Add “Ask ChatGPT” action when selecting text in assistant responses on macOS

Open 💬 0 comments Opened Jul 10, 2026 by efbrnbrbr

What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?

What subscription do you have?

Pro x5 Plan

What platform is your computer?

Mac OS Tahoe 26.5.2

What issue are you seeing?

The ChatGPT desktop app for macOS does not provide the “Ask ChatGPT” action when I select text inside an assistant response.

This feature is available in the ChatGPT web interface. On the web, I can select a specific sentence or paragraph from an assistant response and use “Ask ChatGPT” to ask a follow-up question about that exact part of the response.

However, this functionality is missing from both the new unified ChatGPT desktop app and ChatGPT Classic on macOS. When I select text in an assistant response, I only get the standard macOS text-selection options. There is no ChatGPT-specific action that lets me use the selected passage as context for my next question.

This creates a major difference between the web and desktop experiences. I frequently work with long responses and need to ask questions about one specific sentence, claim, explanation, or paragraph. Without this feature, I have to manually copy the selected text, paste it into the message box, add quotation formatting, and explain that I am referring to that specific part.

Because this workflow is missing from the macOS apps, I am forced to use the web version even though I would prefer to use the native desktop application. The web version also performs less smoothly on my system, especially in long conversations.

The issue is particularly noticeable in the new unified desktop app. Chat, Codex, and Work are presented as parts of one application, but the Chat interface still lacks an important interaction that already exists in the web version.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Open the ChatGPT desktop app on macOS.

Open an existing conversation or start a new conversation.

Ask ChatGPT a question that produces a response containing multiple sentences or paragraphs.

Use the mouse or trackpad to select a specific sentence or paragraph inside the assistant’s response.

Check the actions that appear after selecting the text.

Observe that there is no “Ask ChatGPT” action or any equivalent option for using the selected text as context for a follow-up question.

Repeat the same test in ChatGPT Classic for macOS.

Observe that the feature is also missing there.

Open the same type of conversation in the ChatGPT web interface.

Select text inside an assistant response.

Observe that the web interface provides the “Ask ChatGPT” action, allowing the selected passage to be used directly in a follow-up question.

What is the expected behavior?

When I select text inside an assistant response in the ChatGPT desktop app for macOS, an “Ask ChatGPT” action should appear, matching the behavior of the ChatGPT web interface.

After clicking this action, the selected sentence or paragraph should automatically be added to the message composer as quoted or referenced context. I should then be able to write a follow-up question specifically about that selected passage.

For example, if an assistant response contains several paragraphs and I select one sentence, I should be able to click “Ask ChatGPT” and ask:

“Can you explain this part in more detail?”

ChatGPT should understand that my question refers specifically to the selected sentence, without requiring me to manually copy and paste it.

The behavior should work consistently in both the new unified ChatGPT desktop app and ChatGPT Classic for macOS.

Ideally, this should be implemented as either:

A small “Ask ChatGPT” button that appears near the selected text
A context-menu option when right-clicking selected text
Or both

The desktop Chat experience should have feature parity with the web interface for this core interaction.

Additional information

This is not a request for a general system-wide macOS text-selection feature. It specifically concerns selecting text inside ChatGPT’s own assistant responses and using that selected text as context for the next message.

This is one of my most frequently used ChatGPT features. It is especially useful when working with long technical explanations, research, code discussions, comparisons, or multi-paragraph answers.

The current workaround is unnecessarily inefficient:

Select the relevant text.
Copy it.
Click the message composer.
Paste the text.
Add quotation formatting.
Explain that the next question refers to the pasted section.
Write the actual follow-up question.

The web interface reduces this entire process to a single action.

The absence of this functionality is not limited to the new desktop app. ChatGPT Classic for macOS also does not include it. This means there is currently no official native ChatGPT app for macOS that supports this workflow.

Since the new desktop application combines Chat, Codex, and Work into one interface, I expected the Chat section to retain or match the interaction features available in the web version. Instead, the Chat section currently feels more limited than the web client.

Please add selected-text follow-up support to the macOS desktop application and keep the interaction consistent across the web and native clients.

Environment:

Operating system: macOS
Device: [ENTER YOUR MAC MODEL]
Processor: [APPLE SILICON OR INTEL]
macOS version: [ENTER YOUR MACOS VERSION]
ChatGPT app version: [ENTER YOUR APP VERSION]
Affected applications:
New ChatGPT desktop app for macOS
ChatGPT Classic for macOS
Feature available in: ChatGPT web interface

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