Handy 0.9.8
pick Simplified or Traditional Chinese, plus eleven fixes
release notes: “bug fixes” · 7 first-time contributors
Handy 0.9.8 is a bug fix release, and the notes say so in two words. It fixes eleven bugs, from filler words to keyboard shortcuts, and it adds one setting: whether Mandarin and Cantonese come out in Simplified or Traditional characters.
Chinese Script
choose the script Chinese is written in
Settings › Advanced › Transcription › Chinese Script
Recognition language and script are now separate choices. The language picks what the model listens for, and the new Chinese Script setting picks how the text is written. It covers the pasted text and the live preview. Mandarin converts with Taiwan's character tables, and Cantonese with Hong Kong's.
Only Chinese is converted
only text known to be Chinese is converted
on auto-detect, the language is read from the text; the live preview waits for 6 characters
Only output known to be Chinese gets converted. A Japanese transcript stays exactly as it was, even though it shares characters with Chinese. On auto detect, Handy reads the language from the text, and the live preview waits for six characters before it decides. Cantonese gets the Hong Kong forms of characters.
Your language setting migrates
the Simplified and Traditional language entries moved into the new setting
Your language setting migrates by itself. If your language was Chinese Simplified or Chinese Traditional, you'll now see Chinese Mandarin, with the matching script in the new setting. Everyone else keeps the output they had. A fresh install picks the script from your system locale.
Filler words
removing a filler word keeps the sentence's capital
Filler word removal got two fixes. When a sentence opened with um or uh, removing it left the sentence starting in lower case. Now the capital moves to the word that takes its place. And ha is off the English filler list, so it stays in your text.
Recording fixes
handy won't open the mic when no model can transcribe it
Three fixes land around recording. If no model can transcribe, Handy no longer opens the mic. If it's set to unload the model right away, a recording with no audio now unloads it too. And after a very short recording, the cancel shortcut no longer stays registered.
Shortcuts
shortcuts with Caps Lock, Page Up or Print Screen now register
Shortcuts got stricter, and more of them work. Keys with two word names, like Caps Lock and Page Up, were saved with a space that the shortcut parsers reject. Now they're saved as one word. And a shortcut the Tauri backend can't parse, like one using the left Option key, resets to the default.
Smaller fixes
smaller fixes, and a workaround for Hyprland
A few smaller fixes. History only says copied once the copy actually worked. Settings sections open at the top. Listing GPU devices moved off the startup path, where on a Mac it could trigger a one-time shader compile. And if the recording overlay is empty on Hyprland or Omarchy, the readme now has a Wayland workaround for native installs.
Upgrade
update to 0.9.8
For most people, updating to 0.9.8 needs nothing else. If you transcribe Chinese, check the new script setting under Advanced. If you use the Tauri keyboard option with a left or right modifier in your shortcut, it resets to the default, so set a new one. That's 0.9.8: your pick of Chinese script, and eleven fixes.
