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Summarize selection ​

Summarize Selection turns a long text into its gist. Select an article, a long email or a report in any app, trigger it, and the translation window opens in summary mode with a summary written as you watch. Pick one sentence, a short paragraph or a list of key points, in the text's own language or in yours.

ScreenshotThe translation window in summary mode

Screenshot coming soon.

Select a few paragraphs of an English article, run Summarize Selection with Key Points chosen, and capture the window with the summary bar and the finished Summary card. Suggested file: summarize.png.

What you need first ​

  1. The Accessibility permission, so TransOne can read the text you selected in another app. See Permissions.
  2. An AI engine. Only AI models can summarize; the machine-translation engines (DeepL, Google Translate and so on) and the Custom API cannot. Local models in Ollama or LM Studio work too. See Translation engines.

Run it ​

Summarize Selection ships with no keyboard shortcut. There are three ways to start it:

  • Selection actions: select text, press ⌥W and choose Summarize (or press 3). See Selection actions.
  • The menu: click the TransOne icon in the menu bar and choose Summarize Selection.
  • Your own shortcut: record one on the Summarize Selection row in Settings ▸ Shortcuts. See Keyboard shortcuts.

Then:

  1. Select the text you want summarized, in any app.
  2. Start Summarize Selection.
  3. The translation window opens and the summary streams into a single Summary card. Copy it or have it read aloud from the card's buttons.

If nothing is selected, the window opens empty in summary mode. Paste or type the text, then press Return.

Summary mode ​

Summary mode is the same translation window with a few differences:

  • In place of the language bar there is a summary bar. On the left, a language pill chooses the summary's language; on the right, three buttons choose its format.
  • Changing either one writes a new summary straight away. These choices apply to this summary only; your defaults stay as they are in settings.
  • The result is one Summary card from one engine. There is no list of other engines and no dictionary or encyclopedia card.
  • The toolbar keeps Pin, Favorite, History and Settings. The view mode and screenshot buttons are hidden.
  • Return in the input box summarizes again; ⇧Return adds a line break.

Language and format ​

Summary language is one of:

  • Source Language (the default): the summary is written in the same language as the text. If the language cannot be detected, it falls back to your first language.
  • First Language: the summary is written in your first language, which makes it a quick way to get the gist of something written in a language you read slowly.

Format is one of:

FormatWhat you get
One SentenceOne sentence with the main takeaway.
Paragraph (default)One short paragraph of three to five sentences.
Key PointsThree to seven key points, one per line.

Each format has a firm length limit, and a summary is never longer than the text it summarizes. The result is plain text; key points start with a bullet (•).

Settings ​

Open Preferences from the menu bar icon and go to Settings ▸ Translation Settings. The Summary section sits right after the Polish section.

  • Summary Language: Source Language (default) or First Language.
  • Format: One Sentence, Paragraph (default) or Key Points.
  • Engine: which AI engine writes the summary. Engines that cannot summarize are shown but greyed out. If the engine you chose is turned off, TransOne uses your first enabled AI engine and says so under the menu.
  • Use a custom prompt: off by default. Turn it on to write your own instruction (see below).

Writing a custom prompt ​

With Use a custom prompt on, a Custom Prompt field appears. What you write there replaces the instruction for how the text is summarized, for example "Focus on the decisions and the next steps" or "Explain it for a beginner".

  • The language and format you chose still apply, so you do not need to repeat them.
  • Insert the {language} variable where you want the summary's language named. Click its tag above the field to insert it.
  • Preview shows your prompt with the variable filled in, using English as a sample language.
  • Turning the toggle off keeps your text, so you can switch back to it later.

Good to know ​

  • Text longer than 20,000 characters is not summarized. The card says how long the text is and asks you to shorten the selection. Nothing is cut off silently.
  • Successful summaries are saved to History, where you can star, copy, read aloud and export them.
  • Summaries do not count towards Statistics, which only compares translations.
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