How to Use Transforms (Beta)
Last updated: May 13, 2026
Available on: Mac and Windows. Rolling out gradually — if you don't see the Transforms tab in Flow, you're not yet in the rollout.
Transforms let you rewrite and improve text using AI — change tone, restructure, polish, or run your own custom prompts. Select text anywhere, hit a shortcut, and Flow transforms it in place.
Default shortcuts
Opt+1 (Mac) / Win+Alt+1 (Windows): run Polish on selected text.
Opt+2 (Mac) / Win+Alt+2 (Windows): run Prompt Engineer (your first custom slot).
Opt+O (Mac) / Win+Alt+O (Windows): open the diff viewer to see what changed after a transform.
All three shortcuts are rebindable in Settings → Keyboard shortcuts. The diff viewer hotkey appears as Transform view changes in that list.
Note: Transform shortcuts are not registered until you first visit the Transforms tab, click Try it out, or toggle Transforms on. This keeps international keyboard characters (ñ, ö, etc.) working normally before you opt in.
Set up Transforms
Open the Transforms tab in Flow.
Click Try it out to launch the demo editor pre-filled with sample text.
Practice highlighting and transforming text in the demo.
Click Turn on Transforms to enable the feature.
Once Transforms is on, the opt-in toggle at the top of the Transforms tab controls whether the feature is active. Turning it off grays out the rest of the settings and removes the Polish and View Diff shortcuts from your keyboard.
Configure a transform
You can have up to 9 transform slots. Slot 1 is fixed as Prompt Engineer; slots 2 through 9 are user-customizable. A + Create your own card appears at the end whenever you have fewer than 9 slots configured.
Click any transform card to open its configuration modal.
Set a name (required for custom prompts).
Write a prompt describing what the transform should do.
Assign a keyboard shortcut.
Add writing samples (optional — see below).
Important: There are no Save or Cancel buttons. Changes auto-save with a 2-second debounce, but a transform is only saved once both a prompt and a keyboard shortcut are set. Closing the modal without setting both discards your changes.
Each modal also includes a Reset button that restores the defaults for that specific transform. The Reset Defaults button on the main Transforms page resets all transform settings after a confirmation step.
Writing samples
Writing samples teach a transform what your finished writing should sound like. They're scoped to each individual prompt.
Limit: up to 5 writing samples per prompt.
Length: each sample must be between 50 and 500 words.
Renaming: renaming a prompt carries its samples over.
Deleting: deleting or resetting a prompt removes its samples. Default Polish samples are always preserved.
Scoping: only samples for the active prompt are sent. Samples tagged to other prompts aren't included.
Privacy Mode: if Privacy Mode is on (Share usage data is off), writing samples stay on your device and are not synced to the backend.
Auto-polish after dictation
Flow can automatically apply a transform to every dictation. Pick one in the auto-polish picker in the Flow status bubble.
Click the caret (▾) in the Flow status bubble to open the dropdown.
Turn on Auto Apply After Dictation at the top of the dropdown.
Select Polish, Prompt Engineer, or any custom prompt you've saved.
Clicking the circle (instead of the caret) triggers the currently selected transform immediately. Your selection persists across restarts.
When a non-default transform is active, the status bubble shows the first two letters of the prompt name in uppercase (for example, SU for a prompt named "Summarize"). Otherwise it shows the polish wand icon. While a transform is processing, the status area shows Polishing… for the default polish, or {prompt name}ing... for a named transform.
Note: If auto-polish fails or times out, Flow falls back to pasting the original unpolished dictation.
See what changed
After a transform, press Opt+O (Mac) or Win+Alt+O (Windows) to open the diff viewer. The diff viewer shows:
Inline diff: purple for additions, strikethrough for removals.
Change count: an N Change(s) badge.
Primary action: Accept edits, Configure Polish, or Undo, depending on context.
Icon buttons: Copy, Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, and Retry.
Transforms in Scratchpad
Inside the Scratchpad, transforms have their own bar at the bottom of the window — separate from the global keyboard shortcuts.
Suggestion chips: three AI-ranked chips are shown at a time, chosen from a catalog of six: More concise, More professional, More casual, Turn to list, Turn to table, and Polish.
Refresh: the Get new suggestions button reshuffles the chip set.
Custom prompt: a free-text input (Follow up or ask a question) lets you write a one-off transform. Press Enter or click the up-arrow to apply.
Scope: transforms apply to the selected text if any is highlighted, otherwise to the entire note.
Versioning: chip transforms save as a new version with source Transform. Custom-prompt transforms save with source Custom transform.
Images: images attached to the note are preserved across transforms. If the model drops them, Flow re-attaches them on save.
