# 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.

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](/docs/cleanup-styles/overview/).

## 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](/docs/configuration/text-entry-methods/) and
[Per-app settings](/docs/configuration/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.

## Read next

- [Dictation in Citrix](/citrix-dictation) — the longer guide, with the environment specifics
- [Dictation in VDI](/vdi-dictation-guide) — virtual desktops generally
- [Nothing gets typed](/docs/common-issues/nothing-gets-typed/) — the general checklist, which
  applies here too