Transforms
Spoken phrases with date and clipboard placeholders, and Transform Selection from the menu bar.
Transforms come in two kinds. Phrases insert text you've saved when you say a trigger. Transform Selection rewrites text you've already selected. Both are listed on the Transforms page in the Mouthtype window.
Phrases
A phrase is something you say plus the exact text Mouthtype types instead. For example, say "my work email" and get your email address, alone or inside a sentence.
- Choose New transform.
- Fill in When you say (the trigger) and Type instead (the text to insert).
- Press Command+Return to save, or Esc to cancel.
Matching ignores capitalization, uses whole phrases, and picks the longest match. Duplicate triggers are rejected. The library starts empty and lives in ~/Library/Application Support/Mouthtype/phrases.json.
Each row shows its trigger, a one-line preview and a tag: TEXT, n LINES, CLIPBOARD or DATE.
Placeholders
Two buttons in the sheet add placeholders to the text.
| Button | Adds | Becomes |
|---|---|---|
| + Date | {date} | The date when you dictate. |
| + Clipboard | {clipboard} | Whatever you last copied. |
So "Meeting notes for {date}" or "Re: {clipboard}" both work.
If the file is malformed, Mouthtype keeps using the last good library and you have to repair the file before editing.
Transform Selection
Select text in an editable field that supports Accessibility, then choose Transform Selection in the menu bar. The items are disabled when nothing is selected or Accessibility isn't granted.
| Item | Model |
|---|---|
| Clean up | None. Basic cleanup with the tone for the app you're in. |
| Fix grammar | Thorough |
| Make shorter | Thorough |
| More formal | Thorough |
| More casual | Thorough |
Edit Transforms… opens the Transforms page.
A small panel appears over your app without taking focus. It shows your original with removed words struck through, and a result with added or changed characters highlighted. You can edit the result. The panel names the app the text came from.
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Accept | Asks the app to replace your selection. The app, field, selection range and text all have to still match. Password fields and secure input are excluded. |
| Copy result | Becomes the main button when the selection changed or the app refuses the write, and an amber notice says why. |
| Retry | Reruns an AI transform. |
| Cancel | Drops it. |
Nothing pastes automatically.
Note
After Accept, press Command+Z in the original app to undo, or use Copy original. Whether the undo restores the text depends on the app.
The AI transforms run on the Thorough model on your Mac, with one fixed instruction each and no free-form prompt. Limits:
- Without the Thorough model downloaded, they're disabled and a note says why. Download it in Settings.
- The limit is 16,000 characters.
- The text stays in memory until the panel closes and never goes into your history.
Warning
An accepted replacement is a request through Accessibility, not proof the text landed, so check the field.
Related
- Cleanup and Style covers the Thorough model download.
- Dictionary for saved spellings.