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Manage vocabulary
Open Settings → Vocabulary. Use My Vocabularyfor words that are specific to you, and Categories for curated starting sets you can preview and turn on when they are useful.
Listen Orb applies saved vocabulary after optional AI polish. When a configured spoken form is recognized, the preferred spelling you chose is used in the finished text.
Add your own words
In My Vocabulary, choose Add Word. Enter the spelling you want under Write as. If useful, add one or more alternatives under When I say, separated by commas. Personal entries take precedence when the same term also appears in a category.
Turn on categories
Open Categories and search by category name or term. Select a category and choose View Details to review its terms before turning it on. Use the switch in the list or choose Turn On Category in its details. Choose Turn Off Category there when you no longer want its terms included. The first time, Listen Orb explains that the terms are included with the app and asks you to confirm with Turn On. No download is required. Turning a category off stops using its terms without deleting your category-specific changes.
- Check for Updates is the explicit network action. If an update is available, Listen Orb explains what will be downloaded and waits for you to choose Update.
- When multiple enabled categories contain the same preferred value, Listen Orb consolidates the duplicate rather than adding it more than once.
About Preview categories
All 20 categories in the currently integrated 1.0.0-rc.2 catalog are opt-in Previews. Its 1,435 active pack entries consolidate to 1,388 unique preferred terms when every category is enabled. They are hint-only and use synthetic macOS-voice audio for Preview QA, but they do not guarantee a transcription result. Human recordings and domain-practitioner evidence are reserved for a future Validated or Published designation. You can inspect the public catalog as JSON.
Adjust a category term
Open a category's details and select a term. Category files are never edited in place; these actions save local state for that category.
- Customize changes the term for that category. A personal preferred or spoken form in My Vocabulary takes precedence when it conflicts with a category hint.
- Hide Term suppresses the term while that category is enabled.
- Restore Default clears a customization or hidden state.
- Copy to My Vocabulary creates an independent personal entry. It remains personal if the category is turned off or removed.
Privacy and provider use
Opening Categories, previewing terms, and turning on a category do not contact Listen Orb because the catalog and category files are bundled with the app. Choosing Update after Check for Updatescontacts www.listenorb.com to download the verified public category file; the selected category ID appears in its download URL. Local copies are stored in Listen Orb's Application Support folder. Your enabled-category list, hidden-term choices, and category-specific edit records stay on this Mac; Listen Orb does not upload them.
Preferred terms from enabled categories join your active vocabulary and may be included as hints in requests to your selected transcription provider. Disabled categories do not contribute hints. The Preview categories contain no active spoken forms, so they do not add deterministic spoken-form replacements. Listen Orb does not send spoken forms during ordinary app requests.
Categories are curated starting points, not complete dictionaries. They may help with preferred spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and word boundaries, but they do not guarantee a transcription result. Results can vary with the provider, audio, speaker, and context. Review important text and disable, hide, or customize terms that do not suit your work.
Import or export My Vocabulary
Under My Vocabulary, choose Export… to save a plaintext JSON copy where you want it. The export includes your complete personal list, including category terms you copied into My Vocabulary. It does not include downloaded pack terms that you have not copied. A cloud-synced destination may sync the file through that service.
Choose Import… to select one JSON file previously exported by Listen Orb. The complete file is validated before your current vocabulary changes. Invalid or conflicting imports are rejected without changing the current vocabulary.
- Merge keeps current entries, adds new entries and spoken forms, and skips entries that already match.
- Replace removes the current entries and uses the validated imported list.
Exports include spoken forms and are saved wherever you choose. See the complete privacy details.