Using WRITER for Chrome

Our WRITER for Chrome extension unlocks the full power of generative AI – no matter where you're working. Whether you're getting feedback on your writing in real time, generating content on the fly, or asking questions of your most trusted sources at a moment's notice, WRITER for Chrome is accessible right from your toolbar.

What’s in this article:

• Installation
• Configuring your extension settings
• Receiving suggestions on your content
• Insert snippets into your content
• Use commands to generate content anywhere
• Managing allowed domains
• FAQs

Installation

Select Add extension. 

Configuring your extension settings

Select the ⚙️ gear icon to open up the Settings menu.

If you are on an Enterprise plan and belong to multiple teams, you can select your team from the Team dropdown menu. (You won’t see the Team dropdown on the Team or Free plan, or if you only belong to one team on Enterprise.)

By default, WRITER will be activated on every site where there are text input fields. If you don't want WRITER checking content on a site, or want to pause checking for a while, simply toggle the Enable suggestions switch off for that site. Note: This will make the change for yourself only and not for every member of your team.

The WRITER extension has a black square tab that hovers on any website for easy extension access. You can drag and drop the WRITER tab location. You also have the ability to toggle the black square Writer tab on and off. Under the Settings, toggle Show WRITER tab on or off. You can also toggle Show WRITER tab on or off for a specific website.

Receiving suggestions on your content

WRITER offers real-time suggestions about how to improve your written content, to keep your writing accurate, compliant, and on-brand. WRITER will underline errors or issues in your work. Some of those will be from WRITER (categories like grammar, spelling, punctuation, clarity) and others from your company’s settings in WRITER. Learn more about the different types of suggestions here.

The extension will generally appear on multi-line text fields such as body text (and not on single-line text fields like subject lines or titles).

You’ll get quick corrections in-line, meaning you can hover and immediately accept a replacement suggestion. 

Each card gives the error and a suggested fix. To replace your text with the correction, select the green highlighted replacement. WRITER will apply the correction to the body of your text. You can also delete the suggestion or add the term to your term bank directly from the card.

You can refresh the score by clicking on the circular score icon:

Using Ask WRITER to generate content

You can use Ask WRITER to do anything from drafting emails, analyzing spreadsheets, summarizing PDFs into neat paragraphs, and more. Learn more about using Ask WRITER here.

In the bottom left corner, switch between General, Document, and Knowledge Graph modes.

In the bottom right corner, you can switch between sessions. You can select New or the + button to create a new session.

When your output is just right, select Copy text. Then, paste your output directly into the document you're working on.

Insert snippets into your content

Snippets are reusable pieces of text that you can create in WRITER and insert wherever you’re writing. Learn more about creating snippets here.

With the sidebar extended, select Snippets to reveal your library of presaved text. Click on a snippet to copy it to your clipboard, then paste it directly into your workspace.

Use commands to generate content anywhere

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 wherever you're working using our new commands feature. Learn more about commands here.

To open the commands widget, select the ✨ sparkle icon located next to the WRITER W logo or content score. When selected, the commands menu will appear in the top right corner of the screen.

To generate content, simply type in any kind of command and select enter, like:

• 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 user forgets to upload the document to the submission form
• Compose a subject line for an email to a prospect client about why they should refinance their mortgage this month

Feeling stuck? Browse our Starter ideas menu for suggestions!

Can't remember what prompt you used before? Review the Recent prompts menu.

If your cursor is currently selecting a text field, WRITER will display an Insert button. Selecting this button will add the generated content directly where you're working. Otherwise, you can select the Copy icon to copy the output to your clipboard.

If the output isn't quite right, select Regenerate and WRITER will take another try at your prompt. You can review up to 25 previous versions of your prompt's output by selecting the <- or -> arrows at the bottom of the commands widget.

You can also select some or all of your output and select the Rewrite menu to simplify, shorten, polish, and more. (Read more about rewriting here.)

Managing Chrome extension domains in Security

You can control org-wide settings for the WRITER Chrome extension in Admin > Security.

First, decide whether you'd like to trigger WRITER Chrome extension on all websites, or whether you'd like to apply a set of rules to govern whether WRITER should check content.

If you select Always enable WRITER on all websites, no further configuration is needed. You're done!

Configuring default preferences

If you want to apply rules, start by selecting your default preference:

• Don't check content - WRITER Chrome extension will not be triggered unless a domain exception is configured below.
• Always check content - WRITER Chrome extension will always be triggered unless a domain exception is configured below.
• Check content only if user opts in - We will display a popup when a page is opened, and WRITER Chrome extension will only check content if the user selects Check now:

Creating rules for specific URLs

Let WRITER Chrome extension know whether to check content on specific websites. We will prioritize these rules over your default preference. If two rules conflict with each other, we will prioritize the rule listed first.

You can add rules for domains (https://writer.com), subdomains (https://support.writer.com/), or specific pages (https://support.writer.com/article/68-managing-allowed-domains-for-writer-for-chrome).

Using wildcards

Need to create a rule for URLs which might contain variables? We support the following wildcard rules:

• Individual pages: www.acme.com/faq.html
• Entire site: www.acme.com/*
• Parts of a site: www.acme.com/faq/*
• Entire domain: *.acme.com

FAQs

Q: I have the extension, but I don’t see any underlines.

If you are signed in to the Chrome extension, have enabled suggestions on the page, are editing a text area, and still don’t see the WRITER score or any underlined suggestions, try doing a hard refresh of your web page.

• Windows users: Hold down Ctrl and then press F5 on your keyboard
• Mac users: Hold down Cmd and Shift and then press R on your keyboard

Q: My score is still not 100, but I don’t have any underlines.

You may have other issues with your text — select the score to open by the sidebar for additional issue cards for your review.

Q: Which sites does the WRITER extension work on?

We support the following websites:

• Anypoint (anypoint.mulesoft.com)
• Articulate Rise (rise.articulate.com)
• Asana (asana.com)
• Canva (canva.com)
• Coda (coda.io)
• Confluence (atlassian.net)
• Dropbox Paper (paper.dropbox.com)
• GatherContent (gathercontent.com)
• Gmail (mail.google.com)
• Google Calendar (calendar.google.com)
• Google Docs (docs.google.com) BETA
• Helpscout (helpscout.com)
• HubSpot (hubspot.com)
• Jira (atlassian.net)
• Lighthouse (lighthouse-cloud.com)
• LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
• Medium (medium.com)
• Mural (app.mural.co)
• Notion (notion.so)
• Outlook online (mail.live.com)
• Outreach (outreach.io)
• Pipedrive (pipedrive.com)
• ReadMe (dash.readme.io)
• Salesforce (salesforce.com)
• Slack web (app.slack.com)
• Squarespace (squarespace.com)
• Tettra (tettra.com)
• Twitter (twitter.com)
• WordPress block editor (wordpress.com)
• WordPress classic editor (wordpress.com)
• Zendesk (zendesk.com)

WRITER will also function on many other websites, but please keep in mind that functionality may be limited. If you have questions or would like to request a site not listed, please email us at support@writer.com.

Q: Can I control whether the Chrome extension is triggered on a specific website?

Yes! See our article Managing allowed domains for WRITER Chrome extension.

Q: If I configure user opt-in, will a popup appear every time the user opens a document?

If the user selects X on the popup, we won't show it again the next time the document is opened.

If the user selects Check now on the document, we won't show it again next time – we'll just automatically check the document.

If the user selects Don't check, we won't show it again next time – we won't check the document.

Q: If a user selected Don't check on a document but then wants to check it, how can they do this?

Select the WRITER extension icon next to the Chrome toolbar. The user can trigger WRITER using the toggle.