Your first comment in 5 minutes

Say what you're commenting on

The dashboard opens with Read it. Comment right on it. and one large tile, Open something to read and comment on — articles, books, PDF, EPUB and Bibles. Drop a file on it or tap to choose one. A single file opens straight in the reader, with your comments beside the words; drop several and each gets its own Open button.

Under it, Or just start offers five smaller tiles:

• Quick comment — nothing but your words, for a thought you already have and want to write down before it goes.
• Paste text — a box to paste into. A paragraph, a quotation, your own notes.
• A link — paste a URL and the page's text is fetched for you.
• Photo, PDF or audio — a picture of a page, a document, or a recording to transcribe.
• Audio recorder — record a talk, mark the moments worth answering, and listen back. Works offline, and you can ask for a transcript afterwards.

Where you write

Quick comment, and the other tiles once you have your material, open the full-screen comment workbench. You type straight into it and it saves itself a second after you stop — Saving… / Saved says when. As you type you see a live word count and estimated speaking time. Filed under shows the subject the comment belongs to (one is created with today's date if you don't choose), and you can add tags there too.

Prefer to fill everything in before you write? The full compose form is still at /dashboard?view=compose. Here's what each of its fields does:

• Question — What question are you answering? Optional, but helps Hoot give more focused coaching. Always visible at the top.
• Comment — The main textarea. Write what you'd actually say, in your own words. As you type, you'll see a live word count and estimated speaking time. Green means you're within a comfortable window.
• Source material — Click to expand. Paste a paragraph or article, submit a URL to fetch content, paste a Bible chapter, upload an audio file or PDF, or do a live audio capture. Optional, but improves coaching relevance.
• Label — A short label like "Paragraph 3" or "Key thought." Helps you identify this comment later.
• Subject — Type a subject name or pick from your existing subjects. If left blank, one is auto-created with today's date.
• Date — Defaults to today. Change it if you're preparing for a future meeting.
• Tags — Add tags to organize your comments across subjects. Type a tag and press Enter or , to add it. If you forget to press Enter, tags are saved automatically when you click Save or Generate Ideas. Tags appear as colored chips in the outliner and power the tag filter bar. You can also add tags later from the outliner's + Tag button or the tools menu.

Write your comment

Write what you actually think. Even one sentence is enough. Don't worry about making it perfect — that's what coaching is for.

Coach it, then go to the outline

In the workbench, press Coach to get Hoot's feedback on Clarity, Conciseness, Depth, and Relevance, plus specific suggestions. Press Done when you're finished; your comment is waiting in the outline view.

From the full compose form, click Save and you land in the outline, where Coach works the same way. You can always coach later from the outliner.

Understanding Scores →

Revise and finalize

Read the coaching suggestions, revise if you want, then coach again. Most comments reach their best version in 1-2 rounds.

When you're satisfied, click Ready. Your comment gets a green checkmark — it's prepared and ready to deliver. You can still edit, translate, or refine anytime.