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Troubleshooting

3 min read

Solutions to the most common problems, starting with the most likely cause.

⌥Space does not open the search window

  1. Check that Mochi is running. Look for the icon in the menu bar, or open Mochi from your Applications folder.
  2. Another app may already be using the shortcut. Global shortcuts are reserved by whichever app claims them first, so another launcher can take it.
  3. Set a different shortcut in Settings > Hotkeys and test it. If the new one works, the original was taken by another app.

Screenshots or recordings produce nothing

This is the Screen Recording permission. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen & System Audio Recording, turn Mochi on, then quit Mochi from the menu bar and open it again.

Snippets do not expand as I type

  1. Check that Settings > Snippets > Expand as I type is on. It is off by default.
  2. Check the Accessibility permission. If you have just granted it, wait a second or two. Mochi does not need to be restarted.
  3. Snippets never expand in password fields, or inside Mochi's own search window. Both are intentional.
  4. If you changed the trigger prefix, press ↩ or click away to save it.

The writing shortcuts do nothing

Open Settings > AI > Check the connection. It reports whether the problem is the Accessibility permission, the network connection, or your licence. The permission is the most common cause.

Corrected text went to the clipboard instead of my document

This happens when the text changed while Mochi was working, or when the app does not allow text to be replaced directly. Paste it yourself. Nothing was lost.

The camera did not appear in my recording

  1. Turn the camera on in the recording bar before clicking Record. The icon switches it on, and the arrow next to it chooses the device.
  2. Check System Settings > Privacy & Security > Camera.
  3. If a camera is disconnected during recording, the recording continues without it.
  4. If the device you chose is unavailable, the recording bar shows a message and uses the system default.

There is no sound in my recording

  • System audio and the microphone have separate switches in the recording bar and separate rows in the editor. Check both.
  • Use the microphone level meter in the recording bar to confirm your microphone is working before you record.
  • A muted row in the editor is also muted in the export. The volume level is shown next to each row.

The recording stopped after two minutes

That is the free version limit. The recording was saved, so nothing was lost. A Pro licence removes the limit.

The editor is slow to scrub

Wait a few seconds after opening a recording. Mochi prepares preview frames first, after which moving along the timeline is immediate. High-resolution recordings take longer to prepare.

File results come from the macOS index. Check System Settings > Siri & Spotlight > Spotlight Privacy for folders excluded from indexing. Search with f: to limit results to files.

Something I copied is not in my clipboard history

  • Passwords and other items marked as private by a password manager are never recorded.
  • Some apps mark what they copy as temporary, and those items are skipped.
  • Text pasted by Mochi itself, such as a snippet, is not added to the history.

macOS says the app is damaged

The download was interrupted, or macOS could not verify the app. Delete the file and download it again.

Something else

Email support with what you did, what you expected, and what happened. Include your version number from Settings > General > About. If you would rather ask out loud, the Mochi Discord is where the rest of us are.