tCast Help

tCast is a native Windows podcast player designed for keyboard and screen reader use.

New installs start with an empty library. Press Ctrl+R for recommended shows, or Ctrl+E to search for a show. If you are restoring an existing setup, use File, Import Library Backup.

Lists

• Tab and Shift+Tab move between the podcast library and the current content list. The content list is either seasons or episodes, depending on the selected show.
• Use arrow keys inside the podcast, season, episode, chapter, and queue lists.
• Press Enter on a podcast to move to seasons when the show has more than one season, or to episodes when it does not.
• Press Enter on a season to load that season's episodes.
• Press Backspace from the episode list to return to the season list when seasons are available.
• Press Shift+Enter to show or hide the queue.
• Press Space on a show or episode to play or pause.
• Press Shift+F10 or the Application key for item actions. Queue actions include play, move up, move down, remove, and clear queue.

Playback Keys

• F2: Play or pause.
• F3: Stop.
• F4: Rewind.
• F5: Fast-forward.
• F6: Previous chapter.
• F7: Next chapter.
• F8: Previous episode.
• F9: Next episode.
• F10: Slower playback.
• F11: Reset to 1x playback speed.
• F12: Faster playback.

Other Shortcuts

• F1: Open this help.
• Ctrl+Left: Rewind.
• Ctrl+Right: Fast-forward.
• Ctrl+Shift+Left: Previous chapter.
• Ctrl+Shift+Right: Next chapter.
• Ctrl+Up: Volume up.
• Ctrl+Down: Volume down.
• Ctrl+T: Search indexed transcripts.
• Ctrl+E: Search for podcasts by title, creator, feed, domain, or Apple Podcasts link.
• Ctrl+R: Open recommended shows.
• Ctrl+Shift+C: Show or hide the chapters list.
• Shift+Enter: Show or hide the queue list.
• Alt: Open the menu bar.
• Alt+F4: Minimize tCast to the system tray.
• Settings are grouped into tabs for playback, library and updates, accessibility, sharing, and audio.
• Settings include background importing of new episodes for followed shows, new episode notifications, local download retention, and whether chapters or queue are shown by default.
• Settings uses named rewind and fast-forward jump choices from 5 seconds through 15 minutes.
• Playback, Loop Current Episode repeats the current episode until the option is turned off.
• View, Episode Sort chooses feed order, newest first, or oldest first.
• Settings includes an option to enable or disable notifications when a new tCast update is available.
• Settings can automatically install updates when a new version is available.
• Settings lets you choose which screen reader announcements are spoken, including playback, navigation, update, and time announcements.
• Settings lets you choose natural, short, clock, or seconds-only time announcements.
• Help, Check for Updates downloads a new installer when available and shows release notes before updating. Windows may ask for administrator approval before setup replaces the installed copy.

Library Backup and Restore

• Use File, Export Library Backup to save followed and unfollowed podcasts, episode metadata, playback positions, readable settings, and recommended-show settings to a tCast library backup file.
• Use File, Import Library Backup on a fresh install to restore the saved library and settings. Existing matching podcasts are updated instead of duplicated.
• Local device-specific audio device selections and private sign-in tokens are not exported, so a backup can be moved safely to another Windows computer.
• Use File, Import OPML when you only want to import podcast subscription feeds from another podcast app.

YouTube Transcript Search

• When adding or editing a podcast, you can save a matching YouTube playlist, channel, video, or page.
• tCast can auto-detect YouTube links already present in a show website, feed URL, or show description, then try to match public captions to audio episodes.
• Use Search, Sync Linked Video Transcripts to detect linked video sources and fetch public captions where possible.
• Use Search, Index YouTube Transcripts when a show already has a saved YouTube source.
• Use Search, Search Transcripts or Ctrl+T to search a word or phrase. Press Enter on a result to load the matching episode and start at that transcript time.

Recommendations

• Use Share, Recommend Episode or Share, Recommend Current Show to send a recommendation through the selected HubNode site.
• Use Share, Follow tappedin.fm on WhatsApp to open the public WhatsApp Channel, or Share Episode on WhatsApp and Share Podcast on WhatsApp to send a normal WhatsApp share message.
• Use Ctrl+Shift+R to recommend the current show, including feed, show link, author, artwork, operating system, and optional Mastodon mention metadata.
• Use Share, Recommended Shows or Ctrl+R to open the built-in recommended-show list. You can add, remove, open, or subscribe to entries from that window.
• Use Other Shows and Channels by Creator from a show context menu to search podcast directories and your library for more shows from the same creator.
• The starter list includes StroongeCast, Double Tap, The Tapped In Podcast, Nicole Loving Earth, AppleVis Podcast, and Higher Signals.
• Settings includes your display name, a sharing site choice, and optional Mastodon sharing through the tCast account or your own Mastodon account.
• Recommendations are also copied to the clipboard as a fallback.
• Incoming recommendations open in a separate dismissible window with Play, Go to Show, and Subscribe actions, so they do not interrupt the main tCast window.

Podcast Search Sources

• Search Podcasts includes Library, Apple Podcasts, gPodder, fyyd, Feedsearch, and Spotify.
• Spotify catalog search needs Spotify API credentials, so tCast does not embed private Spotify keys. Use Spotify results as a web search reminder, or add an RSS feed, Apple Podcasts link, or show site URL.
• fyyd and Feedsearch are public no-key sources.

Downloads and Updates

• The primary tCast downloads and update manifest are published at files.tappedin.fm/Public/tcast/.
• The tCast hub at tappedin.fm provides release, recommendation, sponsor, Mastodon, feedback, anonymous version reporting, and PowerPress episode endpoints for the client.
• The PowerPress endpoint returns all published podcast releases by default, so older Tapped In episodes remain available to the client.
• Feedback can be sent for an individual show or episode release, including optional voice recordings when the site owner enables them.
• Use Help, Check for Updates to read what changed, then update now or later.
• Update release notes are shown in a read-only text box so keyboard and screen reader users can review them before installing.
• If a network blocks Windows MediaElement from streaming a playable audio URL directly, tCast tries a local playback cache and then plays the cached file.
• Settings, Accessibility includes an option to automatically send error messages with diagnostics. Manual error reports are still available from Help, Submit Error Report.
• If an update starts while a streamed show is playing, tCast tells you playback will resume after installation and relaunches on the selected episode.
• Automatic updates can be enabled in Settings. tCast downloads the current installer, exits, asks Windows for installer approval when needed, waits for setup to finish, and opens the new version only after setup reports success.
• This help opens inside tCast.