Notes AI Writing Assistant

A conversational AI assistant built into the Notes editor. Generate content, reorganize your notes, improve your writing, translate, and more — all without leaving the editor.

Opening the AI Panel

Keyboard Shortcut

Press ⌘/Ctrl + J to toggle the AI panel open and closed.

Floating Bubble

Click the AI bubble at the bottom-center of the editor. It pulses gently to remind you AI is available.

Expand to full-screen with the expand button
Collapse back to the compact panel
Start a new conversation at any time

Quick-Action Templates

When the AI panel is empty, you'll see these template buttons. Click one to get started quickly:

Write Essay

Conversational

AI asks clarifying questions about topic, tone, and length before drafting.

Meeting Recap

Conversational

AI gathers meeting details (attendees, topics, decisions) then generates a structured recap.

Organize Notes

Direct action

Restructures your existing content with clear headings, bullet points, and logical grouping.

Brainstorm Ideas

Conversational

AI asks about the topic, then generates a list of creative ideas and angles.

Expand Section

Direct action

Takes selected text or the current section and elaborates with more detail and examples.

Improve Writing

Direct action

Fixes grammar, improves clarity and tone while preserving the original meaning.

Translate

Conversational

AI asks for the target language, then translates your content. Appends the translation below.

Extract Actions

Direct action

Scans your notes and extracts all action items, tasks, and follow-ups into a checklist.

Two Workflow Modes

Conversational

AI asks clarifying questions before generating. Used for open-ended tasks like writing essays, brainstorming, or translating.

You have a back-and-forth chat; AI generates when it has enough context.

Direct Action

AI reads your document context and acts immediately. Used for organizing notes, improving writing, expanding sections, and extracting action items.

Results are applied directly to your editor with highlighted changes.

How AI Understands Your Document

Selected Text

If you have text selected in the editor, AI uses only the selection as context. Perfect for targeted improvements.

Cursor Section

When no text is selected, AI detects which heading section your cursor is in and can edit just that section without affecting the rest of the document.

Full Document

For document-wide operations (like organize or extract actions), AI reads the entire document content and any heading structure.

Direct Edits with Highlighting

When AI makes direct edits (e.g., improving writing or organizing notes), the changes are applied directly to your editor with a temporary highlight so you can see exactly what changed.

Replace selection

Replaces your highlighted text with the AI's version

Replace section

Rewrites the heading section where your cursor is

Insert after cursor

Adds new content right after your current position

Append to document

Adds content at the end (used for translations)

Chat Responses & Actions

When AI responds in chat mode (e.g., after a conversational template), each message includes action buttons:

Insert

At cursor position

Replace

Selected text

Append

End of document

Copy

To clipboard

Voice Dictation

Click the microphone button next to the input field to start voice dictation. Speak naturally and your words appear in the input box. Click again to stop.

  • Language follows your locale preference automatically
  • Interim transcript shows in real-time as you speak
  • Pulsing red indicator shows when recording is active
  • Requires browser support for the Web Speech API

Tips for Effective Prompts

Do

  • Be specific: "Expand this section with two examples"
  • Select text first for targeted edits
  • Use templates as starting points, then refine with follow-ups
  • Mention tone: "Make this more formal" or "Keep it casual"

Avoid

  • Vague requests like "make it better" without context
  • Extremely long instructions in a single message
  • Asking AI to generate entire documents at once — iterate section by section instead