Using commands

When you're on a roll, the last thing you want to do is switch tabs! Now, you can generate content, break out of writer's block, or rewrite content right from within the Editor using our new commands feature.

Commands are also available within the Writer for Chrome extension, Writer for Mac app, and the Writer for Windows app.

What's in this article:

• Getting started with commands
• Starter ideas
• Recent prompts
• Keep writing
• Regenerate text
• Rewriting with commands

Getting started with commands

Using commands in the Editor

When you're working on a draft in the Editor, type /ask to bring up the commands menu.

If it's the first time you've used commands, and your draft is otherwise blank, you'll see a single menu item: Starter ideas.

Starter ideas

Got writer's block? Starter ideas will help you get past the blank page stage, whether you're generating shortform content like a product description, or longform content like a blog post:

Simply enter /ask, select Starter ideas, then select the type of content you're trying to generate.

Recent prompts

Once you've used the /ask command to select a prompt at least once, a new menu option will appear named Recent prompts.

Simply enter /ask, select Recent prompts then select the prompt you wish to use again. Note that reusing a prompt won't generate the same content. As shown above, reusing a prompt will create new content from scratch.

Keep writing

Once you've added at least five words to your draft, a new menu option will appear: keep writing. It doesn't matter whether you wrote the text yourself, or generated it using Writer. Keep writing works the same as it does elsewhere in Writer. If you select keep writing, Writer will generate more text based on the previous prompt:

When Writer generates content based on a command, it'll give you the option to keep writing:

Regenerate text

Want Writer to give your prompt another try? As soon as Writer generates text from a command, it'll offer you the option to regenerate new content based on the same original prompt.

You can select regenerate as many times as you want. Use the arrows to navigate between different versions. Once you're satisfied with the content generated by your prompt, select Done.

Once you select Done, you won't see the regenerate menu option anymore. If you want to create a new output, you'll need to run the prompt again from scratch.

Rewriting with commands

It's easier than ever to use our popular rewrite feature with commands:

As soon as Writer finishes generating content, you'll see the rewrite menu appear. We've updated our familiar rewrite styles with a few useful new options:

• Rephrase (NEW) to reword the same content a little differently
• Simplify to improve the clarity of your text and make it easier to understand
• Polish to improve fluency and sound more like a native speaker
• Shorten to condense your text and help you cut down your word count
• Enrich to add descriptors and fill out detail
• Modify tone (NEW) to use a different voice to express your content

You can also access this menu at any time by highlighting any content — written or generated — and selecting the Writer icon.

Generate from text

Highlight content, then use the Generate from this text menu to transform your content into a headline, a frequently asked question, a LinkedIn post, and more.