Quick actions, and writing your own

Writing one of your own

1. 1

   Step 1

   Try a built-in action first

   Capture a piece of text and pick Quick action in the bar under the frame: Translate, Explain with AI, Improve writing, Summarize or Step-by-step plan. At the bottom, Custom instruction… lets you ask your own question about the text, once. Nothing else has to be set up, as long as an AI is connected.

2. 2

   Step 2

   Open Settings › AI for tasks › Quick actions

   On the AI for tasks page, the row Quick actions has a Manage… button, which opens the list: the built-in actions first, then your own, and the button Add a new action… at the bottom. The last item behind the three dots on the capture card on Home, New action…, opens the same form.

3. 3

   Step 3

   Fill in a name, an instruction and an icon

   Name the action, write what the AI should do with the captured text as an instruction, and pick one of 24 icons. Save it there and the action already works.

4. 4

   Step 4

   Decide what happens to the answer

   Read the result out loud is on; switch it off for an action that only writes. Also copy the result to the clipboard is off. A shortcut of its own is optional, and there is none by default: it captures and runs this one action in a single keypress.

5. 5

   Step 5

   Switch on Advanced options if you want more control

   A second card folds open. There you set Reply language, Length of the answer (short, normal or long), Model for this action, and Creativity (precise, balanced or creative). Send the instruction word for word drops the app's own rules and puts the captured text where you write {text}. Do not keep in history keeps this action's capture and answer out of the history file: they stay in memory until you close the app.

6. 6

   Step 6

   Save it, and use it everywhere

   A saved action stands next to the built-in ones in the bar under the frame, on the subtitle bar, at the bottom of an opened text and behind the three dots on Home. Editing and deleting happen back in the list at Settings › AI for tasks › Quick actions — click the action to open the same form, the bin asks once.

Worth knowing

• Eight actions of your own is the ceiling.
• Ctrl+Alt+Q (Capture and choose) reads nothing until you pick: the bar under the frame has Read aloud, Copy and, under Quick action, every action you have, built in or your own.
• An action can be write-only: switch off Read the result out loud, switch on Also copy the result to the clipboard, and the answer lands on your clipboard without a sound. The built-in Improve writing always copies its result.
• Settings › Shortcuts lists the hotkeys of your own actions at the bottom; you change them in the action's form.
• On a Mac you can also adjust a built-in action (its instruction, AI service or model) and Reset it later, and every action can use a service of its own under AI for this action. On Windows the built-in actions stay as they are, and an action of your own can pick another model of the same service.

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