Style by app
Give each Mac app its own Refine tone: Casual in Messages, Code in Xcode, your default everywhere else.
Mac only.
How it works
When a Refine dictation starts, Scribe looks at the app in front and picks the tone you assigned to it. Messaging apps start on Casual, code editors and terminals on Code, and everything else uses your default tone. You can change any of these.
Choose a default
Open Settings › Refine › Default tone and pick Natural, Casual, Formal or Code. This is used for any app without a rule of its own. Mail and other apps with no rule stay on the default.
Set a tone for an app
- Open Settings › Refine › Style by app.
- Choose a tone next to the app’s name: Default, Natural, Casual, Formal or Code.
- Click + to add an installed app that isn’t listed. − removes a rule you added, or resets a bundled app to its built-in tone.
Only installed apps appear in the list.
Built-in rules
| Tone | Apps |
|---|---|
| Casual | Messages, WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Discord, Slack |
| Code | Xcode, Terminal, iTerm2, Ghostty, Warp, VS Code, Cursor, Zed, Nova, Sublime Text, JetBrains IDEs |
What wins
- An instruction you speak, such as “more formal”.
- The rule you set for the app.
- The built-in rule for the app.
- Your default tone.
Library editor presets are not affected by app rules.
On iPhone
iOS does not tell a keyboard which app it is in, so there is no Style by app on iPhone. Choose the tone with the Tone chip next to the Refine pill; it remembers your choice.
Related guide: Dictate in Slack, Notion and other apps on Mac
Related guide: How to clean up dictated text on a Mac
Related guide: How to dictate emails on a Mac