Keyboard shortcuts shown below are Windows defaults. On macOS, check the shortcut shown in TalkBar or its settings; configurable shortcuts can be changed there.

Settings → General holds app-wide preferences: how TalkBar looks, how new sessions start, what gets cleaned up automatically, and how the app starts and updates. Changes save as you make them. The one exception is the timezone, which has its own Save Timezone button.

Appearance

Setting	What it does	Default
Theme	Follows your system appearance (System), or always uses Light or Dark.	Light
Accent Color	The highlight color for buttons, selection and focus. Choose from 14 swatches, from Amber to Stone.	Amber
Highlight on hover	Shows item names in the accent color when you point at them in lists and cards.	On
Hover Animation	Adds motion when you hover the collapsed sidebar and similar parts of the app.	On
Collapsed sidebar	When the sidebar is collapsed, Expand on hover opens the full sidebar when you point at it. Keep closed keeps the icon rail with tooltips.	Expand on hover
Knowledge shortcuts	The section switch shows or hides icon-only links under Knowledge in the sidebar. A switch for each tab picks which links appear: Memory cards, Documents, People, Companies, Action items and Review. Turning the section off keeps your picks.	Off (no tabs picked)

Live Session Appearance

These options arrange the panels of the recording screen and apply right away. You can change the same things from the Layout menu on the recording screen. See Recording a session.

Setting	What it does	Default
Style	Rounded shows floating cards. Flat shows edge-to-edge panels.	Rounded
Layout	Pick a preset (Side panel, Grid, Tabs in main panel, Split main panel) or one of your saved layouts. Manage custom layouts… saves the current arrangement as a new layout, or updates, renames and deletes saved ones.	Side panel
Place each view	One row for each view: Transcript, Notes, Timeline, Knowledge and Documents. Drag a row to change the tab order, show or hide the view, and choose where its panel sits.	Set by the layout
Reset panel sizes	Puts the panel sizes back to their defaults.	—

Session defaults

Setting	What it does	Default
Default template	The session template that is already selected when you start a session. You manage templates in Templates & Skills.	Meeting
Remember last template	New and scheduled sessions start with the template you used last. When it's off, they start with your pinned or default template.	On
Delete confirmation	How deletes inside a session are confirmed: moving a session to Trash from the list, and deleting transcript chunks, summaries, bookmarks, priorities or manual speakers. Choices: Confirm with dialog, Confirm in menu (double-click), No confirmation. Notes, chats and other areas always use a dialog.	Confirm with dialog
Default privacy	The privacy mode new sessions start with: Normal, Session only, No auto cards or Sensitive. The hint under the setting explains what the selected mode turns off. See Starting a session.	Normal
Recording notice	Shows a reminder when a session starts that it's your job to tell participants they're being recorded.	On

Session detection

When your microphone is free, TalkBar can listen locally for a conversation. If it hears one, it offers to start a session from the small session bar in a corner of your screen. Audio and text never leave your computer, and nothing is saved until you start a session.

Setting	What it does	Default
Session detection (section switch)	Turns detection on or off.	On
Skip duration	How long the session bar's Skip button pauses detection: 5, 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes.	15 minutes
Session bar shortcut	A keyboard shortcut that shows or hides the session bar, with its own on/off switch. Changes apply right away. If the shortcut doesn't respond, use the restart the app link under it.	`Ctrl+Alt+B`, on
Current speaker lines	How many lines of the current speaker's words the bar shows while you record: 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 or 10.	3 lines
Remember bar position	You can drag the bar anywhere. With this on, it reopens where you left it instead of in the default corner.	On
Default position	Where the bar opens when it has no remembered position: Top left, Top center, Top right, Bottom left, Bottom center or Bottom right.	Top right
Edge offset	The distance between the bar and the screen edges, from 0 to 200 px.	16 px
Bar position	Reset position forgets the remembered spot and moves the bar back to the default corner.	—

Auto titles

TalkBar can write a short title when a note or session still has an empty or placeholder title.

Setting	What it does	Default
Auto-title notes	Writes a title once a note has a few paragraphs, unless you already named it.	On
Auto-title sessions	Replaces the default session title once there is enough transcript, unless you renamed the session.	On

Session retention

Moves old sessions to Trash automatically. Pinned sessions and sessions that are still recording are never moved. Retention runs for each workspace when TalkBar starts.

Setting	What it does	Default
Automatically move old sessions to Trash	Turns retention on.	Off
Keep at most	How many of the newest sessions each workspace keeps: 25, 50, 100, 250, 500, 1000 or No limit.	100
Move sessions older than	Moves sessions older than 30, 90, 180 or 365 days, or Never.	Never
Move to Trash now	Shown while retention is on. It tells you how many sessions would move right now and moves them after you confirm.	—

Trash cleanup

These settings apply to sessions and notes in Trash. If a permanent delete fails, TalkBar tries again later on its own.

Setting	What it does	Default
Automatically empty Trash	Permanently deletes Trash items once the retention period ends.	On
Keep Trash items for	The retention period: 7, 14, 30, 60 or 90 days.	30 days

Knowledge scanning

Knowledge scans look for memories, people and companies in your sessions and documents. See Review and scans.

