What's new at Writer

Stay up-to-date on new features and major improvements from Writer.

October 30, 2023

Use generative AI in Writer for Figma

Writer for Figma now generates content on the spot! Create error messages, zero state text, tooltips and more, then insert it directly into your frame.

Select the Commands tab, then let Writer know what you need. For example:

• Generate tooltip text for clicking on a registration link for a health insurance plan. Use a professional tone with simple language.
• Generate a 404 error message for when a user forgets to upload the document to the submission form
• I'm a product designer. Help me come up with 5 ideas for copy for a button that a user clicks on to create a new listing for an available home.

Not sure where to begin? Check out the Starter ideas menu to explore what’s possible.

Want to learn more? Check out our Help Center article here.

October 20, 2023

Use generative AI in Writer for Chrome

When you're on a roll, the last thing you want to do is switch tabs. We’ve added generative AI capabilities to Writer for Chrome. Now you can generate content, break out of writer’s block, or rewrite that bit that doesn’t sound quite right — no matter where you’re working.

Select the purple Generate content icon to open the widget, then let Writer know what you need. For example:

• Write me a paragraph about the use of artificial intelligence in medicine
• Write an outline for a blog post about purchasing certificates of deposit
• Generate a 404 error message for when a document is missing from a submission form
• Compose an email subject line for a prospective client on benefits of refinancing their mortgage this month

Want to learn more? Check out our Help Center article here.

October 6, 2023

Use Ask Writer in the Writer for Mac app!

Our new Ask Writer chat interface is now available in the Writer for Mac app! Just as you can do with the desktop experience, chat back and forth, add sources, and ask analytical questions no matter where you’re working. Install the app here. (P.S. Already have the app installed? Restart to see the new update.)

September 29, 2023

Introducing Writer for Windows

Generate content from Writer anywhere using our new Windows desktop app! Using our new app, you'll be able to brainstorm new content, escape writer's block, and generate fresh ideas for whatever you're working on, no matter where you're writing. Learn more about the Writer for Windows app here.

P.S. Looking for more information about our Mac OS desktop app? Learn more here.

September 27, 2023

Introducing the new Ask Writer!

Our most popular template just received a huge upgrade! Ask Writer is still the open-ended content generator you love, but we've made it more flexible and powerful with a chat interface, the ability to upload files, and the power to handle new types of analytical tasks. It's not just a writing companion - it's a research assistant! We've also updated our Prompt Library to help you explore new Ask Writer possibilities - check out the Summarizing, Analyzing, and Transforming pages!

Learn more about the new Ask Writer experience here.

September 19, 2023

Improved punctuation suggestions

Our spelling and grammar suggestions are more robust thanks to a supercharged punctuation update. Writer now handles poorly formatted contractions, missing commas within lists, unnecessary commas, and more.

September 7, 2023

Access live and on-demand webinars in-app

It's easier than ever to discover upcoming webinars and view our on-demand catalog. Our new Webinars page allows you to register for live sessions and watch recorded sessions within our Learning Center.

August 25, 2023

Check out the new Writer Prompt Library 📚

Not sure how teams like yours use Writer? Want to try out a new use case, but you're not sure how to tell Writer what you need? Brushing up on your prompt-crafting skills? Introducing our new Prompt library, with 150+ ready-to-use prompt templates!

1. Select the Writer Prompt Library button within Ask Writer to access the library
2. Select Use to insert a prompt into Ask Writer
3. Adjust any text within [[brackets]]
4. Select Generate

August 21, 2023

Generate content from text & improved rewrite commands

• Highlighting text to rewrite it now generates multiple options, with a larger display for easier browsing. Select the checkmark to replace your highlighted text, or select copy to add the suggestion to your clipboard.
• Highlight text - then generate content from it! Turn your selection into a headline, a frequently asked question, a LinkedIn post, and more.

Commands are available in the Editor and the Writer for Mac app.

