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Rewrite selected text with Orb Commands

Rewrite selected text · normal Fn gesture · verified Undo

Orb Commands edit text that is already written. Select editable text, use the same Fn gesture you use for dictation, and begin your spoken instruction with “Orb.” There is no second shortcut.

Rewrite selected text

  1. Select the exact text to change

    Make the selection before you start listening. Listen Orb keeps only the field and selection-range metadata until it recognizes an explicit Orb instruction. Password and other secure fields are never read.

  2. Hold Fn and say what you want

    Try “Orb, make this more professional,” “Orb, turn this into bullet points,” “Orb, fix the numbering,” “Orb, shorten this,” or “Orb, translate this into Spanish.” Ordinary speech remains ordinary dictation, even while text is selected.

  3. Wait for the verified replacement

    Listen Orb replaces the selection only if the app, field, range, document length, and original text still match. Orb Commands edit plain text; rich-text styling is not preserved or created.

  4. Undo if needed

    Say “Orb, undo” within two minutes, or choose Undo Last Orb Command from the menu bar. Undo runs only while the same field still contains the exact replacement.

Turn Orb Commands on or off

Orb Commands are on by default. Open the Listen Orb menu bar extra, then choose Settings → Orb Commands to remove or restore the checkmark. The choice is saved for future launches.

When Orb Commands are off, Listen Orb does not capture selection metadata for this feature, an “Orb…” phrase is handled as ordinary dictation, and any temporary Orb Undo receipt is cleared. No Orb Command or live prefix-probe request is made, and selected text is not sent through the Orb Command path. Ordinary dictation still follows your separate Polish setting; Contextual polish has its own context rules.

Why the capsule can turn violet before you release Fn

GPT Live Transcribe can report words while you are speaking. When you use standard transcription and selected text or a temporary Undo makes an Orb Command possible, Listen Orb sends at most the first two seconds of microphone audio to a separate live session. The probe only reports whether the opening word was “Orb.” It receives no selected text and cannot supply the editing instruction. Once it reports “Orb” on an eligible turn, Listen Orb commits that turn to Orb Command mode. The final transcript remains the sole source of the instruction even if the standard model drops the opening “Orb.” An empty or invalid instruction fails as an Orb Command instead of being inserted as ordinary dictation. If the live detector misses, a final transcript beginning with “Orb” can still invoke the command.

The probe's audio and partial text are not saved or logged. The brief duplicate audio processing uses your OpenAI API key and may add OpenAI usage. It does not run for ordinary turns without a selection or Undo, when GPT Live Transcribe is already your main model, or while Orb Commands are off.

Selection size and privacy

A command can process up to 32,000 UTF-16 units of selected text, enough for most emails and many longer documents. If the selection is larger,Listen Orb leaves it unchanged and explains that you should select a smaller section. It never silently truncates the selection.

After the explicit invocation, the spoken instruction and selected text go directly to the OpenAI Responses API using your API key, with storage disabled for the request. Nearby text, off-screen content, the rest of the document, and clipboard contents are not included. Learn more on the detailed privacy page.

If replacement does not work

Fn itself uses Input Monitoring. If listening does not start, see the Fn key guide.