, your dictation shortcut is the way back into the app.
Questions
Why is the capybara's speech bubble red?
Red means YapToText is recording. The bubble breathes and its dots bounce until you stop, then it turns into a spinner while your words are transcribed, and flashes green once the text is inserted.
Can I change the menu bar icon to something plainer than the capybara?
Yes. The Menu bar icon picker in Settings offers Capybara, Microphone, Mini waveform, Speech bubble, and Minimal dot. All of them change while you record; all but the Mini waveform also show the spinner while processing and the green flash on insert.
Can I hide the YapToText menu bar icon?
Yes. Turn off Show the menu bar icon on the Home page. Your dictation shortcut, the floating panel, and every other feature keep working without it.
What does Insert last do?
It types your most recent dictation into the app you were last using. It is grayed out until History has at least one dictation.
Can I regenerate a dictation as a different mode from the menu bar?
Yes. Regenerate offers your most recent dictation or the text selected in your last app, then lists every mode with AI cleanup on. For selected text, the rewrite replaces the selection in place.