Use Flow with remote desktops (RDP, Citrix, VDI)

Last updated: September 5, 2026

Available on: Mac, Windows

Flow pastes nothing into your remote desktop session, or inserts a stray character instead of your text? These are two symptoms with two causes. Identify yours in Quick checks, then follow the setup or workaround for your platform.

Quick checks

  • Nothing pastes at all? Clipboard sharing is disabled in your client or blocked by IT policy — work through the setup steps below.

  • A stray character appears instead of your text? Use the macOS manual paste workaround below; clipboard sharing alone won't fix it.

  • Is Flow running locally? Flow must be installed and running on your local machine, not inside the virtual desktop.

  • Does paste work outside the remote session? Dictate into a local text editor. If text appears locally but not remotely, the issue is the remote session, not transcription. Statuses in Hub → Home history such as "Audio was silent," "transcript interrupted," and "no microphone" point to a capture problem instead.

Stray character instead of your text (macOS)

Important: On macOS, dictating into a remote-desktop / VDI client (Microsoft Windows App / RDP, VNC, Amazon WorkSpaces, macOS Screen Sharing, Splashtop, TeamViewer, and others) may insert a stray character instead of your text. Your transcript isn't lost — it's on your clipboard. This is not specific to Citrix, and is not caused by your machine, your permissions, or your app version.

  1. Enable clipboard sharing in your remote desktop client. Without it, the transcript can't reach the remote session at all.

  2. Dictate as usual. Your transcript is copied to your local clipboard.

  3. Delete the stray character Flow inserted.

  4. Paste with the guest's native shortcut: Ctrl+V on a Windows guest, Cmd+V on a macOS guest. Your text appears — if it doesn't, clipboard sharing is still blocked.

Note: Flow's Paste Last Transcript shortcut (Ctrl+Cmd+V on Mac) may produce the same stray character. Use the guest's native paste shortcut instead.

How Flow works with remote desktops

Flow runs on your local computer and uses your local microphone and clipboard. It transcribes locally, copies the text to your local clipboard, then presses the standard paste shortcut (Cmd+V on Mac, Ctrl+V on Windows). The remote desktop receives the paste only if clipboard sharing is enabled. Flow pastes the same way into every application, with no client-specific handling.

When auto-paste doesn't complete, Flow may show:

  • No speech picked up: "We couldn't hear you" — "We didn't pick up any speech from your [mic] microphone", with Select microphone and Troubleshoot buttons.

  • No text field focused: a Tip notification — "Click a textbox and use [your Paste Last Transcript shortcut] to paste." It doesn't show the transcript; use Paste Last Transcript / Copy Last Text, or recover the text from Transcription History (Hub → Home).

  • Transcription failed: "Something's not right — Transcript failed to load. You can always recover it from History." with Retry and Open History actions.

  • Mic disconnected mid-dictation: "Microphone disconnected", with an Insert button for the partial text.

  • Long transcripts: Flow pastes longer or multi-line text in chunks; over a laggy connection it arrives in pieces, so wait for it to finish before editing.

How to set it up

Mac

Note: Flow prompts for Microphone and Accessibility permissions in-app, and opens the correct System Settings pane if a permission was already denied. The pane differs by macOS version, so follow the link Flow opens rather than navigating manually.

Initial setup

  1. Install Flow on your local Mac, not in the remote session.

  2. Enable clipboard sharing in your remote desktop app:

    1. Microsoft Windows App / Remote Desktop: Preferences → General → enable "Clipboard."

    2. Citrix Workspace: check your Citrix policies; IT may need to enable this.

    3. VMware Horizon: Connection settings → enable clipboard redirection.

  3. Select your microphone: Flow → Settings → General → Microphone → Change. The picker offers "Auto-detect" (showing the resolved device) and a "Built-in mic (recommended)" label, flags AirPods and similar devices with a ⚠️ and an explanatory line, and hides virtual or loopback devices (labeled "(Virtual)") behind a "Show N virtual devices" toggle. Selecting a virtual device is an override and does not change your ranked mic preferences. You can open macOS System Settings → Sound → Input from Flow.

Note: In clamshell mode (laptop lid closed with an external display, common in remote-desktop setups) the built-in mic is greyed out with an "unavailable in clamshell mode" tooltip and can't be selected. Use an external or Bluetooth microphone.

Dictate and paste

  1. Connect to your remote desktop session.

  2. Click inside a text field in the remote application.

  3. Press your Flow hotkey and dictate on your local Mac.

  4. Check the result. Flow attempts Cmd+V automatically. If your text appears in the remote session, you're done.

    1. If nothing appears: click inside the remote text field and press Cmd+V, or use Paste Last Transcript (default Ctrl+Cmd+V).

    2. If a stray character appears: delete it and press the guest's native paste shortcut (Ctrl+V on a Windows guest, Cmd+V on a macOS guest). Paste Last Transcript may use the same paste path.

Tip: If auto-paste is unreliable, copy the last transcript without pasting using Copy Last Text (Ctrl+Cmd+C) or the menu bar under Dictation → Copy last transcript, then paste with the guest's native shortcut.

Windows

Note: Windows requires only Microphone permission; Accessibility is not needed. If Windows blocks microphone access, Flow shows a notification after you try to dictate and opens the Windows microphone privacy page — there is no in-app permission prompt on Windows.

