Using tools
Tools add small abilities to your BYOK: a quieter page, a shortcut for a name you type a hundred times, a note you can find again later. They live on the BYOK. Three steps to get one on. Then Ctrl+T is the toolbox.
1Download
Get the tool from its page. First time, take the second file too if there is one. That file holds your shortcuts, notes, or a word list.
2Put it on the BYOK's card
Copy the files into the Scripts folder on the BYOK's card. USB or the card itself. Either works.
3Restart, then Ctrl+T
Tools are found when the BYOK starts. Press Ctrl+T to see it in the list.
The two kinds
Runs when you ask. Press Ctrl+T, then the tool's letter. It does the job and stops. Focus, Notes, Pep talk, and most of the others work this way.
Runs while you type. Switch it on in the toolbox. It stays on until you switch it off. Expander, Session goal, and the Screenplay assistant work this way.
Opening the toolbox
Ctrl+T works two ways, and both are normal.
Ctrl+T, then the letter, straight away. The tool runs. No list. Once you know a tool's letter, this is all you ever need.
Ctrl+T on its own. Pause, and the list of every tool on the BYOK appears. Use it when you have forgotten a letter, or to switch a typing tool on or off.
In the list:
- Arrow keys move. Escape closes it.
- To run a "when you ask" tool: type its letter, or arrow to it and press Enter.
- To see details, or to switch a "while you type" tool on: arrow to it and press Space.
A different letter
- Ctrl+T, wait, arrow to the tool, Space.
- Type the letter you want. Enter saves.
If another tool already has that letter, the screen says so.
Switching a typing tool on or off
- Ctrl+T, wait, arrow to the tool, Space.
- Space again flips On and Off. Enter saves.
A tool that needs a file open does nothing if none is. Nothing beeps. Nothing started.
If something is off
- You copied a tool and it isn't in the list. Restart. Tools are found when the BYOK starts, not while it is on.
- Ctrl+T then the letter did nothing. Another tool may have that letter, or this one needs a file open, or it is a typing tool (those have no letter; switch them on instead).
- It refused to switch on. Another typing tool already uses the same key. The message names it. Switch that one off first.
- A typing tool showed an error and turned itself off. That is on purpose, so you don't get the error on every word. Copy an updated file across, restart, switch it on again.
What a tool can touch
Each tool says, up front, what it is allowed to do. The one worth noticing is "change your writing." Without that, it cannot alter the page.
A tool cannot reach the internet, your other files, your settings, or another tool. If it fails, it is stopped.
Your saved data
Some tools remember things: shortcuts, notes, a word count. That lives in a second file on the BYOK's card, next to the tool. First time, copy that file across with the tool. Most tools will make one if it is missing. Spelling will not run without its word list.
If you already use a tool, keep the copy you have. Downloading a fresh one would throw your saved notes or shortcuts away.
The file is ordinary text. If you are comfortable editing it on a computer, that is often faster than changing it on the BYOK. Put it back in Scripts when you are done. Tools that run when you ask will see the change the next time you open them. If the tool runs while you type, switch it off first, then restart the BYOK, so it does not save over your edit.
Other things worth knowing
- You can have four "while you type" tools on at once.
- Two of them cannot both change text on the same key (both on Tab, for instance).
- Curly quotes, em dashes, and emoji show as a filled diamond on the screen. The file itself is fine.
- Undo (
Ctrl+Z) undoes a tool's change as one step. - If you write a tool other people might want, send it from the Community tab in the library.
Need help with tools on the BYOK? Contact support. We do not write or create tools for you. We are always open to suggestions for official ones.