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How to use Ghostkeys
From installing the extension to what each slider does, plus how tokens work. The desktop app has the same settings window, so this guide covers it too.
On this page
- 1. Install and sign in
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- 2. Paste your text and start typing
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- 3. Every setting, explained
- Jump to section
- 4. What a token is
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- 5. When something doesn't work
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Install and sign in
Create an account
Making an account is free and needs no card. Sign up, then pick a plan when you're ready.Add the extension
Install Ghostkeys from the Chrome Web Store in Chrome, Edge, Brave or Arc, and pin it so its icon stays in the toolbar.Sign in
Click the Ghostkeys icon and sign in with your account's email and password. It only types while you're signed in. Changing your password signs every other device out.
Tabs that were open before you installed Ghostkeys work too, with no refresh needed.
Paste your text and start typing
Paste
Copy your text, open Ghostkeys and press Paste. It replaces the box with what you copied, formatting included. You can also type or edit in the box. Your text and settings are remembered for next time.Press Start typing
A countdown begins: 3 seconds by default.Click into a text field
Click where the text should go before the countdown ends. Need longer? Raise the countdown, up to 15 seconds.Watch, or stop
A pill in the bottom-right corner of the page shows progress, then says Done ✓. Stop any time with the pill's ✕, the Stop button, or Alt+Shift+S. Keys go wherever the cursor is, so leave the page alone while it types.
Every setting, explained
In the order they appear in the Ghostkeys window, with their defaults.
Your text
- Paste
- Replaces the text box with what's on your clipboard, keeping bold, italics, underline and strikethrough.
- Keep formatting (on)
- Types formatted words with the formatting switched on, through the page's own formatting commands or shortcuts. Off types plain text, as do plain text boxes, which can't hold formatting.
- Paragraph gaps (Auto)
- Auto adds a blank line wherever the copied text shows a gap, since ChatGPT, web pages and Word space paragraphs with margins rather than blank lines. Only real blank lines keeps exactly what was copied. Always one blank line puts one between every two paragraphs.
Speed and accuracy
- Speed (55 to 85 WPM)
- A range anywhere from 10 to 200 words per minute. Each word gets its own pace from inside the range, so the speed drifts the way real hands do.
- Typos (3%)
- The share of letters that slip: the key next door, swapped or doubled letters, a dropped letter, a missed Shift. Some are fixed at once, some a few letters later, some at the end of the word. Up to 15%.
- Synonym swaps (6%)
- How often a longer word gets a synonym first: Ghostkeys types a similar word and a few after it, stops, deletes them and types your word. Up to 20 words are looked up at Datamuse, a free word service; at 0% nothing is sent. Up to 30%.
- Real keystrokes (on)
- Sends trusted key presses through the browser, for Google Docs, canvas editors and picky sites. Google Docs always gets them, whatever this says.
- Countdown (3 seconds)
- Time between pressing Start and the first key, to click into your field. 1 to 15 seconds.
- Input method (Auto)
- Auto checks the first letters for doubling and fixes it. If letters still double, pick Text insert or Key press, de-duped: both type each character once.
Human rhythm
- Retype words (1.5%)
- The share of words that get a false start: a few letters, or the whole word, typed, deleted and typed again. Up to 6%.
- Idle breaks (Normal)
- Every so often it stops for 15 seconds to 4 minutes, at the end of a sentence where it can, then types slowly for a few words. Rare is about every 15 minutes, Normal about every 7, Often about every 3, or Off.
- Natural key rhythm (on)
- Key timing like real hands: quick common letter pairs, slower same-finger pairs, a beat for Shift and the number row, the odd stumble.
- Thinking pauses (on)
- About a second between sentences, sometimes much longer, and several seconds between paragraphs.
AI (spends tokens)
- AI revisions (15% of sentences, Small and Medium)
- Gemini writes a first-draft wording for some spans of your text. Ghostkeys types the draft, carries on a little, rereads, deletes it and types your wording. Small is a short phrase, Medium a sentence, Big two or three sentences; up to 12 per Start. Part of Max and Lifetime.
- Humanize the text
- Rewrite replaces the text in the box with Gemini's rewrite in one person's voice, about 70% as long. Describe the persona in the box below it, or leave it blank. Undo rewrite puts your text back.
Whatever the settings, every typo, synonym, false start and AI draft gets deleted and replaced as it goes, so the finished text is the text you pasted.
What a token is, and how far your allowance goes
Tokens pay for the AI features and nothing else. Typing, typos, rhythm, pauses and synonym swaps never use any; AI revisions and Humanize do.
A token is the unit Gemini, the AI model behind those features, reads and writes text in: a piece of a word. In English a token is about four characters, so 100 tokens is roughly 60 to 80 words. Each AI request counts everything Gemini reads (your text plus Ghostkeys' instructions to it) and everything it writes back, as Gemini reports it.
- AI revisions are fetched once each time you press Start: about 2,000 tokens for a 1,000-word text.
- Humanize costs about 3,300 tokens per rewrite of a 1,000-word text, since Gemini reads it and writes it back.
- Shorter texts cost less, though every request carries its instructions too. One request takes up to 60,000 characters, about 10,000 words.
| Plan | Tokens a week | 1,000-word texts with AI revisions | 1,000-word Humanize rewrites |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 25k | about 12 | about 7 |
| Pro | 100k | about 50 | about 30 |
| Max and Lifetime | 500k | about 250 | about 150 |
These are estimates; the exact count depends on the text. Your allowance refills every 7 days at the exact time you bought your plan (buy on a Tuesday at 3:14 pm and it refills every Tuesday at 3:14 pm), and unused tokens don't carry over. The account page and the Ghostkeys window show how many are left. An AI request only starts if what's left covers a rough estimate of it. When the week's tokens run out, the AI features wait for the refill and typing carries on as normal.
When something doesn't work
- “Open a normal web page first”
- Ghostkeys types into web pages, not the browser's own pages such as settings or a new tab.
- “Chrome doesn't let extensions type on this page”
- The Chrome Web Store, the PDF viewer and browser pages are off-limits to every extension. Open the page you want to type into.
- “No text field focused”
- The countdown ended before you clicked into a field. Press Start again and click in sooner, or raise the countdown.
- Letters come out doubled
- Set Input method to Text insert, or Key press, de-duped.
- Nothing appears in Google Docs
- Click into the document itself, not the title or a menu. Google Docs needs Pro or higher; see the Google Docs guide.
- “Already typing in this tab”
- Press Stop first, then Start again.
- “This week's token allowance is used up”
- The AI features come back when it resets. Typing still works in the meantime.
- “You were signed out”
- Your sign-in expired or your password was changed. Sign in again in the Ghostkeys window.
Still stuck? Signed in, open a support ticket, or email support@ghostkeys.org.
More about Ghostkeys
- Google Docs auto typer →Why Google Docs ignores ordinary simulated typing, how trusted keystrokes get through, the formatting that's kept, and setup.
- Auto typer for Mac and Windows →The desktop app for Max and Lifetime: typing into Word, Pages, Notes, VS Code and Slack, the countdown and Alt+Shift+S.
- Pricing →Starter, Pro and Max, billed weekly, monthly or yearly, or Lifetime for a single payment.