Windows v6 | 🆕 macOS v1.0 (Stable!)

Release notes for the Windows version (v6):

This is a pretty huge and exciting update :D

1. Improvements to the Summary/Key Points/Table/Chat window — you can now:

• Chat with the summary! You can for more details on particular parts, or ask it to explain things. The chat history is preserved until you close the window.
• Copy the response as markdown.
• I also added a sweet tiny "Thinking..." animation haha.

2. Gemini 2.0 Flash is now the default model. It's more intelligent than GPT 4o and Gemini 1.5 Pro!

3. The Writing Tools Chat Mode (when you invoke Writing Tools without selecting any text) now shows its response in a proper Chat window. So you can now have a quick chat with an LLM with one click, anywhere.

New.Chat.Mode.Demo.mp4

4. There's now an automatic check for updates feature, which checks for a new version by pinging a file in this repo on the initial Writing Tools launch. It'll never annoy you with any pop-up notice or notification — just a small message on the Writing Tools pop-up itself :)

5. Thanks to @ErrorCatDev for significantly improving the About window, making it scrollable and cleaning things up! I've also increased the height (to 720px, the max of a 720p display) to better showcase our awesome contributors :D

6. There's now a Start on Boot toggle in Settings. Thanks to @Vadim-Karpenko for helping implement it!

7. There's now an automatic self-quitting function should Writing Tools ever detect itself malfunctioning (there was a rare bug on waking the PC from sleep that caused Writing Tools to keep spam detecting its hotkey until it was restarted).

8. Misc improvements: Updated dependencies; added an Ollama instructions button to Settings; larger default zoom for the Summary window; some UX improvements.

9. The Settings window has been improved with a scrollbar and smart window height (based on the monitor’s height), solving an issue where it spanned past the border of smaller screens.

10. Slight digression: I added Tips to the README! It has instructions on YouTube summaries & improving compatibility with MS Word.

11. And guess what? Writing Tools is now HALF⚡ its previous size thanks to build optimizations! :D So it'll launch faster and use less RAM.

Upcoming features:

• Editable buttons! (you'll be able to re-arrange buttons, create your own, and edit their prompts).
• More of the feature suggestions in the Issues page.

⬆️ Update Instructions:

Delete your old Writing Tools folder and download the new one (the config file format has changed).

🐞 Known Issues

1. On some devices, Writing Tools may not work correctly with the default hotkey.
   To fix it, simply change the hotkey to ctrl+` or ctrl+j and restart Writing Tools.
   PS: If a hotkey is already in use by a program or background process, Writing Tools may not be able to intercept it. The above hotkeys are usually unused.

2. The initial launch of the Writing Tools.exe might take unusually long — this seems to be because AV software extensively scans this new executable before letting it run. Once it launches into the background in RAM, it works instantly as usual.

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🆕 Release notes for the native macOS version by @Aryamirsepasi (🎉 v1.0 - Stable!):

• Replaced the custom keyboard shortcut recorder with the amazing package developed by @sindresorhus. This is very stable and is the same package that the ChatGPT app for macOS uses.
• Added a Glassmorphic design option in settings for those that enjoy it and want something more in line with Apple design language.
• Fixed a bug where the pop-up wouldn't close when opening the response window. Thanks to @Joaov41 for finding and fixing this.
• Improvements to response window design and chat bubbles.
• Added check for updates, similar to the Windows version.

Note: macOS 14 or later is required to run Writing Tools (due to accessibility API requirements).

Upcoming features:

• Localisation of the buttons for some languages.
• Support for Mistral API (EU users may like this as Mistral won't send any data outside of the EU due to regulations).
• Text streaming in the Response Window.
• Bug fixes (always :D).

Windows v6 | 🆕 macOS Beta 5

Release notes for the Windows version (v6):

This is a pretty huge and exciting update :D

1. Improvements to the Summary/Key Points/Table/Chat window — you can now:

• Chat with the summary! You can for more details on particular parts, or ask it to explain things. The chat history is preserved until you close the window.
• Copy the response as markdown.
• I also added a sweet tiny "Thinking..." animation haha.

2. Gemini 2.0 Flash is now the default model. It's more intelligent than GPT 4o and Gemini 1.5 Pro!

3. The Writing Tools Chat Mode (when you invoke Writing Tools without selecting any text) now shows its response in a proper Chat window. So you can now have a quick chat with an LLM with one click, anywhere.

