Migration Guides: Switching to SlyPilot

SlyPilot covers several jobs that people often do with separate tools: dictation, window snapping, virtual desktop switching, macros. These guides show where each habit lives in SlyPilot and how to bring your settings across. They describe SlyPilot only; check the other tool's own documentation for what it does.

You do not have to stop using anything first. SlyPilot can run next to your old tools while you compare. If two programs want the same key, open Help and Backup -> Show Shortcuts... and press Check conflicts; you can give any SlyPilot shortcut another key or switch it off.

🎙️ Moving from a cloud dictation tool (Wispr Flow, Lispr and similar)

SlyPilot's AI dictation runs on your own PC with Whisper and Parakeet models you download once: your audio never leaves the PC, and it works without an internet connection after the download. AI dictation is part of SlyPilot Pro (an optional one-time purchase, US$39 for up to 3 of your own PCs); the free SlyPilot opens Windows Voice Typing from its dictation button and the "dictate" command instead.

Step by step

1. Set up the dictation key (SlyPilot Pro). First enter your licence (tray menu -> Help and Backup -> SlyPilot Pro...). Then tray menu -> Voice Commands -> Dictation Settings..., tick Enable push-to-talk dictation (it is off until you do) and choose your key. The default is Right Ctrl (hold to talk, tap for hands-free). If your fingers are used to Ctrl+Win, choose the Ctrl + Win preset; Right Alt and your own combination are there too.
2. Download the models (one time). Tray menu -> Voice Commands -> AI Speech Settings (Set Up Automatically)... -> Set up automatically for this PC. A consent window lists every file, its size and its source before anything is downloaded.
3. Bring your vocabulary. Copy the custom terms from your old tool. In Dictation Settings..., paste them into the My words box, one per line: a name to spell right, or said = written for a correction. (The Fix a word... window, in the dictation button's menu, is for correcting a recent dictation; it is not an import tool.)
4. Learn the spoken edits (SlyPilot Pro). "scratch that", "capitalize that", "all caps that", "bullet that" and spoken punctuation ("comma", "question mark", "new paragraph") work right after a dictation. See the Dictation Guide.
5. Decide about your old subscription once you are happy. Nothing in SlyPilot depends on it.

Prefer to keep your old dictation tool for a while? A Touch Bar button of the hold type presses and holds a key while your finger or pen is on it, so it can drive another tool's push-to-talk key (for example Ctrl+Win) from the glass. Add it under Settings -> Touch Bar -> custom buttons.

🐉 Moving from Dragon NaturallySpeaking / Dragon Professional

If you are accustomed to Dragon Professional or Dragon Home, SlyPilot provides a modern, lightweight, GPU-accelerated alternative that requires zero acoustic voice profile training:

Feature Mapping: Dragon to SlyPilot

Step by step

1. Enable Voice Commands: Tray menu -> Settings -> Voice, tick Enable Voice Commands. Say "what can I say" or press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+V to open the full searchable voice command guide.
2. Enable Push-to-Talk Dictation (SlyPilot Pro; the free program opens Windows Voice Typing instead): Tray menu -> Voice Commands -> Dictation Settings..., tick Enable push-to-talk dictation. Choose your preferred shortcut (e.g., Right Ctrl or Ctrl+Win).
3. Download Local Neural Models: In AI Speech Settings, select Set up automatically for this PC to download GPU/CPU Whisper or Parakeet models (free; they make voice commands more accurate and power AI dictation).
4. Import Custom Word Lists (SlyPilot Pro): If you exported custom vocabulary words or replacement pairs from Dragon, paste them into Dictation Settings -> My words.
5. Uninstall Dragon Services: Once satisfied, you can safely uninstall Dragon Professional, freeing 3–4 GB of disk space and removing heavy background services.

🎮 Moving from VoiceAttack (Voice Macros & App Profiles)

If you use VoiceAttack for voice-activated keystrokes, macro pads, and game/app profiles:

• No limits on commands or packs (free): SlyPilot's core voice command engine is free and open source (MIT), with no licence and no limit on commands or voice packs.
• Porting Your Macros to App Packs: In SlyPilot, you can create plain-text .vdspack files in the Packs\ folder to bind spoken phrases to any key combination, sequence, or repeat:

  [Pack]
  Name=My Game or App
  Apps=MyGame.exe

  [Commands]
  landing gear = press G
  deploy shields = press control S
  power to thrusters = press up 3 times

• Application Isolation: App voice packs only listen while that specific application is in the foreground, eliminating false triggers across your general desktop.
• Natural Phrasing: You don't need rigid robotic keywords: lead-ins and synonyms ("please deploy shields", "could you drop landing gear") work seamlessly.
• Stream Deck & Macro Pad Integration: Trigger any voice command silently from hardware macro pads using SlyCtl.exe /say "<command>".

