---
title: "Find a dictation and insert it again"
summary: "The dictation history on the Home page shows your dictations of the last 7 days. How to search, copy and insert a dictation, a cancelled one too, and how to switch the history off."
url: "https://help.medisynchealth.ai/en/dictate/dictation-history"
product: "MediSync Dictate"
platforms: ["windows","macos"]
access: "public"
updated: "2026-11-11"
version: "Dictate 0.4.0-beta.6"
---

# Find a dictation and insert it again

The dictation history on the Home page shows your dictations of the last 7 days. How to search, copy and insert a dictation, a cancelled one too, and how to switch the history off.

Press `Alt` + `Shift` + `Z` to put the last dictation where the cursor is, on a Mac `Option` + `Shift` + `Z`. This works with a cancelled dictation too. Older dictations are on the **Home** page under **Your dictations**.

## Insert or copy the last dictation

- Shortcut: `Alt` + `Shift` + `Z`. You can change it under **Settings › General › Shortcuts › Insert last dictation**.
- Action Bar: right-click it and choose **Paste last dictation** or **Copy last dictation**.
- After a dictation that was not inserted, the Action Bar offers **Copy**.

## Your dictations on the Home page

The list shows your dictations of the last 7 days, newest first. Each row has the time, an icon for the kind of program and the text. A click on the text shows all of it. With many dictations, a link under the list shows them all.

Move the mouse over a row:

| Button | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Copy** | Puts the text on the clipboard |
| **Insert** | Inserts the text into the program you dictated it into |
| **More** | Opens a menu with more entries |

In the **More** menu:

- **Insert original**, **Copy original** and **Show original**: the original is what speech recognition heard before Smart Dictation formatted the text. These entries appear only when the two versions differ. **Show final text** shows the inserted text again.
- **View AI change**: appears when a command changed the dictation. [Edit text by voice](https://help.medisynchealth.ai/en/dictate/edit-text-by-voice) explains it.
- **Delete**: removes the dictation. The list then shows **Dictation deleted.** for a moment, with **Undo**.

If the program is gone, takes no text, or Dictate was restarted since the dictation, Dictate puts the text on the clipboard. While a dictation runs, the row shows `Finish the running dictation first`.

## Cancelled dictations

A cancelled dictation, and one that could not be inserted, is in the list too. The row then shows **Cancelled** or **Not inserted**, with **Insert** and **Copy**.

## Search your dictations

Next to **Your dictations**, click the magnifier **Search dictations** and type a word. The heading changes to **Found in the last 7 days**. If Dictate finds nothing, it shows **No matches in the last 7 days.**

## Where the history is kept

The history stays on this computer. Dictate encrypts it with the key of your system. None of it goes to MediSync, not even in a problem report. Dictate deletes dictations older than 7 days.

## Switch the history off

Open **Settings › Privacy** and, under **Stays on this computer**, switch **Dictation history** off. Dictate deletes the history at once. The **Home** page shows **The history is switched off.** **Turn on** switches it on again.

When you sign out, Dictate asks whether to delete the history. The **Delete dictation history** switch is on by default. Leave it on when others use this computer.

[Privacy in Dictate](https://help.medisynchealth.ai/en/dictate/privacy-in-dictate) explains what else Dictate keeps on this computer.