New.Chat.Mode.Demo.mp4

4. There's now an automatic check for updates feature, which checks for a new version by pinging a file in this repo on the initial Writing Tools launch. It'll never annoy you with any pop-up notice or notification — just a small message on the Writing Tools pop-up itself :)

5. Thanks to @ErrorCatDev for significantly improving the About window, making it scrollable and cleaning things up! I've also increased the height (to 720px, the max of a 720p display) to better showcase our awesome contributors :D

6. There's now a Start on Boot toggle in Settings. Thanks to @Vadim-Karpenko for helping implement it!

7. There's now an automatic self-quitting function should Writing Tools ever detect itself malfunctioning (there was a rare bug on waking the PC from sleep that caused Writing Tools to keep spam detecting its hotkey until it was restarted).

8. Misc improvements: Updated dependencies; added an Ollama instructions button to Settings; larger default zoom for the Summary window; some UX improvements.

9. The Settings window has been improved with a scrollbar and smart window height (based on the monitor’s height), solving an issue where it spanned past the border of smaller screens.

10. Slight digression: I added Tips to the README! It has instructions on YouTube summaries & improving compatibility with MS Word.

11. And guess what? Writing Tools is now HALF⚡ its previous size thanks to build optimizations! :D So it'll launch faster and use less RAM.

Upcoming features:

• Editable buttons! (you'll be able to re-arrange buttons, create your own, and edit their prompts).
• More of the feature suggestions in the Issues page.

⬆️ Update Instructions:

Delete your old Writing Tools folder and download the new one (the config file format has changed).

🐞 Known Issues

1. On some devices, Writing Tools may not work correctly with the default hotkey.
   To fix it, simply change the hotkey to ctrl+` or ctrl+j and restart Writing Tools.
   PS: If a hotkey is already in use by a program or background process, Writing Tools may not be able to intercept it. The above hotkeys are usually unused.

2. The initial launch of the Writing Tools.exe might take unusually long — this seems to be because AV software extensively scans this new executable before letting it run. Once it launches into the background in RAM, it works instantly as usual.

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🆕🎉 Release notes for the native macOS version by @Aryamirsepasi (Beta 5):

• Improved onboarding window
• Resolved GitHub page issues
• Added custom instructions
• Implemented most Windows v6 features
• Updated project installation instructions

~All of the original Windows version's features are now available, and more optimizations and improvements are coming soon!

Note: macOS 14 or later is required to run Writing Tools (due to accessibility API requirements).

Upcoming features:

• Complete context menu implementation
• UI improvements
• A few remaining Windows v6 features

🆕🎉 Windows v6 | macOS Beta 4

🆕🎉 Release notes for the Windows version (v6):

This is a pretty huge and exciting update :D

1. Improvements to the Summary/Key Points/Table/Chat window — you can now:

• Chat with the summary! You can for more details on particular parts, or ask it to explain things. The chat history is preserved until you close the window.
• Copy the response as markdown.
• I also added a sweet tiny "Thinking..." animation haha.

2. Gemini 2.0 Flash is now the default model. It's more intelligent than GPT 4o and Gemini 1.5 Pro!

3. The Writing Tools Chat Mode (when you invoke Writing Tools without selecting any text) now shows its response in a proper Chat window. So you can now have a quick chat with an LLM with one click, anywhere.

New.Chat.Mode.Demo.mp4

4. There's now an automatic check for updates feature, which checks for a new version by pinging a file in this repo on the initial Writing Tools launch. It'll never annoy you with any pop-up notice or notification — just a small message on the Writing Tools pop-up itself :)

5. Thanks to @ErrorCatDev for significantly improving the About window, making it scrollable and cleaning things up! I've also increased the height (to 720px, the max of a 720p display) to better showcase our awesome contributors :D

6. There's now a Start on Boot toggle in Settings. Thanks to @Vadim-Karpenko for helping implement it!

7. There's now an automatic self-quitting function should Writing Tools ever detect itself malfunctioning (there was a rare bug on waking the PC from sleep that caused Writing Tools to keep spam detecting its hotkey until it was restarted).

8. Misc improvements: Updated dependencies; added an Ollama instructions button to Settings; larger default zoom for the Summary window; some UX improvements.

9. The Settings window has been improved with a scrollbar and smart window height (based on the monitor’s height), solving an issue where it spanned past the border of smaller sceeens.

