Use Flow with remote desktops
Last updated: October 26, 2026
Available on: Mac and Windows as the local computer. Run Flow locally, not inside the virtual desktop.
Flow uses your local microphone and clipboard to deliver text to a remote desktop. If a remote text field stays empty or a stray character appears, use the matching recovery below.
Enable clipboard sharing
Flow needs an internet connection for transcription. Clipboard sharing must be enabled in the remote client and allowed by your organization.
Note: If your company blocks clipboard transfer, ask IT for an approved alternative; installing Flow inside the virtual desktop does not lift that restriction. Some policies permit text transfer but prohibit files.
Dictate a short phrase locally into Notes or Notepad. If it fails there too, use text-pasting troubleshooting first.
Copy a short piece of local text.
Paste it into a remote text field. If that fails, check your client below and your organization's policy.
Client | What to check |
Microsoft Remote Desktop on Windows | Before connecting, open Show Options → Local Resources and check Clipboard. |
Microsoft Windows App / Remote Desktop on Mac | Enable Clipboard in the client's preferences or connection settings. |
Citrix Workspace | Ask IT to confirm clipboard redirection is allowed for your session. |
VMware Horizon | Enable clipboard redirection in connection settings; organization policy can override it. |
Amazon WorkSpaces | Check clipboard redirection in client preferences if transfer fails. |
Windows 365 / Azure Virtual Desktop | Ask IT to review clipboard redirection in host-pool settings if blocked. |
VNC, macOS Screen Sharing, Splashtop, TeamViewer | Enable clipboard sharing or clipboard sync in client preferences. |
Dictate from your local computer
Mac requires microphone and Accessibility permissions through Flow's setup prompts. Windows requires microphone access in Windows settings, but not Accessibility permission. Flow notifies you if required access is revoked.
Note: A closed MacBook needs an external microphone; its built-in inputs are unavailable while the lid is closed. Flow shows “Your laptop lid is closed” with a Select microphone action, and Settings marks that mic “Laptop lid is closed”.
Choose your microphone in Flow's Settings → General → Microphone → Change.
Connect to the remote session.
Click inside an editable remote text field.
Use your Flow shortcut and dictate. On Windows, fully release the shortcut's modifier keys; holding them can prevent pasting.
Wait for the paste to finish before editing or moving focus.
If text appears in the remote field, delivery worked; otherwise use the recovery below.
If Flow cannot use your microphone
On Windows, if a microphone restriction notification appears when you dictate, select Open Settings in it, grant access, then dictate again rather than waiting for an in-app status to change. For No microphone detected, that button opens Sound Settings, not Privacy settings; for Selected microphone is unavailable, select Choose Microphone and pick a connected device.
Clipboard behavior
Flow restores supported previous clipboard content after an app accepts the dictation and the delay below passes; a slow target extends the total hold. Pasting during the hold pastes the dictation again, not your earlier clipboard. Restored content can include images and HTML-formatted text; Flow's own paste never includes images and includes formatting only when the dictation contains formatted content.
Local computer and target | Restore delay after acceptance | Paste failure reported after |
Windows: recognized remote viewers | 5 seconds | 3 seconds |
Windows: other remote viewers | 0.5 seconds | 1 second |
Mac: all apps | 0.5 seconds after acceptance; in a slow app the transcript can stay on the clipboard up to about 7 seconds | 1 second |
The longer Windows timing applies to TigerVNC, RealVNC, UltraVNC, TurboVNC, TightVNC, Microsoft Remote Desktop, Citrix Workspace, VMware Horizon, RDCMan, AnyDesk and TeamViewer. The viewer must be frontmost when Flow pastes.
Warning: Not all clipboard content returns after dictation.
Windows: A new copy is protected, but replaces your pre-dictation clipboard; when a new dictation paste starts while an earlier paste's restoration is pending, Flow discards the older saved clipboard.
Mac: If you copy something new while a paste is still pending, Flow leaves your new clipboard in place and does not restore the earlier content.
Failed or cancelled paste: The transcript stays available for manual pasting, but the previous clipboard is not restored, even if the remote app accepts a late paste.
Excluded formats: Windows does not restore copied files, PDF, RTF, audio, CSV and some other formats; Mac excludes file contents, PDF, RTFD and sound.
During automatic pasting, Flow excludes dictation from Windows Clipboard History and cloud clipboard. On Mac, it marks dictation as sensitive so compatible clipboard tools can exclude it.