Setting	What it does	Default
Auto-scan finished sessions	Scans a session shortly after its transcript is saved.	Off
Auto-scan new documents	Scans each document after it is indexed.	Off
Scheduled sweep	Checks about every 6 hours, up to 10 sources at a time. A source is scanned again when its content or the scan settings change.	Off
Focus instructions	Guidance added to every scan, such as the topics that matter most to you.	Empty

Knowledge health

Setting	What it does	Default
Review after days	Approved memories that haven't been confirmed for this many days move to Needs review.	90
Exclude from live recall after days	Unpinned memories older than this stop appearing in live recall during sessions. Pinned cards stay.	180
Knowledge health nudges	Shows reminders in the app when approved memories have gone too long without confirmation.	Off

See Knowledge cards for how review and live recall work.

Application UI Language

Pick the language of TalkBar's menus and screens. 15 languages are available: English, Español, Deutsch, Français, Italiano, Русский, Türkçe, Polski, Українська, 简体中文, Português (Brasil), Português (Portugal), 日本語, 한국어 and 繁體中文.

The default is your system language if TalkBar supports it, and English otherwise. Dates, numbers, the tray menu, the session bar, the dictation panel and the titles TalkBar gives new sessions all follow this language.

Some regional licenses cover only certain interface languages. With one of those, the other languages are greyed out, and a note links to Settings → License. See Plans and license.

Custom translations

Under the language buttons, Custom translations lets you change specific wording for the current language. These changes apply only on this computer.

Control	What it does
Improve translation / Edit overrides	Opens Improve translation for language, where you search phrases and type your own wording. The button reads Edit overrides once you have at least one.
Clear all overrides	Removes all your custom wording for the current language, after you confirm.

Updates

Setting	What it does	Default
Automatic updates	Downloads updates automatically and installs them the next time TalkBar starts. On the Free plan and on preview versions, this is always on and can't be turned off. If your license covers updates only until a certain date, a note shows that date, and TalkBar asks before installing a version released after it.	On
Beta updates	Gets only beta releases, so you can try new features early. Turn it off to get only production releases.	Off
Return to production	Appears only when you run a beta version, have turned Beta updates off, and an older production version is available. It shows a data compatibility warning before downloading.	—

You can also check for an update at any time with Check for Update at the bottom of the Settings sidebar. See Install and update.

Startup

Setting	What it does	Default
Window mode on launch	Last state opens the window if it was open when you last quit, and stays in the tray if it was minimized. Tray always starts in the system tray. Window always opens the main window.	Last state
Auto start	Starts TalkBar when you sign in to your computer.	On
Keep awake	Keeps your computer from going to sleep while TalkBar is running.	Off
Show TalkBar shortcut	A keyboard shortcut that opens and focuses the main TalkBar window from any app. Click the field to record a new shortcut, and use the switch to turn it on.	`Ctrl+Shift+Space`, off

Time

Setting	What it does	Default
Custom timezone override (optional)	The timezone used for schedules and dashboard dates. Leave it on Auto (System timezone) to follow the system, or search for any timezone and click Save Timezone. Reset to Auto goes back to the system timezone. The line under the setting shows the timezone in use.	Auto (System timezone)
Time format	Shows times as 12-hour (AM/PM) or 24-hour.	Follows the app language (12-hour for US English)

Until you pick a time format, TalkBar uses the usual one for your app language, so US English shows 12-hour time and Russian shows 24-hour time. Your choice stays if you change the language later.

Calendar

These settings control how the Upcoming sessions calendar looks, and what a new scheduled session starts with.

Setting	What it does	Default
Week starts on	The first day of the week in every calendar: Sunday or Monday. AI chat uses the same week for questions such as "this week".	Follows the app language (Sunday for US English)
Visible hours	The hours the week grid opens on. Sessions outside these hours still show.	7:00 AM to 7:00 PM
Show weekends	Turn it off to show a five-day work week in the grid.	On
Time slot size	How finely the week grid divides time when you pick a slot: 15 min, 30 min or 1 hour.	30 min
Default view	How Upcoming sessions opens: List or Week. Switching the view on that page updates this setting.	List
Show week numbers	Shows the ISO week number next to each week in the grid.	Off
Default duration	The length that is already selected when you schedule a session, from 15 min to 3 h.	30 min
Default reminders	The reminders a new scheduled session starts with: At start, 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes before, 1 hour before or 1 day before. You can pick up to 6, or None.	10 min before

Application Logs

Setting	What it does	Default
Enable application logs	Saves app diagnostics, warnings and errors to log files on this computer, for troubleshooting.	Off
Enable Local AI logs	Does the same for the built-in local AI.	Off
Logs folder	Open logs folder opens the folder that holds both kinds of log files.	—

Logs stay on your computer. Turn them on when you need to send details to support. See Troubleshooting.

Local Identity

A read-only panel showing the Profile user name and Machine name of this computer. TalkBar uses them for diagnostics.

Setting	What it does	Default
Share usage statistics	Sends basic usage statistics to help improve TalkBar: app starts and quits, daily use, which main sidebar sections you open, when you start or schedule a session, the app version, preview status, and a random device ID created by TalkBar.	On

Your name, email and account are never sent with these statistics. Recordings, transcripts, notes and chats are never included, and no statistics come from their content. When the switch is off, nothing is sent. See Privacy and your data.

If your organization manages TalkBar, it can lock Automatic updates, Beta updates, manual update checks and Share usage statistics. Locked controls are greyed out and marked Managed by your organization.

Settings overview
Voice: recording, transcription and dictation
Templates & Skills: manage the templates behind Default template
Data & Backup
Getting around

Export & Share

Every setting under Settings → Export & Share — export destinations and rules, sharing defaults and history, and custom branding.

Help & Tours and Doctor

Reference for Settings → Help & Tours (guided tours and onboarding replay) and Settings → Doctor (checks your TalkBar setup and points to fixes).