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Audio and history

Applies to WhisprDesk 1.7.3 · Updated 2026-10-25

WhisprDesk saves the text of your dictations to History so you can copy them again, and you can turn that off. Recordings are not saved by default. If you turn on Audio Retention, recordings are kept only on your Mac for the window you choose and then deleted automatically.

Before you start

Open the WhisprDesk app: click its icon in the Dock, or open it from your Applications folder. The WhisprDesk window opens with Home / History selected in the sidebar. If WhisprDesk is running but you don't see its window, click the WhisprDesk icon in the menu bar at the top right of your screen and open the window from its menu. The sidebar on the left has Home / History, Notes, Upload, Dictionary, and Integrations, with Settings at the bottom.

History

Where: WhisprDesk > Home / History

  1. Open the WhisprDesk app: click its icon in the Dock (or open it from your Applications folder).

  2. Click Home / History at the top of the sidebar. Your recent dictations are listed, newest first.

  3. Hover over an item to show its buttons:

    • Copy text copies the text.
    • View raw transcript, if AI cleanup changed the wording.
    • Reveal in Finder, if a recording is stored.
    • Re-transcribe, if a recording is stored.
    • Delete the item. This also deletes its recording.

History is handy when a paste does not land where you expected: the text is still there to copy.

Data Retention

Where: WhisprDesk > Settings > Privacy & Data > Data Retention

  1. Open the WhisprDesk app: click its icon in the Dock (or open it from your Applications folder).
  2. Click Settings at the bottom of the sidebar.
  3. Click Privacy & Data.
  4. Turn Data Retention on or off. It is on by default.
  • On: dictations are saved to History.
  • Off: dictations are pasted but not saved, and no recordings are kept.

Data Retention does not cover Notes. Notes you write, recordings made inside a note, and transcripts of uploaded audio files are always saved in Notes, where you can delete them yourself. See Notes.

Audio Retention

Where: WhisprDesk > Settings > Privacy & Data > Audio Retention

  1. Open the WhisprDesk app: click its icon in the Dock (or open it from your Applications folder).
  2. Click Settings at the bottom of the sidebar.
  3. Click Privacy & Data.
  4. Under Audio Retention, choose Disabled (the default) or 7, 14, 30, 60, or 90 days.
  5. While Audio Retention is on, Storage Usage shows how many recordings are stored, with Show in Finder to open the folder and Clear All Audio to delete them.
  • Disabled: no recordings are saved.
  • A window you choose: each dictation's recording is kept for that many days, then deleted automatically. Cleanup runs when the app starts, when you change the setting, and every few hours.
  • Recordings are kept only on your Mac. Use Show in Finder to see them. They are never uploaded to us.
  • Recordings are only kept alongside a History entry. If Data Retention is off, no recordings are kept even when Audio Retention is set.
  • Show in Finder, next to the storage usage, opens the recordings folder. It appears while Audio Retention is on.
  • Clear All Audio deletes every stored recording after you confirm.

If you shorten the window or choose Disabled while recordings exist, WhisprDesk asks before deleting the recordings that fall outside the new window. This cannot be undone.

There is no audio player in the app. To listen to a recording, open it from Finder.

Re-transcribe

Where: WhisprDesk > Home / History (hover over a dictation)

Re-transcribe runs a stored recording through a local model again. It is useful for comparing a cloud result with a local one, or for recovering a dictation that failed.

First make sure a local model is downloaded in Settings > Transcription > Local (see Choosing a transcription engine). Then:

  1. Open the WhisprDesk app: click its icon in the Dock (or open it from your Applications folder).
  2. Click Home / History at the top of the sidebar.
  3. Hover over a dictation that has a stored recording.
  4. Click Re-transcribe (the circular arrow).
  5. The new version appears right above the original.
  • On a successful item, the new transcript is added as a new entry next to the original, so you can compare them. Both entries share the same recording, and deleting one does not affect the other.
  • On a failed item, the item itself is updated with the new text.
  • It needs a downloaded local model (Whisper or Parakeet). It never uses a cloud provider. If no local model is downloaded, the app tells you to download one.
  • It uses your transcription language and Dictionary words, and applies AI cleanup if cleanup is on.
  • It is not available when Data Retention is off, because the new entry could not be saved.
  • It only appears on items that still have a stored recording, so Audio Retention must have been on when you dictated.

Deleting your data

Where: WhisprDesk > Home / History, or WhisprDesk > Settings

Start by opening the WhisprDesk app (click its icon in the Dock), then:

To delete Do this
One dictation Click Home / History in the sidebar, hover over the dictation, and click Delete
All history Click Home / History in the sidebar, then click Clear all
All recordings Click Settings at the bottom of the sidebar, then Privacy & Data, then Clear All Audio
Everything WhisprDesk stores on this Mac Click Settings at the bottom of the sidebar, then System, then Reset app data. Your license stays activated.