Citrix, RDP and virtual desktops

Blabb types into remote sessions the same way a keyboard does, so it works where clipboard tools do not. Here is what still needs attention.

UPDATED 2026-07-28

Blabb runs on your own PC and types into whatever window has focus. If that window is a Citrix or Remote Desktop session, the text goes through to the remote application the same way your keyboard does.

Why it works when other tools do not#

Dictation tools that move text by clipboard depend on clipboard redirection being switched on, and plenty of locked-down environments switch it off. Tools that need to be installed inside the session need someone with administrator rights in that session.

Blabb needs neither. The words are delivered as Windows input to the focused window, which is exactly what the remote client is built to forward. Nothing is installed on the remote side.

That also means your voice never enters the remote session. Speech recognition and cleanup happen on your own machine; only the finished text crosses over.

Screen match works, unless capture is blocked#

The Screen match cleanup style corrects your words using text visible on screen. It does that by taking a picture of the active window and reading the text out of the image, so a remote client's window reads exactly as well as a local one — the text being drawn by a session elsewhere makes no difference to it.

The failure worth knowing about is a locked-down environment where screen capture is turned off or comes back empty. When there is nothing to read, Blabb does not fail — it runs the cleanup without the screen text, which makes Screen match behave much like a lighter style.

If that is your environment, choose a style on its own merits rather than relying on Screen match. See Cleanup styles.

Text entry may need changing for the client#

Type fast is the default, and it is also the right answer for most remote clients: a remote session is a single window as far as your PC is concerned, so the methods that look for a text box have nothing to find. If you had switched to Direct for local work, expect it to do nothing useful here.

If Type fast is not behaving, the alternatives, in the order worth trying:

Method	When it helps here
Type slowly	When the session drops characters or reorders them. Plain ASCII only, so not an option for accented text
Paste	Long dictations, but only if clipboard redirection is switched on in the session

Set it once for the client application rather than globally, so your local applications keep the faster method: Settings → Shortcut & text entry → Text entry per app. Blabb records every application you dictate into, so the client will already be in the list.

See Text entry methods and Per-app settings.

Tip

If characters arrive out of order or get dropped over a slow link, that is latency in the session, not Blabb. Type slowly is the method to try — it is the slowest, and it gives the session time to keep up. It can only type plain ASCII, so it is no help for accented text.

Focus inside the session#

Focus has two layers in a remote session: your PC has to have the client window focused, and the session has to have the right field focused inside it.

Before you press the shortcut, click into the field and check the cursor is blinking. Then leave the mouse alone while the pill works — clicking elsewhere, in either layer, sends the text somewhere you did not intend.