# What the pill is. Dimmy Help.

> What the pill is. Step-by-step help for Dimmy, the native voice dictation app for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Source: https://dimmy.app/help/pill-overview/

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The Pill

# What the pill is

The small always-on-top overlay. It shows whether Dimmy is idle, recording, transcribing, or done.

The pill is the visual heart of Dimmy. It is a small overlay that floats above every window on your screen, like a tiny status light. It is the only persistent UI: there is no main window, no dock icon parade, no popup.

The Dimmy pill in its idle state, anchored top-right of the screen

## Why it exists

* You can see at a glance what Dimmy is doing without alt-tabbing.
* It doubles as a click target: left-click toggles recording, right-click opens settings.
* It changes shape and colour to reflect every step of the pipeline. No silence, no guessing.

## Where it lives

By default the pill sits in the top-right corner. You can drag it anywhere on screen, or pin it to one of the four corners. See [Move, resize, hide the pill](https://dimmy.app/help/pill-position/).

tip

On Windows and Linux you can scroll on the pill itself to cycle AI styles. Ctrl + scroll cycles tones. See [Scroll shortcuts](https://dimmy.app/help/scroll-shortcuts/).

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## In this category

[ The PillAll pill states explainedIdle, recording, transcribing, LLM, done, error. Each one has a unique shape, colour, and animation.](https://dimmy.app/help/pill-states/) [ The PillMove, resize, hide the pillDrag the pill anywhere. Pin to a corner. Change opacity when idle. Hide it entirely until the hotkey is pressed.](https://dimmy.app/help/pill-position/) [ The PillTray and menu-bar iconBesides the pill, Dimmy puts a tiny icon in your system tray (Windows, Linux) or menu bar (macOS). Quick access to Settings, History, Quit.](https://dimmy.app/help/tray-menu/)

Last updated: 2026-05-22

On this page

1. [01 Why it exists](#why-it-exists)
2. [02 Where it lives](#where-it-lives)