Initial setup

  1. Install Flow on your local Windows PC, not in the remote session.

  2. Enable clipboard sharing in your remote desktop app:

    1. Microsoft Remote Desktop: "Show Options" → Local Resources → check Clipboard.

    2. Citrix Workspace: your IT admin must enable clipboard redirection.

    3. VMware Horizon: enable clipboard sharing in connection settings.

  3. Select your microphone: Flow → Settings → General → Microphone → Change. The picker offers "Auto-detect" (showing the resolved device) and a "Built-in mic (recommended)" label, flags AirPods and similar devices with a ⚠️ and an explanatory line, and hides virtual or loopback devices (labeled "(Virtual)") behind a "Show N virtual devices" toggle. Selecting a virtual device is an override and does not change your ranked mic preferences. Bluetooth headsets often go undetected on Windows because Windows device labels rarely include "bluetooth," so no warning appears for them. You can open Windows Recording devices from Flow.

Warning: If your remote desktop client runs with administrator privileges, Flow can't paste into it. You'll see "Update admin settings to paste!" with the body "Run Flow as Administrator to insert text everywhere." Right-click Flow and choose Run as administrator.

Dictate and paste

  1. Connect to your remote session.

  2. Click inside a text field in the remote application.

  3. Press your Flow hotkey and dictate.

  4. Check the result. Flow attempts Ctrl+V automatically. If text appears, you're done. If not, click inside the remote text field and press Ctrl+V, or use Paste Last Transcript (default Alt+Shift+Z).

Tip: If auto-paste is unreliable, use Copy Last Text (Alt+Shift+X) or the system tray icon → "Paste last transcript," then paste into the remote text field.

Client-specific notes

Microsoft Windows App / Remote Desktop (RDP)

  • Enable clipboard sharing in connection settings before connecting.

  • Text transfers between local and remote clipboards; formatting does not.

  • On macOS, this client may hit the stray-character symptom.

Citrix Workspace

  • Clipboard sharing must be enabled by your IT administrator, and some Citrix policies block clipboard redirection for security reasons.

  • If paste doesn't work, ask IT to confirm clipboard redirection is enabled for your session.

VMware Horizon

  • Enable clipboard redirection in your Horizon client's connection settings.

  • Text transfers cleanly; formatting does not.

  • Organization-level policies can override client settings — check with IT if paste is blocked.

Amazon WorkSpaces

  • Clipboard sharing is typically enabled by default; if paste doesn't work, confirm clipboard redirection is on in client preferences.

  • On macOS, this client may hit the stray-character symptom.

Windows 365 / Azure Virtual Desktop

  • Clipboard redirection is usually enabled by default; if it's blocked, ask your IT admin to review the host pool settings.

  • Accessed on macOS through the Microsoft Windows App, so the stray-character symptom may apply.

VNC, macOS Screen Sharing, Splashtop, and TeamViewer

  • Enable clipboard sharing or clipboard sync in the client's preferences.

  • On macOS, these clients may hit the stray-character symptom.

FAQs

What if Flow doesn't paste into my remote session at all?

Click inside the remote text field and press Paste Last Transcript (Ctrl+Cmd+V on Mac, Alt+Shift+Z on Windows) or the guest's native paste shortcut. If manual paste also fails, clipboard sharing is disabled — ask IT to confirm clipboard redirection is enabled for your session.

How do I recover a transcript from history?

Open Transcription History on the Flow Hub home page (Hub → Home). The searchable list loads 25 transcripts, then 10 more per scroll; clicking a successful transcript row copies it, and for the most recent transcript the confirmation toast names the paste shortcut to use.

Recovery is unavailable if your account's local data policy is set to "Never store" — the list is replaced with an explanatory message, worded differently for enterprise-enforced and user-chosen policies.

What if clipboard sharing is disabled by my company?

You can't transfer text from Flow to the remote session. Ask IT about approved alternatives; some organizations allow clipboard for text only, not files.

Why is there a long delay before text appears?

Remote desktop clipboard sync can be slow. Wait a moment after dictating, click inside the remote text field, then paste manually.

Text pastes but characters are wrong

Character encoding can differ between systems. Confirm both systems use the same language and keyboard settings, or paste into Notepad first and copy to your target app.

Should I install Flow inside the virtual desktop?

No. Flow requires local microphone access, internet connectivity, and system-level permissions that most VDI environments don't support. Install Flow on your local machine.

When can I retry a failed transcript from history?

Retry is available for transcripts with a failed, dismissed, processing, or empty status, within 14 days of the recording. Silent or errored recordings must also be at least 5 seconds long. Retrying during an active dictation shows a "cannot retry while dictating" error, and audio download and playback end after 14 days.

Limitations and notes

  • On macOS, pasting into remote desktop clients may insert a stray character instead of your transcript — see the workaround above.

  • Flow is supported on Mac and Windows local machines, not inside the virtual desktop.

  • Context-aware formatting (capitalization and spacing matched to surrounding text) doesn't work in remote sessions, because Flow can't read text in a remote window. Text pastes with default formatting.

  • Continuous (hands-free) dictation stops after 20 minutes, with a warning at 19 minutes. Finish or restart dictation before the cutoff.

Still stuck?

Reach out to our support team if:

  • Text still doesn't paste into the remote session after all the steps above.

  • You need guidance on your organization's specific VDI environment.

  • You see an error message not covered in this guide.

Include your remote desktop client (Microsoft Windows App, Citrix, VMware Horizon, VNC, and so on), your local OS, and what you've already tried. Most paste issues are resolved in one reply.

Tip: In the Flow desktop app, click Help in the sidebar, then Talk to support. Submitting through this dialog attaches diagnostic logs automatically.