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.

Computer keyboard
Normal computer keyboards can be used for stenography, though with some limitations. It is possible to reach 100 WPM with a keyboard that is not optimized for stenography, but it can be more uncomfortable and affect your endurance.


 * They may not have a columnar layout, and instead may have row stagger, meaning that keys in different rows are offset. See for more information and ways around this limitation
 * They may not have NKRO, and instead may not register all the keys when you press many at the same time. See for more information about what this is, how to check whether or not your keyboard has NKRO, and ways around this limitation
 * The keys (both the caps and the switches) may be uncomfortable to use with steno. See and  for what to look for and alternative caps and switches

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

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. See Upgrading from v3 to v4.

Installer

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

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

Troubleshooting

 * You may need to disable Windows Defender SmartScreen if Windows has protected your PC.
 * If you get an error (WinError 5), you might need to make sure you're running Plover as a standard user and not as an administrator.

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.

Other distributions (AppImage)

 * 1) Download the AppImage
 * 2) Follow the AppImage quickstart guide on how to run the AppImage

Installing the AppImage
If you want to register Plover in the standard applications menu, you can either:


 * Run the AppImage with the  flag. This will automatically uninstall and replace any previous AppImage versions of Plover
 * Follow the AppImage desktop integration guide

Troubleshooting

 * Wayland comes by default on some distributions like Ubuntu and Fedora. See Wayland on how to switch back to Xorg.
 * If you are using hardware (e.g. hobbyist machines, stenotype machines, QMK keyboards) that use serial modes (Gemini PR, TX Bolt), see How to allow access to serial ports
 * If you get the error, see How to fix XCB Error

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


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

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. Then once you have a clue what you do and don't like about Plover's theory you can figure out if you want to try another theory.

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.