3 Ways to Use SteelType
🎙️ Mode 1: Pure Voice Typing (No Translation)
Hold F2Converts your spoken words directly into text in your native language, without performing translation.
Enable Voice Translation is unchecked.🌐 Mode 2: Voice Dictation with Translation
Hold F2 (Translate On)Speak in your native language (e.g., Chinese, Czech, Spanish), and have it typed into foreign language text (e.g., English, German) instantly.
Enable Voice Translation and choose your Target Language in the dropdown.⚡ Mode 3: In-Place Typing & Selection Translation
Press F8 KeyZero copy-paste, zero tab-switching. Seamlessly translate webmail, documents, or selected paragraphs right where you are typing.
F8. SteelType automatically translates your newly typed text into English/target language in place.
F8. The selected text is instantly translated and replaced.
Configuration & Controls
Select your active recording device from the dropdown. Make sure microphone permissions are granted in Windows privacy settings.
Set to Auto Detect or specify your spoken language (Chinese, Spanish, German, etc.) to achieve the fastest Whisper inference speed.
Sets the output translation language for both F2 voice translation and F8 in-place typing translation.
Runs on local Whisper models and offline neural translation pipelines. Your text never leaves your PC.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: How do I activate my lifetime license after purchasing on Gumroad?
After purchasing on Gumroad, you will receive a unique License Key via email and on your receipt page. Open SteelType, click Main -> Activate from the top menu, paste your License Key, and click Activate License. Your license is securely tied to your PC via hardware fingerprinting.
Q2: Why is there a slight pause when translating for the first time?
SteelType loads the translation engine into memory only when translation is first requested. Once initialized, the background daemon stays resident, and subsequent translations take only a few hundred milliseconds.
Q3: Nothing happens when I hold F2. What should I check?
Check whether another game or recording tool is holding an exclusive global hotkey hook on F2. Also ensure SteelType has permission to access your microphone under Windows Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Microphone.
Q4: Does SteelType send voice or confidential emails to cloud servers?
No. All speech recognition and neural translation execute 100% locally on your computer's CPU/GPU. SteelType works completely offline with zero network connectivity required for typing or translation.
Q5: What happens when the daily free quota is reached?
Free trial users receive 5,000 characters per day. Once the limit is reached, you can wait for the counter to reset tomorrow or purchase a Lifetime License for $39 to unlock unlimited offline voice typing and translation permanently.
Need Technical Assistance?
If you encounter questions regarding device compatibility, model performance, or license activation, feel free to reach out directly.