Recover a failed paste
Flow needs a focused, editable text field and may not recognize a field inside a remote viewer. Recovery can appear for a failed paste or when your previous clipboard text was inserted instead of your latest dictation; when the recovery notification contains your transcript, Flow has already copied it to the clipboard.
Select Copy in the recovery notification if you need to copy the transcript again.
Paste into the remote text field using the remote operating system's paste command.
Reuse the last transcript
These shortcuts reuse your last transcript without dictating again.
Action | Mac default | Windows default |
Paste last transcript | Cmd+Ctrl+V | Shift+Alt+Z |
Copy last transcript | Cmd+Ctrl+C | Shift+Alt+X |
Release every key in the shortcut before it pastes; an interrupted shortcut cancels the pending paste. With no transcript text available, Flow shows a tip naming your Paste last transcript shortcut instead. Custom bindings replace the defaults — check Flow's Settings → Shortcuts, where Reset to default restores a cleared shortcut.
How the shortcuts handle unfinished dictations
Copy last transcript copies plain text on key press without pasting, and does nothing if no last transcript is stored.
Paste last transcript first cancels a dictation still processing. It retries existing audio after cancellation, an error or an unformatted transcript; completed results paste directly, empty results add no text, and other states do nothing.
If the recovery notification is missing
Recovery appears at most once per dictation, and the notification-triggered copy to your clipboard happens only if the notification appears. It can be suppressed by incomplete setup, an organization policy, an open Flow chat panel, an unavailable notification window, or another non-error notification already showing.
Mac: a stray character appears
This happens in multiple Mac remote-desktop clients, not only Citrix, and needs a guest-native paste. Paste last transcript can produce the same stray character because it repeats Flow's normal dictation paste.
Delete the stray character.
Paste with the guest operating system's own paste command inside the remote session.
Copy with Copy last transcript if needed, then repeat the guest-native paste.
If the transcript appears without the stray character, recovery worked.
Windows: retry or copy separately
The transcript reaches your clipboard before Windows attempts the paste, including when the automatic paste is blocked.
Try Ctrl+V in the remote field, or use Paste last transcript.
Use Copy last transcript if you need a separate copy-and-paste step, then paste into the remote field.
If text appears in your target field, delivery worked.
Windows: “Update admin settings to paste!”
Windows blocks pasting into any foreground app running with higher privileges than Flow, not just remote clients. Flow shows “Update admin settings to paste!” and “Run Flow as Administrator to insert text everywhere”; the notification has no action button and dismisses quickly.
Check the remote field first — the text sometimes arrives even though this notification appeared.
Restart Flow as administrator yourself.
Dictate into the same remote field again. If text appears, the paste is no longer blocked.
The privilege check applies to each paste attempt.
If a remote session intercepts shortcuts
Use these menu entry points instead:
Flow Bar context menu: Paste last transcript stays clickable without a last transcript; Transcript history opens Flow's Dictation page.
Mac menu-bar icon or Windows tray icon: Paste last transcript shows your configured shortcut and is disabled without a last transcript. On Windows, right-click the icon.
Mac application menu: Wispr Flow menu bar → Dictation → Copy last transcript copies only and is disabled without a last transcript; paste manually afterward. This menu has no Paste last transcript item, and Windows has no application menu.
If manual transfer still fails, recheck clipboard sharing.
Recover from History
Open local History to find missing text. “Couldn't access your microphone.” and “Your transcription was interrupted. But Flow can still retry it for you.” indicate capture or processing failures, not paste failures.
Warning: Deleted transcripts cannot be recovered.
Successful transcript
Unsuccessful rows have no copy button.
Click the successful row or Copy transcript.
Paste into the remote field.
Failed recording
Retry requires stored audio no older than 14 days and no dictation in progress. Dismissed or processing rows show Recover.
Use Retry or the row menu's Retry transcript when stored audio is available.
Copy the transcript produced by a successful retry.
Paste into the remote field.
If the text looks wrong
Wrong characters
Check both the local and remote systems.
Check their language and keyboard settings.
Paste into Notepad, then copy the text from Notepad.
Paste into the target app.
Spacing and capitalization
Remote sessions do not give Flow the surrounding text it uses for context-aware formatting. With no text before the cursor, Flow adds no leading space, does not lowercase the first word and keeps trailing sentence punctuation.
Still stuck?
If remote pasting still fails, open Help → Talk to support for the in-app Contact Us form. Include the remote client, local and guest operating systems, what you tried, whether local dictation works, and whether ordinary clipboard transfer succeeds.