Compose

Hold F6, say what you want, and release the key. Compose works like push-to-talk: it listens only while you hold the key, including in hands-free mode.

Compose needs an active trial or plan, the same as dictation. Formerly called Command Mode.

Select the text you want changed, then hold F6 and say how to change it. Compose rewrites only the text you selected and leaves the rest of your document alone.

For one-step translation, use the Translate key.

If you ask for a change with nothing selected, Compose shows “Select the text you want changed” and writes nothing.

With nothing selected, say what to write. Compose drafts it and inserts it where your cursor is.

Nothing is written into your app until you say so. When you release the key, a panel shows your instruction and the result, labelled Drafted, Replied or Rewrote selection.

• Insert (Enter) puts the result into your app. A rewrite replaces your selection; a draft or reply goes in at the cursor without replacing what you selected.
• Copy puts the result on your clipboard and leaves your document untouched.
• Close (Esc) discards the result.

Compose signs emails and letter-like replies with your name. By default that's your account name; change it or clear it entirely in Settings → Behaviour → Name for sign-offs. It never appears in chat messages or in edits to text you selected — otherwise, it's used in drafts and replies that read like an email or a letter, or any time you ask for one, such as saying “sign it from me”.

Compose can also use your saved snippets. When what you say matches one by meaning — “send them my calendar link” — it copies the snippet in word for word, never rewording it. In the snippet editor, a “Don't use in Compose” toggle keeps any snippet out of Compose entirely, and snippets that look like a card number, bank details or a one-time code are left out automatically, whether or not you've toggled them.

Results follow the style and formatting of the app you're writing in — casual and unformatted in Slack, a proper greeting and sign-off in Outlook, and so on. On macOS with On-screen reading turned on, mail sites you use in a browser, such as Gmail or Outlook Web, are treated as email too.

After a result comes back, click Formal, Casual, or Fun to get the same content rewritten in that tone, up to the panel's 5-version limit.

A reply or an edit keeps the language and script of the text it's responding to, so a Hindi thread gets a Hindi reply and a romanised chat gets a romanised one — unless you name a language yourself, such as “reply in Hindi”, which overrides that default. Naming a language keeps applying to every later Rewrite, Regenerate and tone click in the same panel, until you name a different language, which then takes over in its place.

• Compose doesn't work in password fields.
• Other audio is muted while you hold the Compose key only if Mute other audio is on in Settings, the same as for dictation.
• LotusQ no longer uses Screen Recording. You can switch it off in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording.
• What Compose sends and what LotusQ keeps is described in the privacy policy.