Troubleshooting

Nothing was pasted

The recording finished but no text appeared at your cursor.

1. 1Check the clipboard. Press ⌘V yourself. If the text is there, WhisperWizard did its part and macOS blocked the keystroke: turn on Accessibility for WhisperWizard (how to grant Accessibility).
2. 2Check the history. Open History and Templates. If the recording is there with text, the pipeline worked; it is a permission. If it is missing, the request to OpenAI failed: see the key errors below.
3. 3Was there a text field? WhisperWizard pastes like you would, with ⌘V. In places where ⌘V does nothing (a desktop, a read-only page), nothing lands. Copy it from the history instead.

The text went to the wrong app

WhisperWizard remembers the app that was in front when you pressed the shortcut, and brings it back before pasting.

• Turn on Automation for WhisperWizard, with System Events checked. Without it, the app cannot switch back, and the paste goes to whatever is in front.
• Keep the cursor where you want the text before you press the shortcut. Clicking somewhere else while it processes moves the target too.

"OpenAI API Key is not valid."

OpenAI rejected your key. Check billing first, in your OpenAI billing settings:

• Add a payment method. Keys without billing are refused by the API.
• Make sure your usage limit is not set too low.

Then check that the key was copied whole (it starts with sk-) and was not revoked, and paste it again in Settings. The full walkthrough is in Your OpenAI API Key. If you still see the error, email [email protected].

The recorder shows no waveform

The recorder opens but the waveform stays flat.

• Turn on Microphone for WhisperWizard in Privacy and Security, then quit and reopen the app.
• Check which microphone macOS is using: System Settings, Sound, Input. Speak and watch the input level move.
• A headset or display microphone that disconnected mid-session can leave macOS on a silent input. Pick the right one again.

A shortcut does nothing

• Another app may own it. Launchers and window managers often use Option Space ⌥Space. Rebind one of them (how to rebind shortcuts).
• Make sure WhisperWizard is running: its five-bar mark should be in the menu bar. If it is not, open it from Applications.
• After rebinding, test from another app. If Settings showed "Shortcut is not valid.", the new one was not saved.

The result is not what you wanted

• Open the recording in your history and compare the Original transcript with the Processed transcript. If the original is wrong, it is a hearing problem: speak closer to the microphone and finish your sentences. If only the processed one is off, it is the prompt.
• Tighten the template: one job, a named format, and "return only the text". See writing a template that works.
• Check the prompt contains {{voice}} exactly once. Without it, your words are never sent.

"Your WhisperWizard License Key is not valid."

The license check runs online about every 10 minutes. Check your internet connection and enter the key again in the onboarding screen. If you see "This license key has reached the activation limit.", every Mac on your plan is in use: move it to this Mac.

Still stuck?

Email [email protected] or use the chat on this site. A human answers every message. It helps to include your Mac model, your macOS version and the exact error text.