Getting Started

Hardware
There are three types of hardware you might have available.

Hobbyist machines
These are machines designed for use with Plover. These machines use a different layout than a normal computer keyboard, with fewer keys, and usually have much lighter keys that make it easier to press multiple keys at once.

Hobbyist Machines

Computer keyboard
Normal computer keyboards can be used for stenography, though with some limitations.

Staggered layout
Keys with staggered layouts make it harder to press keys that are in a column at the same time.

Adapting keyboards

Simultaneous key presses (NKRO)
Stenography often requires you to press 5 or 6 keys at once, and sometimes as many as 16. Unfortunately, most keyboards only recognise up to 1 to 6 keys at once.

Adapting keyboards

Known NKRO keyboards

Professional stenotype machine
Plover also supports several protocols used by various stenotype machines, often used by professionals.

Stenotype Machines

If you've used Plover before
You might have used version 3 before. It's recommended that you upgrade to version 4. This may require manually updating the dictionaries.

Upgrading from version three

Windows

 * Installer


 * 1) Download the  installer
 * 2) Launch it and follow the instructions

You may need to grant permissions for the app to bypass Windows Defender SmartScreen


 * Portable ZIP

A portable zip is also available if you don't want to install Plover as an application.

Mac

 * Installer


 * 1) Download the  installer
 * 2) Open the  file
 * 3) In the mounted disk, drag the  to your   folder
 * 4) Open the Applications folder, and follow the guide to launch a program from an unidentified developer.
 * 5) Open
 * 6) Click the "+" Button, and go to your applications and select

Homebrew Cask
If you have Homebrew Cask installed on your system, you can run  at the command-line. Then follow the instructions above for giving Plover accessibility permissions.

Install on Arch Linux
Two AUR packages are provided:


 * 1) plover for the latest stable release
 * 2) plover-git for the current

The plugins manager is available separately as plover_plugins_manager.

Install on other distributions

 * Installer


 * 1) Download the AppImage above
 * 2) Make it executable
 * 3) Launch it like a standard executable

Wayland
Wayland is used by default on many distributions such as Ubuntu and Fedora.

Plover does not currently support Wayland. You'll need to switch back to Xorg / X11.

Allowing access to serial ports
If you are using hardware (e.g. hobbyist machines, stenotype machines, QMK keyboards) that use serial modes (Gemini PR, TX Bolt), you need allow access to serial ports.


 * 1) Find out which group owns the port by running,  which is usually where your machine will show up. This group is usually either   or  , depending on your Linux distribution.
 * 2) Add yourself to the group by running, replacing the group and user appropriately. For example,   or
 * 3) Restart your session, for example by logging out and in again, or rebooting

XCB Error
If the following error occurs when running the AppImage: Could not load the Qt platform plugin "xcb" in "" even though it was found. This application failed to start because noQt platform plugin could be initialized. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem. Ensure that,   and   are installed (or whatever the equivalent packages are on your Linux distribution).

If the error still persists, run the following:

Note that the exact name and location of the AppImage may be different.

Keyboard
By default, Plover will use your keyboard as its input device.


 * 1) Run Plover.
 * 2) Click the Output: Enable radio button.

Hobbyist machine
Hobbyist Machines

Professional stenotype machine
Stenotype Machines

Learning Stenography
Plover comes with its own set of dictionaries that follow Plover theory, and we recommend you start with this if you are new to stenography.

Learning Stenography

Using your own dictionaries
Plover supports the RTF/CRE format for dictionaries, which is exportable from just about any CAT software. You may be able to get json dictionaries for your theory, which is the native format for Plover.

Using Plover with other theories