Auto-refresh: editing the content automatically regenerates a fresh suggestion set.
The Scratchpad Version history dropdown shows every save labeled by source — Typed edits, Dictated, Transform, Custom transform, or Created — with relative timestamps, so you can step back to any prior version.
Notifications you might see
Transformed! (with "See what's changed")
Shown in the Flow Bar after a successful transform. The "See what's changed" link opens the diff viewer.
Hey, select text first!
Shown the first 3 times you trigger a Transform shortcut without selected text. The notification includes the exact shortcut you used. After 3 times, Flow shows a shorter Select text to apply a transform reminder instead.
Want to Transform this? Highlight and press [shortcut]
A post-dictation nudge shown to new Transforms users. Appears at most 3 times total and at most once per day, and only until you've used a transform 20 times.
Congrats, you did your first transform!
A one-time celebratory splash shown after your first transform outside the Flow app, with a Customize transforms button that opens settings.
Couldn't detect text in your text box
Shown when Flow can't read text from the focused field. Click into your text box and try again.
Flow can't paste right now. Text saved to clipboard
Shown when the transformed text can't be pasted into the active field. The result is on your clipboard so you can paste it manually.
Transform timed out / returned no text / cancelled
Status messages for an in-progress transform. For auto-polish runs, Flow falls back to pasting the original unpolished dictation.
{name} doesn't work while dictating
Shown if you trigger a transform shortcut mid-dictation.
{name} mode servers are busy
Shown when the transform backend is experiencing high demand.
Your text looks good!
Shown when a transform completes but produces no changes.
We polished your dictation (with Reveal edit)
Shown when Flow silently auto-polishes a recent dictation in the background. Tap Reveal edit to see what changed.
Oops, too long to polish — Try again with under 1000 words
Transforms have a 1000-word input limit. There is no "too short to transform" notification — short text is silently skipped by the nudge path.
FAQs
Why don't I see the Transforms tab in Flow?
Transforms is rolling out gradually. If you're not in the rollout yet, the tab and shortcuts won't appear.
My Opt+1 or Opt+O shortcut isn't doing anything. Why?
A few things can cause this:
The Transforms opt-in toggle is off. Open Transforms settings and check the toggle at the top of the page.
You haven't activated Transforms yet. Shortcuts only register after you visit the Transforms tab, click Try it out, or toggle Transforms on.
No text is selected. Highlight text first, then press the shortcut.
What's the maximum text length for a transform?
1000 words on desktop. On iOS, the basic text Polish service requires between 10 and 1000 words.
Are images in my Scratchpad note lost after a transform?
No. Images are preserved across transforms, and Flow re-attaches them on save if the model drops them.
Can I get back to my original text after a transform?
In Scratchpad, yes — the Version history dropdown lets you step back to any earlier save. Outside Scratchpad, the diff viewer's Undo button reverts the most recent transform.
Why didn't my new transform save?
A transform is only saved when both a prompt and a keyboard shortcut are configured. For custom prompts, a name is also required. If any of these is missing when you close the modal, the changes are discarded.
Do my custom transforms sync across devices?
Custom transform prompt slots don't currently sync across devices. You'll need to configure them per device. The base Polish settings do sync.
Why are my international keyboard characters (ñ, ö) not working?
Once you activate Transforms, the Opt+key shortcuts are reserved for transforms. To get those characters back, either turn the Transforms opt-in toggle off (which strips the shortcuts) or rebind the Transform shortcuts to a different combination in Settings → Keyboard shortcuts.
Limitations and notes
Transforms is available on Mac and Windows only, and is rolling out gradually — not every account has access yet.
Up to 9 transform slots; slot 1 is fixed as Prompt Engineer.
1000-word input maximum on desktop. iOS Polish requires 10–1000 words.
Up to 5 writing samples per prompt, each 50–500 words.
Writing samples are filtered to the active prompt. In Privacy Mode, samples are kept local and not synced.
Custom transform prompt slots do not sync across devices. The base Polish settings do sync.
Transform shortcuts only register after you visit the Transforms tab, click Try it out, or toggle Transforms on. Until then, Opt+key combos work normally for international characters.
Transform chips and the TransformBar are only available inside the Scratchpad — the rest of the app uses the global keyboard shortcuts.
There is no "too short to transform" notification. Short inputs are silently skipped; the explicit error only fires for inputs over 1000 words.
Still stuck?
Reach out to our support team if:
Your shortcuts still don't work after confirming the opt-in toggle is on and you've activated Transforms.
You see a transform error not listed in the Notifications section above.
Auto-polish consistently times out or returns no text on dictations under 1000 words.
When you contact support, include your platform (Mac or Windows), Flow version, and the exact shortcut or transform name involved.