Does it work with Ulysses' Markdown XL?

Yes! Echoo transforms the text content while Ulysses maintains its Markdown XL formatting, keywords, and notes.

Can I use it to rewrite entire sections?

Yes! Select a full paragraph or section, choose your preferred tone, and Echoo rewrites it while preserving your meaning and voice.

AI Shortcuts for Ulysses on Mac

Select text in Ulysses, press a shortcut, and transform your writing with AI - polish prose, adjust tone, and rewrite on the fly.

How It Works

Install Echoo
Download Echoo for macOS. It works system-wide, including in Ulysses.
Open Ulysses
Work on your writing in Ulysses as usual - articles, books, blog posts, or notes.
Select and transform
Highlight a paragraph or passage and press your Echoo shortcut (e.g., ⌥P for professional tone, ⌥J for casual tone).
Result appears
The AI-polished text replaces your selection right inside Ulysses.

Best Practices & Tips

Ulysses is purpose-built for serious writers, and Echoo adds AI assistance that respects the focused, distraction-free writing environment Ulysses provides. Whether you are working on a novel, blog series, or book manuscript, Echoo shortcuts help you refine your prose without breaking your creative flow.

The most effective way to use Echoo in Ulysses is during the revision phase, not the first draft. Write freely in Ulysses without interruption, getting your ideas down in your natural voice. Then go back through your manuscript section by section, selecting paragraphs and applying targeted commands. This separation between creation and refinement produces better writing than trying to perfect every sentence as you write it.

Create writing-stage-specific commands for your Ulysses workflow. A "Tighten Prose" command should reduce wordiness, eliminate redundancies, and strengthen verb choices without changing your voice. A "Improve Dialogue" command should make character dialogue more natural and distinct. A "Show Don't Tell" command should identify passages where you tell the reader something and suggest ways to show it through action, dialogue, or sensory detail.

Ulysses' sheet organization means you can apply different commands to different parts of your manuscript. Polish dialogue-heavy scenes with your Dialogue command, tighten action sequences with your Prose command, and proofread everything with the grammar fix. Working sheet by sheet through your manuscript creates a systematic revision process.

Ulysses' Markdown XL formatting is preserved through all Echoo transformations. Your annotations, footnotes, comments, and keywords remain intact when text is transformed. This means you can use AI revision tools aggressively without risking your manuscript organization or editorial notes.

For creative writers, Anthropic Claude is the recommended AI provider. Claude excels at understanding narrative voice, maintaining character consistency, and producing suggestions that enhance rather than flatten creative writing. OpenAI models are also excellent for prose refinement. For writers working on unpublished manuscripts, Ollama with a local model ensures your creative work never leaves your Mac, protecting against any possibility of unpublished content entering training data.

Pro Tips

Create a "Tighten Prose" command that reduces wordiness and strengthens verbs while preserving your authorial voice for effective revision of long-form writing.

Use Echoo during revision rather than drafting. Write freely in Ulysses first, then systematically refine each sheet with targeted commands for the best creative results.

Use Ollama with a local model for unpublished manuscripts so your creative work is never sent to cloud servers and cannot enter any AI training pipeline.