Voice and quick notes
A thought should take one shortcut to catch, from whatever app you are in. This guide covers the global capsule, the quick-note box inside a note, Tidy whole note, and what the AI does — and does not do — with what you said.
Before you start
- A knowledge base open at least once, so there is somewhere to save to.
- The first time you dictate, allow MindMax to use the microphone when the system asks.
- On your own API key, choose a model for voice in Settings → Models if your provider's main model cannot transcribe. On the subscription it works out of the box.
From any app: the capsule
- Press
⌥⇧Space(Alt+Shift+Spaceon Windows). A small capsule appears at the top of the screen, over whatever you are doing, and starts listening. Rather type? Just type. - Stop. Press Enter, or simply stop talking — after a pause there is a three-second countdown you can talk over. The text waits for you to read it and fix the word it misheard.
- Choose where it goes:
- Enter — saved to the end of today's daily note, with the time, exactly as it reads. No AI, and you never leave the app you were in.
⌘Enter(Ctrl+Enter) — the AI files it into the note you have open in MindMax, which comes forward to show you the change.
Esc hides the capsule and keeps the draft for next time; only × throws it away. The shortcut can be changed in Settings → Hotkeys, and Keep running in the tray in Settings → General keeps it working after you close the last window.
Inside a note: the quick-note box
Open the quick-note box from the editor's AI menu. Hold the mic to talk, or type, then press Enter. The AI reads the note you have open and puts the thought where it belongs — under its heading, after the item it continues, as a list item if that section is a list. It files within that note; it does not go looking for a different one.
The result is a marked change on the note. Accept revision writes it; Reject leaves the note as it was.
What the AI changes, and what it does not
| It changes how you said it | It keeps what you said |
|---|---|
| Typos, misheard words, grammar and word order are fixed — in a one-line note too | Every point, name, number and hedge stays |
| Filler, false starts and repetition go | Nothing is added |
| A correction keeps only the corrected version | A question stays a question — it is not answered for you |
| The point comes first; something to do becomes a task | Parts of the note it is not filing into stay word for word |
Say "write it down exactly" and only the punctuation is fixed. When the AI is not sure a correction is right, it lists it — old spelling → new — above Accept revision, so you can check it first.
Giving it instructions
The quick-note box also takes instructions about what is already there: "rename this heading to Launch week", "merge the two printer items", "move that line under Today", "make this paragraph a list", "delete the bit about the venue". These are carried out on the note, and only the parts they touch change.
A request for new writing — "turn the above into an email to the client", "summarise this
section", "translate it" — is not slipped in as a note. Press Enter and it is kept as a task,
with Run this now? and a Run button above the change. Press ⌘Enter (Ctrl+Enter)
instead and it is carried out straight away: on the text you selected, or on the part of the
note you pointed at. The result is previewed word by word; choose Replace or Insert below,
Retry, or discard it. If it cannot tell which text you mean, select it and press ⌘Enter
again.
A note to yourself about later, or about someone else — "ask Sam to summarise it next week" — stays a to-do and is never run.
Tidying the whole note
Tidy whole note, shown at the bottom of the quick-note box while the box is empty (once the note has a few lines in it), works over the whole note: it fixes typos, brings related points together, keeps a point you wrote twice once, and adds short labels when the note covers several topics. Dated entries keep their order and nothing is added. Every change is a revision you can reject; if the note is already tidy, it says so. It only runs when you press it.
Saying it to the assistant
"Note this down", or /note, in the assistant writes straight into today's daily note — no
review step — and can be undone from the document's history.
Things to know
- It is for thoughts, not meetings. No speaker separation, and a single recording stops at ten minutes.
- The language is detected from what you say, not from the interface setting.
- A long dictation is transcribed in pieces. If one fails, the rest is kept and a placeholder marks the gap: retry it, or remove it. A draft with a gap left in it is not sent.
- Background noise can keep it listening. Press Enter to finish rather than waiting for silence.