## Cancel a recording
The whole hunk
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6262The first couple of key-repeat characters type into the input during warmup and are removed automatically when recording activates. A single `Space` tap still types a space, since hold detection only triggers on rapid repeat.
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64Holding or tapping `Space` starts dictation only where the keypress would otherwise type into the prompt. In the [transcript viewer](/docs/en/interactive-mode#transcript-viewer), `Space` pages through the conversation, and in [vim mode](/docs/en/interactive-mode#vim-editor-mode) outside INSERT it is a command. A [rebound modifier combination](#rebind-the-dictation-key) like `meta+k` never types text, so it starts dictation from those places too.
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6466<Tip>
6567 To skip the warmup, switch to [tap mode](#tap-to-record-and-send) with `/voice tap`, or [rebind to a modifier combination](#rebind-the-dictation-key) like `meta+k`. Modifier combos start recording on the first keypress.
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8688The three-word threshold counts words for languages written without spaces. Japanese, Chinese, and Thai transcripts count individual words, so they auto-submit in tap mode and in hold mode with `autoSubmit`.
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8890The first tap only starts recording when the prompt input is empty, so you can still type spaces normally while composing a message. The second tap stops recording regardless of input contents. Recording also stops automatically after 15 seconds of silence or two minutes total.
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92## Cancel a recording
93
94Press `Esc` or `Ctrl+C` to cancel a dictation instead of finalizing it. Claude Code stops the microphone, discards the transcript, and restores the prompt to what it held before the recording started.
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96Both keys also cancel while a finished recording's transcript is still processing. A prompt you edited or submitted during processing stays as you left it.
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98Neither key does anything else in the press that cancels: `Esc` doesn't interrupt Claude's response, and `Ctrl+C` doesn't clear the prompt or count as the first of the [two presses that exit Claude Code](/docs/en/interactive-mode#general-controls).
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90100## Change the dictation language
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