# Set the dictation tone for each app

> NoteOwl picks a dictation tone for each app, such as professional in Mail and casual in Slack. Change it in Settings → Auto-Context. Raw words are always kept.

Source: https://www.noteowl.ai/docs/dictation/tone-for-each-app · Last updated 2026-09-27 · Checked against NoteOwl 1.0.0

NoteOwl picks a tone for the app you're dictating into: a professional email in Mail, a casual message in Slack and literal text in code editors. You can change the tone for every app or for one app in **Settings → Auto-Context**, and your raw words are always kept.

## How does NoteOwl choose the tone for each app?

With **Match each app** on, which is the default, NoteOwl looks at the app you're dictating into and uses the tone made for it. Apps it has no tone for get **Polish**, which tidies your words without changing their tone.

| Where you dictate                                      | Tone NoteOwl uses      |
| ------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------- |
| Apple Mail, Microsoft Outlook                          | **Professional Email** |
| Slack                                                  | **Casual Message**     |
| VS Code, Xcode, Zed, Terminal, iTerm2                  | **Code**               |
| Apple Notes, Obsidian, Notion, Drafts                  | **Tidy Notes**         |
| Every other app, including Messages and NoteOwl itself | **Polish**             |

## Change the tone for one app

1. Open NoteOwl and click **Settings** in the sidebar. Settings opens on the **Auto-Context** tab.
2. Under **Per-app overrides**, find the app: **Apple Mail**, **Slack**, **Messages**, **VS Code**, **Notes** or **Obsidian**.
3. Click the menu beside the app. It shows **Auto** until you change it.
4. Choose **Polish**, **Professional Email**, **Casual Message**, **Tidy Notes**, **Code** or **Keep exact**. Your next dictation into that app uses the new tone.

To undo it, choose **Auto**. The app then follows the setting for every app again.

## Change the tone for every app

In **Settings → Auto-Context**, choose one of three options:

* **Match each app**, the default: each app gets its own tone, as in the table above.
* **Light polish**: every app gets **Polish**.
* **Keep exact**: NoteOwl keeps your words as they are, in every app.

A per-app override always wins over this setting. For example, with **Keep exact** on and Slack set to **Casual Message**, NoteOwl still writes a Casual Message copy of your Slack dictations.

## What does each tone do?

Every tone except **Keep exact** removes filler words and false starts and fixes punctuation and capitals, without changing what you meant. The tones differ in how much else they change.

| Tone                   | What it does                                                                                                                                 |
| ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Polish**             | Tidies your words and nothing more: no change of tone, and no headings, bullets, greetings or sign-offs                                      |
| **Professional Email** | Complete sentences in short paragraphs. Adds a greeting and sign-off only when what you said calls for them, and never writes a subject line |
| **Casual Message**     | Short, conversational sentences, with no greeting or sign-off unless you say one. Bullets only if you spoke a list                           |
| **Tidy Notes**         | Light structure: a spoken list becomes bullets and a spoken heading becomes a heading, in Markdown                                           |
| **Code**               | Keeps names, symbols and casing as you say them, such as camelCase and snake\_case, reads code punctuation literally, and adds no prose      |
| **Keep exact**         | No rewriting at all. Your words stay exactly as NoteOwl heard them                                                                           |

## When does NoteOwl apply the tone?

After you stop. While you talk, NoteOwl types your words at the cursor exactly as it hears them. When you stop, it writes a copy in that app's tone and saves it with the dictation. The text in your app only changes if you ask.

* Press **Polish** in the NoteOwl panel to swap the words you dictated for the copy in that app's tone. The panel then says, for example, **Replaced in Mail**, and **Undo** puts your original words back.
* If NoteOwl can't edit the app directly, it puts the new text on your clipboard and the panel tells you to press ⌘V.
* If NoteOwl couldn't type into the app at all, because it doesn't have the macOS **Accessibility** permission, it copies the version in that app's tone and the panel says **Copied — press ⌘V**.
* With **Keep exact**, NoteOwl saves no polished copy. Pressing **Polish** then tidies your words with plain **Polish**.

## Are my original words kept?

Yes. NoteOwl saves every dictation in **Dictations** with both versions. **Raw** shows exactly what NoteOwl heard, **Output** shows the version in the app's tone, and **Split** shows the two side by side.

To try a different tone on a saved dictation, click the menu beside **Split**, **Raw** and **Output**, which is named after the current tone. Under **Cleanup**, choose **Polish**, **Verbatim**, **Professional Email**, **Casual Message**, **Tidy Notes** or **Code**. NoteOwl writes a new output, and the raw words don't change.

![The NoteOwl Dictations screen in Split view, with a dictation's raw words on the left and its Professional Email version on the right](https://www.noteowl.ai/product/07-dictations.webp)

## Common questions

### Does NoteOwl change my words while I dictate?

No. NoteOwl types your words at the cursor as it hears them. The tone for that app is applied afterwards, to a polished copy that replaces the typed words only if you press Polish in the NoteOwl panel.

### Is the tone for each app part of NoteOwl Free?

Yes. Choosing a tone for each app, pressing Polish after a dictation and reformatting a saved dictation are all part of NoteOwl Free, with no limit.

### Can I set a NoteOwl dictation tone for an app that isn't listed?

Not in NoteOwl 1.0.0. Per-app overrides cover Apple Mail, Slack, Messages, VS Code, Notes and Obsidian. Every other app follows the setting at the top of Settings → Auto-Context.

## Related

- [Dictate into any app with the fn key](https://www.noteowl.ai/docs/dictation/dictate-into-any-app): Tap fn to start dictating in any Mac app and tap it again to stop. NoteOwl types your words at the cursor and keeps exactly what you said.
- [What's free and what's in NoteOwl Pro](https://www.noteowl.ai/docs/getting-started/free-and-pro): NoteOwl Free gives you unlimited dictation into any app and voice notes. NoteOwl Pro adds meetings, summaries, memory and Chat for $79, once.
- [NoteOwl keyboard shortcuts](https://www.noteowl.ai/docs/reference/keyboard-shortcuts): Every NoteOwl keyboard shortcut. fn dictates, ⌥Space records a meeting, ⌥X rewrites selected text, ⌥Z asks your memory, and ⌘K jumps to search.

Learn more: [Tone for each app, on the NoteOwl Features page](https://www.noteowl.ai/features#tone)