July 14, 2023

Introducing Writer for Mac 👩‍💻

Generate content from Writer anywhere using our new MacOS desktop app! Using our new app, you'll be able to brainstorm new content, escape writer's block, and generate fresh ideas for whatever you're working on, no matter where you're writing. P.S. If you're part of our Knowledge Graph beta, you'll even be able to ask your Knowledge Graph a question!

July 12, 2023

Commands menu

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 menu.

July 11, 2023

More 💪 powerful rewrite

We've made our rewrite feature better than ever! Just like before, highlight text and click on the (new and improved) icon which appears to open the rewrite menu. We've introduced two new rewrite options:

• Rephrase to reword the same content a little differently
• Modify tone to use a different voice to express your content

We've also added the ability to keep writing from the rewrite menu.

Multi-factor authentication

Keep your Writer account 🔐 locked down. Prevent unauthorized users from accessing your Writer account by requiring an additional code via email or SMS.

Domain discoverability

Make it easy for other members of your organization to find your Writer workspace. When new employees sign up using a specified email domain, we'll suggest your workspace so they can join their colleagues!

June 22, 2023

Keeping things simple

Generative AI is at the very core of our mission to scale great writing across every team. With that in mind, we're no longer using the term "CoWrite" in reference to our AI-powered templates - they're simply "templates" now! We made a few more subtle changes:

• Our open ended "Ask Writer Anything" prompt is now simply "Ask Writer"
• We will no longer capitalize terms, snippets, or suggestions
• We will no longer capitalize rewrite, highlights, or claim detection
• The style guide is now two words

"How did you coordinate and communicate these changes across the company?"

You know the answer: we updated our style guide with new terms!

June 15, 2023

Use carefully terms

FYI: Team and Enterprise

You can now create Use carefully terms! These are useful when your team should only use a term within certain, specific contexts. We'll flag any use of this term so you can double-check to see whether you're using it appropriately. Learn more about terms here.

March 23, 2023

Recaps

FYI: Team and Enterprise

The Recaps builder is live for Team and Enterprise accounts! Now you can automatically surface high-level takeaways and key quotes from an audio or video file, or YouTube URL. 

Use the Recaps builder when you have a podcast, webinar, or other long-form audiovisual recording that you want to summarize or repurpose into a written format. The builder will generate key takeaways, with a brief summary and relevant quotes for each takeaway. You can also use the output as a starting point for a blog post, thought leadership piece, or other type of long-form written content.

February 1, 2023

Google Docs support in ReWrite

FYI: Team and Enterprise

Did you know? The Writer Chrome extension supports Google Docs. Highlight a sentence or a paragraph and instantly generate a rephrased version that's briefer, simpler, more fluent, or more complex. Learn more about how to use ReWrite here.

January 18, 2023

Claim detection

FYI: Team and Enterprise

Large language models are trained to recognize and reproduce linguistic patterns, but they are not trained to recognize the truthfulness of the content they produce. So occasionally, Writer will sometimes produce quotes, anecdotes, or statistics that need to be fact-checked by a human.

With the new claim detection feature, content that might need to be fact-checked will be automatically highlighted so you can more easily identify, verify, and edit (if necessary) any potentially problematic claims. Just click the claim detection mode button while in the editor to highlight any claims that Writer can't verify.

December 21, 2022

Ask Writer's AI anything: now supporting links ⚓

FYI: Team and Enterprise

CoWrite just got a major upgrade: now, it can browse the web for you. If you provide additional context with links, Writer’s AI can crawl those pages to give more sophisticated responses.

Just describe what you want to write, and Writer’s AI will write new content from scratch, answer questions, summarize longform content, surface insights from the web, or rewrite copy in a different style. Here are just a few prompts you could try with the new link support:

• Summarize this article into 3 takeaways: [insert URL]
• Write a marketing email promoting this blog post: [insert URL]
• Explain what this company’s main differentiators are: [insert URL]

Snippets importer

FYI: all users

You can now upload Snippets in bulk with the new Snippets importer flow! Drag and drop a CSV file to build out your Snippets library more quickly. 

