Text Extraction & Dictation¶

Text Extraction¶

Hit Super + Ctrl + PrtScr to select a region on the screen for text extraction. The tesseract open source OCR model will then quickly convert that selection into text and place it on the clipboard. Then you just hit Super + V to paste.

This is very helpful for grabbing addresses out of image footers or phone numbers embedded in website headlines.

text-extraction

Dictation¶

OmarOS ships without a dictation backend, so nothing listens until you choose one. Install Voxtype, which transcribes locally on your machine, through Setup > Defaults > Dictation in the OmarOS menu. Selecting a backend installs it if needed and makes it the default for dictation. Voxtype loads a base English model that takes up 150MB; change the model with voxtype setup model and other settings through ~/.config/voxtype/config.toml.

You dictate by holding down Right Alt or F9, or by toggling with Super + Ctrl + X, and the dictated text will appear in the focused input area. These shortcuts use the selected backend. Right Alt also starts dictation when used in a modifier chord; use Left Alt for those chords. On keyboard layouts where Right Alt is AltGr, use F9 to keep AltGr available for typing.

The same shortcuts work with any backend. Select your backend through Setup > Defaults > Dictation. The backend installer configures it and saves the selection. Run omaros default dictation to see which one is selected. The selection is saved in ~/.config/omaros/defaults/dictation.

OmarOS loads the selected backend's desktop integration automatically. No configuration is needed in ~/.config/hypr/.

Custom bindings and scripts can use omaros dictation start, omaros dictation stop, and omaros dictation toggle. The selected backend handles the recording and transcription.

Additional backends can integrate without changing OmarOS. Provide an executable named omaros-dictation-<backend> on PATH that accepts start, stop, and toggle and returns promptly, with a nonzero status on failure. Its installer configures the provider and calls omaros-dictation-use <backend> after successful setup. This stops the previous backend and saves the selection atomically; stop must succeed when the provider is idle or unavailable. Backend names use lowercase letters, digits, and hyphens. Provide omaros-install-dictation-<backend> for setup; omaros default dictation <backend> launches it. Add a Defaults menu entry through an OmarOS menu extension to call that selector. Optional desktop integration can live in ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/<backend>/shortcuts.lua.