Settings

Version: This guide describes Parrot Scribe 1.1.0.

Accessing Settings

Click the Parrot Scribe menu bar icon and select Settings…, or choose Settings… from the app menu. Settings opens in the Library window. Press Esc to return to your previous view.

General

Language

• Interface Language: use System Default or choose English, German, French, Spanish or Swedish. Quit and reopen Parrot Scribe to apply a change.
• Speech Language: choose Auto or English Only. Auto detects the spoken language, including English, German, French, Spanish and Swedish. English Only uses the English streaming model, the most accurate for English.

Startup

• Launch at Login: start Parrot Scribe when you log in.
• Auto-capture on Launch: start listening as soon as Parrot Scribe opens.

Your Name

How transcripts and exports name you. Leave it empty to use your account name.

Notifications

Show notifications shows a notification when recording starts, stops, is saved or needs attention. If macOS has not allowed notifications yet, choose Allow Notifications. Banners and sounds follow your System Settings.

Meetings

Meetings is a Pro control. It starts and stops listening automatically when a selected desktop app is in a call.

• Zoom
• Microsoft Teams

Both are off until you turn them on. Automatic listening uses your microphone and system audio settings, so other system audio may also be recorded. Parrot Scribe does not notify other participants; tell them before recording. Before automatic listening can start, download the required models, enable at least one audio source, and allow access to each enabled source.

If you stop listening during a call, automatic listening stays paused for that call. Start manually, or turn the app's switch off and on to rearm it.

Recovery Key

Show Recovery Key displays the 24 words that restore your library's master secret. Copy Recovery Key and Save as File… keep a copy for you. Keep it private: it can unlock your library. See Encryption.

AI Apps

Pro. Connect Claude, Codex or Cursor with Connect on its row, and choose Simple or Trusted access for each. Command-line hosts get their own token under Advanced. See Connect Your Agent and MCP Server.

Sources

Choose which audio sources Parrot Scribe captures. You can enable either source or both.

• Transcribe Microphone: capture your voice and room audio. Choose the microphone, or follow the system default input.
• Transcribe System Audio: capture audio playing through your Mac, such as other people in a call.

Transcription

• Recognize Saved Voices: optional voice recognition. Off by default; turning it on asks you to confirm. Turning it off stops new voiceprints and matching without deleting saved profiles. See Speaker Recognition.
• Speech Detection: Quiet, Natural or Noisy. Choose based on your environment; quiet environments need more sensitive detection.
• Responsiveness: Faster, Balanced or More Accurate, the balance between update speed and transcription accuracy.

Output

• Retain audio recordings: keep encrypted audio for playback and post-session speaker identification. Turning it off asks you to type DELETE, then removes retained audio from every session.
• Keep audio for and Or up to: limit retained audio by time or storage size. The oldest audio is removed first. If a shorter limit would remove existing audio, Parrot Scribe shows how many recordings and how much audio are affected, then asks you to Apply or cancel. Transcripts and speaker names stay.

Sessions stay in Library until you delete them. Choose a format each time you export. See Audio Retention.

Models

Download or remove each model. Models run on this Mac; downloading them does not start listening.

• Multilingual Speech (NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 ASR): transcribes speech with automatic language detection. About 0.74 GB.
• English Speech (NVIDIA Nemotron Speech Streaming): transcribes English speech. About 0.70 GB.
• Speaker Detection (NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Diarization): separates speakers in a recording. About 0.11 GB.
• Voice Recognition (WeSpeaker ResNet34-LM): recognizes speakers whose voices you saved. About 0.03 GB.

If you remove a model marked Needed for current settings, recording or speaker analysis asks you to download it again.

Global Shortcuts

Assign global shortcuts for Start Listening, Stop Listening, New Session and Show Library…. They also work when Parrot Scribe is in the background. Click a shortcut, then press a key combination; press Esc to cancel. Clear removes one shortcut and Restore Defaults brings back all four. See Keyboard Shortcuts.

Updates

Include prereleases offers alpha, beta and release candidate updates. Turn it off to receive stable updates only. Choose Check for Updates… from the menu bar icon or the app menu to check now.

License

Personal use does not require a license. The License pane shows whether Pro is active and how many devices are activated. To activate Pro, enter your license key and choose Activate Pro. Revalidate license checks the saved activation again when you are online.

See Activation and Deactivation for activation, device management and transfers.