December 2, 2022

Keep writing (beta)

FYI: Team and Enterprise

Team and Enterprise accounts now have beta access to a “Keep writing” button in the Editor. Use it to answer questions or requests, complete unfinished sentences, or riff on partially formed ideas.

To try it out, select the Keep writing button (at the top of the editor, with the lightning bolt ⚡️), or use a keyboard shortcut (Cmd + Return for Mac, Ctrl + Enter for PC). Wherever your cursor is, CoWrite will then automatically generate words that could logically follow given the previous input.

November 14, 2022

Magic links

FYI: Team and Enterprise

Magic links is now live! Linking your content manually can be a painful and time-consuming process. With magic links, you can quickly find and add internal links from your most important websites.

To get started, connect your domain (e.g., writer.com). Then, in the Editor, activate the magic links panel. Highlight the keywords you’d like to link. You’ll see suggested links appear — click to accept, and your keyword phrase will be hyperlinked wherever it appears in your doc.

Other notes on magic links:

• Magic links is only available for Team and Enterprise plans.
• Only org or team admins can set up magic link domains.
• Each team is limited to 1 domain.

You can learn more about magic links in this article.

Editor: hyperlink UI improvements

FYI: all users

To support the launch of magic links, we've also updated the hyperlink UI! Clicking on a hyperlink will bring up the options to edit the hyperlink or display text, remove the link, and open the link in a new tab.

October 21, 2022

Editor UX improvements

FYI: All users

We launched Editor nav improvements, an updated formatting toolbar, and new template guide tooltips! Our new Editor organization should 1) improve discovery of our new NLG features, 2) provide a clean UX foundation for the new features we intend to add, 3) improve overall legibility, and 4) help users find new template-related educational materials! 

Improvements:

• We increased the font size for the Editor text and Doc title text

• The new formatting toolbar is fixed to the bottom of the Editor instead of appearing on text highlight

  

• It includes new options such as quote blocks, code formatting, text alignment, H3s, etc
• We completely removed the nav buttons you used to see hugging the left side of the Editor… and we sunsetted the docs sidebar

• Last saved time and author details are now found in the ellipses menu next to the Doc title

  

September 30, 2022

Enterprise API

FYI: Enterprise

We've added two new Enterprise API endpoints for CoWrite to support batch generating content! 

Check out our API docs here. 

September 23, 2022

Highlights

FYI: Team and Enterprise

Generate Highlights based on the content you're currently working on in the Editor! Select the Highlights button to instantly generate a package of meta description, social media posts, and summary-style highlights. Just wait a few seconds and your highlights will appear.

• Highlights is available for Team and Enterprise plans
• Words generated by Highlights count towards the overall words generated limits
• Highlights are available for content between 250 words and 2,000 words
• Highlights can be run on CoWrite-generated content or your own content

September 22, 2022

Rewrite in Chrome extension

FYI: All users

Something exciting has happened! ReWrite is now available on Chrome extension! You can now ReWrite anything and everything — okay, not everything... yet, but see the list of sites we support below and test it out.

• Articulate Rise
• Coda
• Confluence
• Dropbox Paper
• GatherContent
• Gmail
• Google Calendar
• Helpscout
• Jira
• LinkedIn
• Medium
• Notion
• Outlook online
• Outreach
• Slack web
• Tettra
• Twitter
• WordPress
• Zendesk

Learn more on how to use ReWrite here. 

September 15, 2022

Snippets / Terms improvements

• Launched UI/UX improvements to the Snippets card in the Snippets tab. This includes showing the entire Snippet w/scroll, showing only Description in the overflow “more” dropdown, and showing tags 
• Added filtering by tags on Snippets and Terms pages in the Writer app 
• You can now insert a snippet via shortcut in the Editor

August 2, 2022

Public launch of CoWrite

• Writer's room blog
• Product page
• Help center article