Rings, shortcuts and gestures

Manage rings

In Settings, open Rings. Your rings are listed on the left. A ring holds up to 10 pills.

Right-click a ring in the list for Edit, Rename, Duplicate, Copy as sub ring, Link as sub ring, and Delete. A sub ring is a ring inside a pill. Copy as sub ring puts a copy of that ring inside the ring you have open. Link as sub ring puts the ring itself inside, so a change to it shows in both places.

You can also drag a ring from the list onto the open ring. Rondell asks “Copy here” or “Link here”. Rings that have sub rings show a chevron in the list: “Show sub rings” or “Hide sub rings” (or press the Right or Left arrow key on the ring).

After you delete a ring, the message that appears has Undo.

1. 1Click New ring.
2. 2Under Start from, choose Empty or a copy of one of your rings.
3. 3Click Create ring.

Save, discard, and undo changes

Changes to a ring or pill wait until you save them. While there are unsaved changes, Discard and Save appear to the right of the bar at the foot of the page. Discard goes back to the last saved version.

If you leave with unsaved changes, Rondell asks “Save changes to “name”?” with Cancel, Don’t save, and Save. Cancel keeps you where you are.

To undo a step, click the round Undo (Ctrl+Z) button to the left of that bar, or press Ctrl + Z outside a text field. The button shows only when there is something to undo. Settings pages other than Rings and the pill editor save as you change them.

Add and arrange pills

Open a ring, then open the Add pill tab. It lists Library (pills and rings you saved with Save to library), Basics, and Ready-made. Type in the search box, or filter by All, AI, or No AI.

1. 1Click a pill to add it, or drag it to the place you want.
2. 2Drag pills in the ring to rearrange them. Alt + an arrow key moves the pill that has focus.
3. 3Click a pill in the ring to edit it. Right-click it for Edit, Replace…, Move to library, and Remove. If the pill holds a sub ring with pills in it, Rondell asks whether to “Keep the ring” or “Remove both” (or “Replace both” when you replace it). Undo is in the message after you remove a pill.
4. 4Click Paste in Add pill to add a pill someone shared. Check the review before you add it.

• Basics: Ask AI, Rewrite, Open a website, Run a program, Press keys, Record and replay, Find files, Media, Ring, Bookmarks.
• Ready-made, for text: Improve writing, Fix spelling, Translate, Make it shorter, More formal, Friendlier, Reply to this, Summarize, Explain, Copy as plain text, Change case, Sticky note, Summarize into note, Open notes panel.
• Ready-made, to ask and search: Ask AI (it searches the web), Link or summary, Google it, Search YouTube, Google Translate, History, Last answer, Last answer (toggle), Open conversation about…, Chat panel.
• Ready-made, with Jev: Yes or no check, Is it a scam?, Improve, after a fact check, Quick yes/no, Find on screen.
• Ready-made, for apps and dials: Open app or focus it, Spotify volume, Brightness.
• Blank: the button at the bottom of Add pill starts an empty pill. See Build your own pills.

Choose what a quick tap does

A short press of the ring’s key runs the ring’s Quick tap. Holding the key and releasing on a pill runs that pill. In Settings, open Rings and pick a ring. Under the ring, click the dashed + in the Quick tap slot and choose Open the ring, one of the ring’s pills, or New tap pill… to make a new pill for it.

Hold time on the Shortcuts page sets how long a press counts as a hold.

Open a different ring for each situation

A ring’s “Opens when” card decides when it opens. When you press Any ring’s key, Rondell opens the first ring whose rule fits, so put specific rules before broad ones such as Any text. Use Order to move a rule Earlier or Later.

Choose a kind for each rule: Nothing selected, Files (you can name file types), Any text, Text with words, Text that fits a pattern, Jev says yes to (needs a TypeSafe key), A link, An email address, A phone number, A street address, A date or time, Math, Code, In another language, or Ordinary text.

Each rule applies in Any app, or only in the apps you choose under “Only in these apps”. The ring’s own “Not in” setting lists apps where the ring never opens. Click + Or to add another rule to the same ring.

Fill a ring from a preset

In Edit ring, under Add, click Preset…. Choose Writing, Research, Email, or Music, then confirm. This replaces the ring’s pills. Click Undo in the message that appears, or the round Undo button, to bring them back. Paste… in the same place adds a shared pill.

Set keys for rings and pills

In Settings, open Shortcuts. Any ring opens whichever ring the rules choose. Under Rings, each ring can have its own keys, and it opens that ring directly. Under Pills, Add a pill gives a pill a key that runs it at once. A pill that needs input opens its prompt bar.

Click Add a key and press the combination. Click Add another key for more. A flag appears when a key clashes: “Windows uses this”, “Another app uses this”, or “<name> uses this” when another ring or pill in Rondell has it and this one is skipped. To keep a Windows shortcut anyway, choose Use anyway. Windows keeps Win + L and Ctrl + Alt + Delete.

• Hold time: how long a press counts as a hold rather than a tap.
• Copy wait: extra time for slow apps, such as browsers, to copy your selection. Raise it if Rondell says nothing is selected when something is. Pills may start a little later.
• Excluded apps (Settings, then System): Rondell’s keys and gestures do nothing in these apps.
• Pause hotkeys (tray menu): turns every key and gesture off until you turn it back on.

Draw a mouse gesture

A gesture is a shape you draw with the mouse, without holding any key. Any ring, a ring, or a pill can have one. A ring’s gesture opens the ring for you to click. A pill’s gesture runs the pill. A new install has one for Any ring: a clockwise circle.

Record a shape in the gesture control, then adjust it in the dialog.

• Shape margin: how far a stroke may stray from your drawing.
• Time margin: how much faster or slower than the recording you may draw.
• Size: turn on to require a similar size. Size margin sets how much bigger or smaller is allowed.
• The dialog also has Remove, Cancel, and Done.

Use sub rings

A sub ring is a ring inside a pill. Add the Ring pill from Add pill, or use a ring’s Copy as sub ring or Link as sub ring. While you hold the key, rest on that pill to open its ring, then choose a pill there.

In Settings, open Rings and pick the sub ring. Edit ring has Sub ring opening (Hover or Release), Hover time, Swipe back, Back arrow, and Back from the middle for returning to the ring above. Pick by dragging past, with its Distance, runs a pill as soon as you move past it.

Show pills only when useful

In a pill’s settings, “Show it when” hides the pill unless a test passes. You can test the text, the clipboard, the window title, the chat panel, the app, or the time. “Show it in” limits the pill to particular apps. Hidden pills leave no gap in the ring, and the pill’s own key still runs it.