Ask anything, with fn and Control
New in tabi: hold two keys, say what you want, and let go.
By Nikhil Bhima, founder of tabi
The Ask film, 43 seconds. Best with sound.
Until this week, you asked tabi for something by starting with “Hey tabi”. Then a user in Poland told me it only worked in English. Said in Polish, “Hej, Tabi” was typed out as words.
So I moved Ask onto the keyboard. Hold fn and Control, say what you want in any language, and let go. Here’s what it can do.
Ask anything
If nothing is selected, the answer is typed where your cursor is. Ask “how do I say see you Thursday in French” and “À jeudi” lands in your note. Ask for a thank-you note to your team, and it’s written in your email.
With nowhere to type, the answer waits in a small box on screen, with Copy.
Rewrite what you select
Select some text, hold the keys and say what to change: “make it shorter”, “turn this into a list”, “translate this to Spanish”. The new version replaces your selection.
“So basically the thing is that the release is going to be a bit late because the PDF part needs more testing” became “The release will be late because the PDF part needs more testing.”
A rewrite keeps its own language. Ask in French to tidy an English email, and it stays in English.
Reply without typing
Click in the reply box of a chat or an email, hold the keys and say what you want to answer. tabi reads the conversation and writes the reply for you. To “Are we still on for the demo on Friday?”, saying “say yes and ask her to send the link” wrote “Yes, can you send the link?”
Ask about what’s on screen
Select something you don’t understand, like a clause in a contract, and ask “what does this mean?”. The answer shows in a small box, in plain words, and your text stays as it was.
In any language
Ask in Polish, Hindi, Japanese or any language you speak, and tabi answers in it. A birthday wish for Ania, asked in Polish, came back “Wszystkiego najlepszego, Aniu! Sto lat!”
Hands free, for longer asks
For a long ask, hold fn and Control, press Space or Shift, and let go of everything. Talk it through, then tap fn once. Every shortcut is in Learn tabi’s shortcuts.
Answers are written by Mistral Medium, the same model that tidies your dictation. It’s in the latest tabi for your Mac.