10. Slight digression: I added Tips to the README! It has instructions on YouTube summaries & improving compatibility with MS Word.

11. And guess what? Writing Tools is now HALF⚡ its previous size thanks to build optimisations! :D So it'll launch faster and use less RAM.

Upcoming features:

• Editable buttons! (you'll be able to re-arrange buttons, create your own, and edit their prompts).
• More of the feature suggestions in the Issues page.

⬆️ Update Instructions:

Delete your old Writing Tools folder and download the new one (the config file format has changed).

🐞 Known Issues

1. On some devices, Writing Tools may not work correctly with the default hotkey.
   To fix it, simply change the hotkey to ctrl+` or ctrl+j and restart Writing Tools.
   PS: If a hotkey is already in use by a program or background process, Writing Tools may not be able to intercept it. The above hotkeys are usually unused.

2. The initial launch of the Writing Tools.exe might take unusually long — this seems to be because AV software extensively scans this new executable before letting it run. Once it launches into the background in RAM, it works instantly as usual.

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Release notes for the native macOS version by @Aryamirsepasi (Beta 4):

• Better UI
• Improved Menu Bar integration
• Better response window positioning
• Input window when no text is selected

All of the original port's features are now available; however, more optimizations and improvements are coming soon. 🎉

Note: macOS 15 or later is required to run Writing Tools (due to accessibility API requirements).

Upcoming features:

1. Chat mode with follow-up questions
2. Editable buttons!

Windows v5 | 🆕 macOS Beta 4

Release notes for the Windows version (v5):

1. Summarise, Key Points, and Table now have their own pop-up UI with Markdown rendering!

This is super useful to select all text on a website (ctrl+a) and get a summary that's super legible and formatted, with an extensively optimised system prompt for this purpose.

Tables can now be copied into MS Word :)

2. Gemini 1.5 Flash has been down for the last few days. I've swapped the model to Gemini 1.5 Flash 8B (which works), and also added a drop-down to switch between the different Gemini models.

3. The rounded corners are now prettier and anti-aliased, thanks to @raghavdhingra24

4. Writing Tools works reliably in MS Word on all PCs now, thanks to @arsaboo

5. System prompts have been further optimised, and the experimental response streaming check-box has been removed.

⬆️ Update Instructions:

Delete your old Writing Tools folder and download the new one (the config file format has changed).

🐞 Known Issues

1. (Potential fix being investigated) On some devices, Writing Tools does not work correctly with the default hotkey.
   To fix it, simply change the hotkey to ctrl+` or ctrl+j and restart Writing Tools.
   PS: If a hotkey is already in use by a program or background process, Writing Tools may not be able to intercept it. The above hotkeys are usually unused.

2. The initial launch of the Writing Tools.exe might take unusually long — this seems to be because AV software extensively scans this new executable before letting it run. Once it launches into the background in RAM, it works instantly as usual.

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🆕 Release notes for the native macOS version by @Aryamirsepasi (Beta 3):

• Better UI
• Improved Menu Bar integration
• Better response window positioning
• Input window when no text is selected

All of the original port's features are now available; however, more optimizations and improvements are coming soon. 🎉

Note: macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later is required to run Writing Tools (due to accessibility API requirements).

Windows v5 | 🆕 macOS Beta 3

Release notes for the Windows version (v5):

1. Summarise, Key Points, and Table now have their own pop-up UI with Markdown rendering!

This is super useful to select all text on a website (ctrl+a) and get a summary that's super legible and formatted, with an extensively optimised system prompt for this purpose.

Tables can now be copied into MS Word :)

2. Gemini 1.5 Flash has been down for the last few days. I've swapped the model to Gemini 1.5 Flash 8B (which works), and also added a drop-down to switch between the different Gemini models.

3. The rounded corners are now prettier and anti-aliased, thanks to @raghavdhingra24

4. Writing Tools works reliably in MS Word on all PCs now, thanks to @arsaboo

5. System prompts have been further optimised, and the experimental response streaming check-box has been removed.

⬆️ Update Instructions:

Delete your old Writing Tools folder and download the new one (the config file format has changed).

🐞 Known Issues

1. (Potential fix being investigated) On some devices, Writing Tools does not work correctly with the default hotkey.
   To fix it, simply change the hotkey to ctrl+` or ctrl+j and restart Writing Tools.
   PS: If a hotkey is already in use by a program or background process, Writing Tools may not be able to intercept it. The above hotkeys are usually unused.

