Dictation personas
A persona is a writing voice (tone, style and language) applied after transcription, and it switches automatically per app or website.
What a persona is
A dictation persona is a writing voice. Cluinn transcribes your speech first, then the persona shapes the result (tone, style and language) before it’s typed. Each persona can claim apps and websites, so the right voice switches in automatically: terse in the terminal, warmer in email.
Click Personalize in the sidebar. A small panel opens beside it, split into Calls and Dictation; under Dictation, choose Personas. The Personalize row doesn’t open a page of its own: the panel is how you reach these pages.
New accounts start with four built-in personas: General, Developer, Writer and Colleague. General is the default. It keeps your words and your language; to have it write in the language of the app you’re in, turn on Smart translation in its editor. New Dictation Persona, at the top right, adds your own. (On an account with no personas at all, the same action is a New Persona button in the middle of the page.)
Either button asks you to describe the persona in one line, such as “short friendly replies to customers, never a greeting”. Cluinn writes the instructions from that, names the persona, saves it and opens the editor on the draft for you to correct. If the draft can’t be written (you’re offline, say), the box lets you write it yourself instead.
Active and Inactive
The page groups personas under Active and Inactive, and the grouping is automatic: a persona is Active when it’s the default or has at least one app or website assigned. There’s no on/off switch per persona. To retire one, remove its apps and sites or give them to another persona.
The Enable personas switch at the top controls the whole feature. With it off, no writing voice is applied and no AI clean-up runs: your dictation is typed as transcribed. Snippets and the Dictionary still work.
The editor
Everything about a persona is in one pane:
| Field | What it sets |
|---|---|
| The text box on the left | The instructions: the voice, style and rules to follow. It usually arrives already written, from what you described. |
| Translation | No translation (the row then reads Auto-translate to any language), a fixed output language or Smart translation (match the language on screen). |
| Apps / Websites | Where the persona applies. |
Make default points “everywhere else” at this persona: it handles any app or site no other persona claims. The ··· menu next to it holds Rename and Delete persona.
Under the instructions box, Improve with AI rewrites what you typed into a sharper set of instructions, and Undo puts your original text back.
Changes aren’t saved as you go. A Save button appears while there are unsaved changes, and closing with changes pending asks first: Save, Keep editing or Close without saving.
Note: An app or website belongs to one persona at a time. Assigning it to a new persona removes it from the old one.
Call presets are separate
Presets for calls are in the same Personalize panel, under Calls → Call presets, and work differently. See Call presets.
Calls is part of Pro, and the free trial includes it. Once Calls is locked (after a trial ended on Basic, say), the Calls half of the Personalize panel is greyed out and clicking it opens the Plan sheet. An account that has never had Calls doesn’t see that half at all. Personas, snippets and the dictionary are on every plan.
Common questions
Why is my persona listed under Inactive?
It isn’t the default and has no apps or websites assigned. Assign it one, or click Make default, and it moves to Active.
Which persona runs when no assigned app matches?
The default. With personas switched on, an assigned persona handles the apps and sites it claims, and the default persona handles everything else.