Have ideas for a shortcut?! Post here!

[cjpais]

This is a thread for collecting ideas for other shortcuts that you might want in handy that right now are not supported, but may be supported in the future when we can figure them out in a nice unified way across the application and code base, as well as in the UI and user experience.

[tachyonicbytes]

The ones from the handy-cli script seemed nice to me. The three remaining ones are:

• generate code
• execute commands
• get AI assistance with context

[28Black]

As I suggested here, I would like to see these additional shortcuts:

• Shortcut 1: Standard transcription, as it's now.
• Shortcut 2: Transcription with a space at the end of the sentence, after the period.
• Shortcut 3: Transcription with translation (into English for supported models).

This would allow anyone to simply do what they need to do without interacting with the user interface.
And Handy would become even more handy. 👍

[jkikoo]

Totally agree with these three propositions. +1
I can't wait to have a shortcut to translate to English without having to go into the settings to disable the translation into English toggle.
Thx @cjpais for your work 👍

[anton-averich]

Shortcut 3: Transcription with translation (into English for supported models).
Would be very-very useful!

[mvsite]

This sort of a bug report but not for you Mac folks -> on Windows, ctrl+v fails in a lot of situations but shift+insert works universally. For example in ssh terminals.

--- a/src-tauri/src/clipboard.rs
+++ b/src-tauri/src/clipboard.rs
@@
-   #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
-   let (modifier_key, v_key_code) = (Key::Control, Key::Other(0x56)); // VK_V
+   #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+   let (modifier_key, v_key_code) = (Key::Shift, Key::Other(0x2D)); // VK_INSERT

[cjpais]

@mvsite if you want to submit a pr I'm happy to test

[immofon]

It would be useful if users could assign custom keyboard shortcuts. After pressing a key and speaking, Handy would run a user-defined command, provide the spoken text as STDIN, and then insert the text from STDOUT at the cursor position. This would allow users to implement their own logic to process the input.

For example, a user could use this to create a custom voice assistant using an LLM and MCP, leveraging the software's full potential.

[cjpais]

@immofon can you please add the request directly here and close the other discussion. Let's keep it all centralized here

[immofon]

Of course, I have updated the comment and closed the other discussion.

[Damocles-fr]

I would love to use mouse keys ! Like Middle+Right click

[cjpais]

mmm yes this is something we should support I think

[wrycode]

self-serve keybinding suggestion

How are you overriding global keybindings across the many actively used Linux environments? If you use XDG Global Shortcuts that should work on recent Wayland versions GNOME and KDE, but there are many others where it will not work.

It may be easier to offer an "outlet valve" in the form of a command that has the same effect as the keybinding. Then all Linux users can bind to that command, no matter what kind of environment they're running.

The command would start/stop transcription - I don't think push-to-talk is viable this way.

[cjpais]

#265 may help some for wayland

[byme8]

Ability to change language depending on the shortcut.
For example, first shortcut will assume that you are speaking in English, second shortcut will assume you speak in other language.

[jgranduel]

Thanks a lot for Handy ! (discovered this week)
I run it on Windows and default Handy shortcut is in conflict with Windows defined shortcuts. The most annoying one is the selection of Excel Table Columns. Changing it would be useful indeed!

[cjpais]

@jgranduel you should be able to change the shortcut to whatever you would like with the "Handy Shortcut" setting in general. Does it work?

[jgranduel]

Thanks ! Sorry i get it now ! How come I didn't see it before😢!?
The recording is not always triggered, but it might me not mastering the UI yet ! let wait for some more usage.

[cjpais]

what os are you on? if Wayland this is a known issue, please search the existing issues for your issue to see if any apply

[jgranduel]

on Win11 x64.

[Puma7]

1. Separate keyboard shortcuts

Add two different hotkeys:

• Shortcut A → Raw transcription
• Shortcut B → Transcription + post-processing

This would allow instant switching based on context without toggling settings each time.

---

2. Multiple post-processing profiles (user-defined)

Let users create several post-processing profiles, for example:

• “Email — professional tone”
• “WhatsApp — casual”
• “Bug report formatter”
• “Summarize”
• “Meeting notes”

---

3. Profile selection before / during / after recording

When starting a post-processed transcription, allow choosing which profile will be used.

Possible UX:

• A small dropdown next to the recording box, showing the currently selected post-processing profile
• Default profile selected automatically
• Optional: Changing the profile while recording updates the one used for the final output

This provides maximum convenience and avoids breaking the flow when switching contexts often.

[Artur3d]

Shortcut switch on/off for "Translate to English" would be really useful

[NickChristensen]

I would love a smart Push-to-Talk option, where it enables Push-to-Talk mode if the shortcut is held vs pressed. Something like:

• keydown + keyup within n ms: toggle recording until shortcut is pressed again
• keydown, no keyup within n ms: record until keyup

[cjpais]

I would like this one as well, this is also tracked in an issue: #147

[NickChristensen]

Whoops! I did search first, I promise. Thanks for all your work here!

[cjpais]

No problem I appreciate it being in the discussion more than the issue actually! I'm really trying to keep issues to real bugs and problems, to take some pressure off of implementing new stuff since there's no particular roadmap

[dannysmith]

I'd like this behaviour too, so long as n ms is small. Other apps that do this cause me to accidentally toggle non PTT-mode all the time because I hit the hotkey, forget what I wanted to say and release it.

I'm happy to look at this along with the whole fn key thing and the rather larger "doing shortcut things in a more extensible, generalised way" thing, once I've ticked off a few other contributions I wanna make.