🪟 Moving from a zone-based snapping tool (PowerToys FancyZones and similar)

Zone tools let you define regions of the screen and drop windows into them. SlyPilot's snapping works with one tap, a shortcut, a voice command or a command line, and you can define your own zones.

• 18 built-in zones. The Snap Layouts card (Ctrl+Alt+Z) gives one-tap halves, thirds, two-thirds, a 25 / 50 / 25 row for wide screens, quadrants, centre and maximise, plus a fling to the next monitor.
• Your own zones. Define them in Settings -> Snap, or in SlyPilot.ini under [SnapCustomZones] as fractions of the screen: 1 = Focus Center | 0.20, 0.05, 0.60, 0.90 | 🎯 | focus center. Each zone gets a name that works by voice (snap focus center) and on the command line. SlyPilot does not read another tool's layout files: recreate your zones once.
• Many ways to snap the same window:
  • the Snap card (Ctrl+Alt+Z)
  • voice commands ("snap left", "snap top right")
  • the command palette (Ctrl+Alt+Space, then snap left)
  • the command line and macro pads (SlyPilot.exe snap left, see Command Line & Stream Deck)
  • AI coding agents (slypilot_window action="snap" zone="left"), when you have switched agent control on
• Undo Snap. Say "undo snap" (or "restore window") to put a window back where it was before its first snap.
• Hover preview. While the mouse or pen rests on a zone button of the Snap card, a thin outline shows where the window would land ([SnapAssist] HoverPreview=0 turns that off).

🖥️ Moving from a multi-monitor or desktop-switching utility (DisplayFusion and similar)

1. Window positions per monitor setup (off by default). Tick Remember window positions per monitor setup... in Settings -> Workspaces. SlyPilot then keeps a window-position layout for each combination of monitors and puts it back when you dock or undock (positions only; it does not create desktops or start programs). Windows already does part of this itself, so try it for a while before relying on it.
2. Virtual desktop shortcuts. Ctrl+Alt+1 ... 9 jump to a desktop, Ctrl+Alt+Left / Right step through them, Ctrl+Alt+Q returns to the last one, Ctrl+Alt+Shift+1 ... 9 move the window and follow it. You can change every one of them in Show Shortcuts.
3. Name and badge your desktops. Ctrl+Alt+N renames a desktop and gives it an emoji badge (12 presets). The tray icon shows the current desktop number (8 colour palettes, 4 styles).
4. Auto-routing. Make a program always open on a given desktop: right-click the active-window chip on the Touch Bar -> Always Open On, or edit the rules in Settings -> Auto-Routing ([Routing]).
5. Workspaces. Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S saves your windows (desktop, monitor, position, size) under a name; Ctrl+Alt+S restores one. SlyPilot also keeps an automatic last-session layout (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+W).
6. Taskbars on every monitor are a Windows feature; SlyPilot does not replace the taskbar.

📜 Moving from AutoHotkey scripts (v1 or v2)

• No AutoHotkey needed. SlyPilot.exe is a standalone program. You can keep AutoHotkey for scripts of your own.
• Replace the common ones. Desktop switching, window snapping, pin / always-on-top, volume and media keys, clipboard history, text snippets (the text expander) and OCR text grab are built in. Your own key presses and program launches can be Touch Bar custom buttons or voice macros.
• Call SlyPilot from your scripts. From AutoHotkey, PowerShell or a batch file:

  .\SlyPilot.exe /goto 2
  .\SlyPilot.exe snap left
  .\SlyCtl.exe /say "next desktop"

SlyCtl.exe is the small fast client that hands a command to the running SlyPilot. All switches and examples are in Command Line & Stream Deck.

💻 Moving SlyPilot to a new PC

1. On the old PC: Help and Backup -> Backup Settings... and save the .ini file somewhere you can reach (a USB stick, OneDrive). Your saved layouts are the files in the Workspaces folder next to the program.
2. On the new PC: install SlyPilot, then Help and Backup -> Restore Settings... and choose the file. It shows what the file contains that can run things (startup programs, custom buttons, macros), asks before replacing anything, and keeps your current file as SlyPilot.ini.pre_import.bak.
3. Speech models are not part of a settings backup. Use AI Speech Settings -> Set up automatically for this PC; it picks the models for the new hardware and asks before any download.
4. Things you agreed to on the old PC (for example meeting notes) are not carried over; you agree again on the new one.
5. If you use SlyPilot Pro, enter your licence on the new PC too (Help and Backup -> SlyPilot Pro..., paste your SLY-... key from the e-mail or drop your SlyPilot.lic file on the window; a settings backup does not carry the licence). One licence covers up to 3 of your own PCs, and Remove licence on the old PC (or slypilot.com/account/licences) frees its seat.