Week of July 20, 2026
The week the built-in abilities became real work rather than switches, and the controls you set on a conversation started staying where you put them.
This was the week the list of things Else can do stopped being a list of switches. Every built-in add-on gained real work behind it — turning a file into clean text, reading a PDF, writing Word documents, spreadsheets and slide decks, producing a design or a piece of generative artwork — and anything that was not real was taken out of the list rather than left there looking meaningful. The engine menu got four names that mean something, with the full list of engines one click below them.
The other half of the week was about control staying where you put it. What a conversation may use, when it should check with you, and the spend limit you typed now belong to that conversation and survive closing it. Pressing Enter always starts a chat and never quietly sends work off to run in the background. When a decision is genuinely yours, Else stops and asks you as a real question instead of picking one and hoping. And you can now teach it a format once and reuse it anywhere.
By the end of the week a job you had handed off also came back differently: its page opens on the result rather than the steps, with the receipt and the files beside it.
What changed
Section titled “What changed”Nothing to switch on before you start
Section titled “Nothing to switch on before you start”Jul 26, 2026 · Better
Every built-in add-on is ready from the first message — web research, reading pages in a browser, pulling text out of a PDF, Word documents, spreadsheets, slide decks, visual design, generative art, code files, reports and website building. The panel is now for narrowing what a single run may touch, not for turning abilities on.
A finished job leads with the result
Section titled “A finished job leads with the result”Jul 25, 2026 · Better
The page for a handed-off job now opens on what you asked for, with the steps folded away. Beside it sits the receipt — the real amount, and how much of the limit you set it used — plus the files to download.
From there you can share a read-only link to the run, or turn the job back into a conversation. If you stop it, the page tells you plainly that what was already spent stays spent.
Asking for an image gets an image
Section titled “Asking for an image gets an image”Jul 25, 2026 · Fixed
Image generation now actually runs. And when it is unavailable, you get a picture built by other means with that said out loud — a hand-built layout is never passed off as a generated image.
Pressing Enter starts a conversation. Always.
Section titled “Pressing Enter starts a conversation. Always.”Jul 24, 2026 · Better
A long message, or one with a file attached, used to be sent off to run in the background without asking. It never does that now: work only leaves for the background when you hand it off on purpose.
Your settings for a conversation stay put
Section titled “Your settings for a conversation stay put”Jul 23, 2026 · Better
What it may use, when it should check with you, whether to show you the plan first, and the spend limit — these used to reset every time you reopened a conversation. They now belong to the conversation and are still there when you come back.
The check-with-me control has three honest settings: before anything leaves the app, before sending or publishing only, or not at all — in which case it runs without stopping to ask. Do not read the spend limit field as the backstop there; Spending limits says where that number is read and where it is not.
Paste or drag a file straight in
Section titled “Paste or drag a file straight in”Jul 22, 2026 · New
A screenshot from your clipboard, or a file dragged out of a folder, now lands in the message box directly — no menu. Up to five files at a time, five megabytes each: documents, spreadsheets, slide decks, PDFs, images, text. Anything it can’t read is refused in one plain sentence.
Pick the AI engine, or leave it alone
Section titled “Pick the AI engine, or leave it alone”Jul 22, 2026 · Better
Four choices named for what they mean: Auto picks for each request, Fast is the cheapest acceptable answer, Smart balances quality with a long memory, Max reasons deepest. Under them you can open the full list of every engine we can actually serve and choose one outright, sorted by recommended, cheapest or longest memory.
A tier carries no fixed price on purpose — what a run costs depends on the tier you chose and how much work it took, and it shows up on the receipt.
Add-ons that actually do the thing
Section titled “Add-ons that actually do the thing”Jul 21, 2026 · New
Every add-on in the list has real work behind it, not a switch that looks meaningful: turning any file into clean text, pulling text out of a PDF, reading and writing Word documents, spreadsheets and slide decks, producing a downloadable design, and generating procedural artwork. If an ability isn’t real yet, it isn’t in the list.
It asks you instead of guessing
Section titled “It asks you instead of guessing”Jul 20, 2026 · New
When a decision is genuinely yours — which of these three flights, overwrite or add to the end, which account you meant — it stops and asks as a real question with real options, rather than picking one and hoping.
Waiting costs nothing. A paused run is holding still, not working, and there is no deadline on your answer: it stays parked until you come back or you call it off.
Teach it something once
Section titled “Teach it something once”Jul 20, 2026 · New
Under Assistants there is now Things you taught it: a format you like, a checklist you follow, the way you want a weekly summary laid out. Teach it once and reuse it in any conversation. What you teach stays yours — it is never mixed into anyone else’s account.