Learn tabi’s shortcuts, in under a minute
It all starts with fn.
By Nikhil Bhima, founder of tabi
The shortcuts film, 49 seconds. Best with sound.
tabi lives on one key. Hold fn, talk, let go, and your words are typed wherever your cursor is, in any app on your Mac.
This week, Ask moved onto fn too, so everything you say to tabi now starts from the same key. Here are all the shortcuts in one place.
- Dictate
- holdfn
- Hands free
- fnfnorfnspaceorfnshift
- Ask
- holdfncontrol
- Ask, hands free
- fncontrolspaceorfncontrolshift
- Cancel
- esc
- Read aloud
- controlcommandR
Hold fn to dictate
Hold fn and talk. Let go, and tabi types what you said at your cursor, cleaned up, without the “ums”.
Your Mac’s own fn shortcuts still work. Press another key in the first second, like an arrow or an F key, and tabi stays out of the way.
Tap fn twice for hands free
For anything longer than a sentence, tap fn twice and take your hands off the keyboard. Talk, pause, think, keep going. Tap fn once when you’re done.
If your fingers already know another way, hold fn and press Space, or hold fn and press Shift. Both do the same.
Hold fn and Control to ask
Hold fn and Control, say what you want, and let go. Ask a question and the answer is typed at your cursor. Select some text first and tabi works on it: “make this shorter”, “turn this into a list”, “reply and say Thursday works”.
It works in any language you speak. There’s more in Ask’s own post.
Add Space or Shift to ask hands free
For a longer ask, hold fn and Control, press Space or Shift, then let go of everything. Talk it through, and tap fn once when you’re done.
Press esc to cancel
Changed your mind halfway? Press esc and nothing is typed. If that was a slip, you have five seconds to undo it.
Read anything aloud
Select text in any app and press Control, Command and R. tabi reads it out in a real voice. Press the same keys again to stop.
On a keyboard not made by Apple
Most other keyboards keep fn to themselves, so your Mac never hears it. In Settings, under Keys and shortcuts, pick right Option or right Command as a second hold key. It works just like fn: hold to talk, tap twice for hands free, add Control to ask.
That’s every shortcut. tabi is free to download for your Mac.