Selection actions
Selection Actions is one shortcut for everything TransOne can do with text you have selected. Select something in any app, press ⌥W, and a small bar of five buttons floats just above your selection. Pick one and it runs on the text you selected.
It is the easiest way into the actions that ship without a shortcut of their own, such as Polish, Summarize and Speak. You only have to remember one key.
Screenshot coming soon.
Select a sentence in a document, press ⌥W, and capture the five-button bar sitting above the selection with Translate highlighted. Suggested file: selection-actions.png.
Use it
- Select some text in any app.
- Press ⌥W, or click the menu bar icon and choose Selection Actions.
- A bar appears above the selection. Click the action you want, or use the keyboard (see below).
If there is no room above the selection, the bar appears below it instead. If the app does not say where the selection is, the bar appears above the mouse pointer.
In apps that are slow to hand over their selection, the bar first shows a small spinner while it reads the text, then the buttons.
The five actions
The actions always appear in this order, each with a number key:
| Key | Action | What it does |
|---|---|---|
1 | Translate | Opens the translation window with the text translated, the same as Selection Translation. |
2 | Polish | Rewrites the text in the same language and pastes it back over your selection. See Polish selection. |
3 | Summarize | Opens the translation window in summary mode and writes a summary. See Summarize selection. |
4 | Speak | Reads the text aloud. See Read aloud. |
5 | Copy | Copies the text exactly as you selected it, and shows "Copied". |
The set of actions is fixed. You cannot add, remove or reorder them.
Keyboard control
You never have to touch the mouse:
- Translate is highlighted when the bar appears, so ⌥W then Return is the same as selection translation.
←and→(or Tab and ⇧Tab) move the highlight; Return runs the highlighted action.- Press
1to5to run an action directly. - Esc closes the bar.
Hover over a button and, after a moment, a tooltip names the action and its key, for example "Translate · 1".
When the bar closes
The bar stays until you act or move on. It closes when you:
- pick an action;
- press Esc, or press ⌥W again;
- click anywhere else, or switch to another app.
There is no timeout. If you press another selection shortcut while the bar is up, such as ⌥D, the bar closes and that action runs instead.
Good to know
- It needs the Accessibility permission, like every action that reads your selection in another app. The first time, TransOne shows the guide card for it. See Permissions.
- If nothing is selected, no bar appears. A short message reads "Select text first".
- Polish and Summarize need an AI engine. Without one, they still appear in the bar but tell you to turn an AI engine on in Translation Services.
- After the free trial, Speak and Copy keep working. Translate, Polish and Summarize show the upgrade card until you unlock the app.
Change the shortcut
⌥W is the default. To change or clear it, open Settings ▸ Shortcuts and use the Selection Actions row, the third one in the list. See Keyboard shortcuts.