2. The initial launch of the Writing Tools.exe might take unusually long — this seems to be because AV software extensively scans this new executable before letting it run. Once it launches into the background in RAM, it works instantly as usual.

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🆕 Release notes for the native macOS version by @Aryamirsepasi (Beta 3):

🎉 Working Features

• All of the tools, including the new response windows and the manual chat option.
• Gemini and OpenAI support.
• Initial Setup, Settings, and About pages.
• 🆕 The Gradient Theme (Dark Mode and Light Mode are supported).
• 🆕 Local LLM support.

⏳ Not Yet Available

• Opening the input window when no text is selected.
• More refined positioning logic for the popup window to follow the cursor correctly.

Note: macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later is required to run Writing Tools (due to accessibility API requirements).

⚡ New macOS version! | v5

💻 Release Notes for the Windows and Linux version (v5):

1. Summarise, Key Points, and Table now have their own pop-up UI with Markdown rendering!

This is super useful to select all text on a website (ctrl+a) and get a summary that's super legible and formatted, with an extensively optimised system prompt for this purpose.

Tables can now be copied into MS Word :)

2. Gemini 1.5 Flash has been down for the last few days. I've swapped the model to Gemini 1.5 Flash 8B (which works), and also added a drop-down to switch between the different Gemini models.

3. The rounded corners are now prettier and anti-aliased, thanks to @raghavdhingra24

4. Writing Tools works reliably in MS Word on all PCs now, thanks to @arsaboo

5. System prompts have been further optimised, and the experimental response streaming check-box has been removed.

⬆️ Update Instructions:

Delete your old Writing Tools folder and download the new one (the config file format has changed).

🐞 Known Issues

1. (Potential fix being investigated) On some devices, Writing Tools does not work correctly with the default hotkey.
   To fix it, simply change the hotkey to ctrl+` or ctrl+j and restart Writing Tools.
   PS: If a hotkey is already in use by a program or background process, Writing Tools may not be able to intercept it. The above hotkeys are usually unused.

2. The initial launch of the Writing Tools.exe might take unusually long — this seems to be because AV software extensively scans this new executable before letting it run. Once it launches into the background in RAM, it works instantly as usual.

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💻 Meet the new, native swift macOS version by @Aryamirsepasi (Beta 2): 🎉

Working Features

• All of the tools, including the new response windows and the manual chat option.
• Gemini and OpenAI Support.
• Initial Setup, Settings, and About pages.

Not Yet Available

• Local LLM Integration.
• The Gradient Theme (Dark Mode and Light Mode are supported).
• Opening the Input Window when no text is selected
• More refined positioning logic for the popup window to follow the cursor correctly.

Note: macOS 14 (Sonoma) or above is required to run Writing Tools (due to accessibility API requirements).

🌲Major Bug Fixes & Stability Improvements | v4

1. Writing Tools now supports Linux (run it from source), all thanks to @momokrono 's work making Writing Tools platform agnostic using the pynput library.

2. Fixed a bug where Writing Tools would stop recognising the hotkey after you lock & unlock your PC. Other bugs/wonkiness relating to the hotkey may also be fixed. This is also thanks to @momokrono 's migration to the stable pynput.

3. Fixed a bug where Writing Tools may not have worked in Microsoft Word due to a very quick sleep timer not working with Word's text system (Credit: @theJayTea ).

4. Improved the system prompts so that the model does not respond/answer the text in the prompt! (Credit: @theJayTea )

5. Fixed the Settings UI being slightly broken & too long, clipping out of smaller/lower resolution screens (Credit: @theJayTea ).

6. Fixed the Error pop-up not displaying when the LLM can't do what you requested with the text, with the internal error message replacing the text instead. (Credit: @theJayTea )

7. Fixed a new line being added after using Writing Tools. (Credit: @theJayTea )

6. Fixed an issue where Writing Tools would not quit if you closed it during onboarding (Credit: @momokrono ).

7. Fixed an issue where the Describe your change... text box may not automatically get focus on slower devices (Credit: @momokrono )

Thanks again to @momokrono's amazing work with the Linux port and keyboard library migration — they did a remarkable job :)

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⬆️ Update Instructions:

Simply replace your old Writing Tools folder with the new one!

