Plover (rhymes with “hover”) is a free, open source stenography engine. It allows individuals to replace their keyboard and write into any program at speeds of over 200 words per minute.
Stenography
The art of stenography has existed for over a century, and has been computerized since the late twentieth century. All over the world, professional stenographers write at realtime speeds in order to take depositions and caption live television. Plover brings this powerful technology to anyone who is willing to learn it.
Open Steno Project
The , formed to support Plover and related projects, acts as a driver for truly free steno-related resources. While Plover is at the core of the OSP’s effort, it is just as important to ensure that we have affordable hardware and open learning resources. Newcomers are encouraged to read through Learn Plover!, a free online textbook, and to see Steno Arcade, a free game made for stenographers-in-training.
Why Plover
Before there was Plover, there was deposition software, often called CAT software. While this software is very useful for stenographers making depositions, it is not well-fitted to any other purpose. It is sandboxed, proprietary, and often bloated. Plover is a small, slick Python application that you run in the background. It acts as a translator to read steno movements and then emulate keystrokes, so the programs you use can’t tell that you are using steno.