How to rewrite or shorten text with AI
Select a passage in Write by Zaweba and choose Rewrite from the AI menu: Clearer, Shorter, Longer, More formal or Friendlier, using your own AI account.
With an AI account connected, select the passage in Write by Zaweba, open the AI menu and choose Rewrite. Five options are on offer: Clearer, Shorter, Longer, More formal and Friendlier. The reply comes back for you to look at, and you choose whether it replaces your text or goes somewhere else.
Before you start
Write has no AI built in. To use Rewrite you connect your own account, from providers such as Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, Azure, Mistral, Grok or DeepSeek, or a local model through Ollama, or a chat website by copy and paste. Until you do, the AI features stay off and Write works as a normal word processor.
Choosing the right rewrite
Clearer is for a sentence you have read three times and still do not like. It aims to make the meaning plain without changing it.
Shorter is for a paragraph that says its point twice, or for squeezing a piece under a word limit. It is the most useful of the five for job applications and forms with a box to fill.
Longer adds detail and explanation, which helps when a draft is thin. Check anything it adds, because added detail is where AI is most likely to make things up.
More formal suits a letter to a bank, a council or an employer. Friendlier does the reverse, for a club newsletter or a message to neighbours that came out stiff.
Rewriting step by step
Select only the text you want changed, usually one paragraph at a time. Smaller pieces give better results, and they make it easier to compare old and new. Open the AI menu, choose Rewrite and pick the option.
When the reply arrives, decide where it goes. Replace the selection if it is clearly better. Insert below if you want both versions side by side to compare. Open it in a new document if you want to think about it, or copy it to use elsewhere. Each insertion is one undo step, so Ctrl+Z puts your original back in one press.
Keeping it in your own words
A rewrite is a suggestion, not a verdict. Read it aloud. Keep the parts that are better and put back any phrases that sounded more like you. Check that names, dates and figures are unchanged, and that nothing has been added that is not true. For school work, follow your school's rules on using AI.
For a light touch, the Proofread action checks spelling and grammar in UK English without rewriting your style. Write's own UK spell check also works with no account at all, with red squiggles as you type and F7 for the full check.
Keeping track of length
When the aim is to fit a limit, watch the word count in the status bar as you go. It updates with every change, so you can see how much each Shorter rewrite has saved and stop when you are under.
What leaves your PC
Only what you select is sent, plus Write's instructions for that action, and only at the moment you ask. With nothing selected, the whole document's text is sent, trimmed to 24,000 characters, so select first if you only want one paragraph rewritten. The Context sent view shows exactly what went.
Used with care, Rewrite in Write by Zaweba is a quick second opinion on a stubborn paragraph, with you deciding what stays.