🐞 Known Issues

1. (Potential fix being investigated) On some devices, Writing Tools does not work correctly with the default hotkey.
   To fix it, simply change the hotkey to ctrl+` or ctrl+j and restart Writing Tools.
   PS: If a hotkey is already in use by a program or background process, Writing Tools may not be able to intercept it. The above hotkeys are usually unused.

2. The initial launch of the Writing Tools.exe might take unusually long — this seems to be because AV software extensively scans this new executable before letting it run. Once it launches into the background in RAM, it works instantly as usual.

🥁 Local & Other Cloud LLM Support via OpenAI API, Chat Mode, and More! | v3

This is a colossal update!

1. 🎉 Writing Tools now supports local & other cloud LLMs! This is thanks to a huge refactor by @CameronRedmore 💛

It can now work with ANY OpenAI-Compatible API, giving you access to:

• Locally hosted LLMs (via Ollama, llama.cpp, KoboldCPP, TabbyAPI, vLLM, etc.)
• Other cloud LLMs that have OpenAI-compatible APIs (ChatGPT, Mistral AI, Anthropic, etc.)

This is exciting stuff!

The existing onboarding flow with the Gemini API is still an option, giving you easy access to a free cloud model that's still extremely intelligent.

2. 💬 There's a new chat mode when you invoke writing tools with no text selected!

(Credit: @CameronRedmore and @theJayTea )

3. 🚀 The Writing Tools options now work significantly faster due to optimisations! (Credit: @theJayTea )

4. 🧑🏼‍💻 You can now select code and ask Writing Tools to work on it (fix it, improve it, convert languages...) through Describe your change.... (Credit: @theJayTea )

5. 🐇 Streamed Responses (output starts showing up as soon as it's ready instead of all at once) is now an option, although it's highly experimental (credit: @CameronRedmore)

6. 🖌️ There's new on-boarding, Settings, and About UX! (Credit: @CameronRedmore and @theJayTea )

7. 🔧 Build Script improvements (Credit: @theJayTea )

This wouldn't be possible without @CameronRedmore's extensive work — thank you, truly, for being such an amazing contributor!

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⬆️ Update Instructions:

Delete and re-download Writing Tools, as the config file format has changed.

🐞 Known Issues

1. (Potential fix being investigated) On some devices, Writing Tools does not work correctly with the default hotkey.
   To fix it, simply change the hotkey to ctrl+` or ctrl+j and restart Writing Tools.
   PS: If a hotkey is already in use by a program or background process, Writing Tools may not be able to intercept it. The above hotkeys are usualy unused.

2. (Fix almost ready!) If you lock and unlock your PC, Writing Tools may not be able to detect your hotkey unless you relaunch it.

3. (Fix almost ready!) Writing Tools may not work in Microsoft Word.

4. The initial launch of the Writing Tools.exe might take unusually long — this seems to be because AV software extensively scans this new executable before letting it run. Once it launches into the background in RAM, it works instantly as usual.

🎉 Windows Native Theme, Dark Mode, and More! | v2

This is a pretty major update! :D

Improvements:

• 🌟 You can now choose between a Blurry Gradient Theme and Plain Theme that's similar to the native Windows + V pop-up! (Credit to Disneyhockey40 for the plain theme)

• 🌟 Implemented full Dark Mode support for both themes (Credit: Disneyhockey40 for the plain theme)

• Popup window now auto-dismisses if you click away from it!

• Enhanced onboarding process with clearer UI and smoother flow

• Various minor UI improvements (Credit: Disneyhockey40 and I)

About window:

• Added "Check for updates" button
• Added contributor credit
• Improved UI (Credit: Disneyhockey40 and I)

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed tray icon dark mode readability and added tooltip (Credit: Disneyhockey40)
• Fixed Writing Tools icon not showing in all its windows (Credit: Disneyhockey40 and I)
• Writing Tools now handles being closed before onboarding completes

Thanks again to Disneyhockey40 for all their contributions! :D

Note:

The initial launch of the Writing Tools.exe might take unusually long — this seems to be because AV software extensively scans this new executable before letting it run. Once it launches into the background in RAM, it works instantly as usual.

Fixed the AV false positives! | v1.5

I now compile Writing Tools with PyInstaller, which fixes the AV false positives from the previous Nuitka compiler.

Nuitka minifies and obfuscates the code to make it smaller in size, but this results in a known issue of AVs finding it suspicious.

Well, we don't have to worry about that anymore :3