To summarize a text, decide who the summary is for and how short it must be, keep the main point plus the few details that support it, and check the result against the original. You can do this by hand or let an app draft it from text you import, a screenshot or a photo of a page. Below you get a length table, a worked example, a checklist and a note on when not to use a summary at all.
This guide is about written text. For files, see how to summarize a PDF. For audio, see how to summarize a voice memo or message.
What a good summary does
Purdue OWL says that in many situations you do not need the level of detail the original writer gave, so you summarize by removing minor details. It also warns against cutting too much important information. And unlike paraphrasing, a summary keeps the basic order of the original.
That gives you three tests for any summary, yours or an app's:
- Shorter: minor details are gone.
- Complete enough: the main point and key reasons are still there.
- Same order: it follows the original, so someone can find each point back in the source.
Choose the length first
Our suggestion: a summary is easier to get right when you decide the length first. Pick one before you start.
| You need | Length | Keep |
|---|---|---|
| A quick decision ("do I need to read this?") | 1 to 2 sentences | The main point and what it means for you |
| A reply to an email | 3 to 4 lines | Who asks what, by when |
| Study or review | A short list of key points | Claims, reasons, terms you must know |
| Sharing with a colleague | A short paragraph | Conclusion first, then support |
A decision rule: if you would act on only one thing from the text, write that thing first. Everything else is optional.
Summarize by hand in five steps
- Read the text once without writing.
- Mark the main point. Our rule of thumb: look at the opening and closing lines first, then ask which single sentence the rest supports.
- List the two to five points that support it.
- Write them in your own words, in the original order.
- Cut anything the reader could skip without losing the point.
Worked example
We wrote this example ourselves to show the idea. It is not real app output, and your results will look different.
Original email (shortened):
Hi all, following the review last week, the facilities team has decided to move
the office kitchen renovation from March to May because the contractor is
booked. The kitchen will be closed from May 5 to May 16. A temporary coffee
station will be set up near reception. Please store food in the fridge on the
second floor, and note that the second floor fridge is cleaned every Friday, so
label your items. Questions go to Dana in facilities by April 30.
One-sentence summary: The kitchen renovation moved to May 5 to 16; use the second-floor fridge and send questions to Dana by April 30.
Key points version:
- Renovation moved from March to May 5 to 16
- Coffee station near reception meanwhile
- Second-floor fridge, cleaned Fridays, so label food
- Questions to Dana by April 30
What was dropped: the review meeting and the reason (the contractor is booked). If the reader needed to know why, that would be a "too much cut" mistake, so the right cut depends on who is reading.
Summarize with Retexta
Retexta is a cloud voice to text and AI writing app for Android. Besides voice, you can start from other input: its listing says you can import a screenshot, a PDF or plain text, and the app also lets you take a photo of a page. One of the goals you can choose is a summary.
- Open Retexta and start a new task.
- Add your text: upload a screenshot, take a photo of the page, or import plain text.
- Choose the summary goal.
- Read the result and compare it with the source.
Screenshot, photo and upload inputs are part of Retexta Pro. New users get a few free Pro results to view in the app, but copying, sharing and exporting a result needs Retexta Pro or credits. The app is not a keyboard and does not read text aloud.
Check the summary against the source
Retexta labels results "AI-generated. Check important details." Take that seriously. For a file upload, the steps are in our guide on summarizing a PDF. Short text has its own traps, so here is what we check, using the kitchen email above as the test case:
- Moved dates: the email names two months and three dates. A summary that says "March" or mixes up April 30 and May 5 is wrong, even if it reads well.
- Who does what: "questions go to Dana" can turn into "Dana will answer by April 30". Same words, different action.
- Negatives and conditions: "not", "no longer" and "unless" are easy to lose in a one-line version.
- Dropped "so" or "because": "label your items" only makes sense with "cleaned every Friday".
- Added claims: is anything in the summary that the text never said?
- Photo text: if you started from a photo, small print or a bad angle can be misread, so look at the photo itself too.
Common mistakes
- Summarizing without a reader in mind. The same text needs a different summary for your boss and for your own revision.
- Copying sentences. Lifting phrases is not summarizing. Pull the idea out and say it in your words.
- Cutting the reason. Facts without the "because" are often useless.
- Trusting a clean summary. A smooth result is not proof it is right. Check the numbers.
- Dropping the deadline. In short messages like the email above, the date is often the one detail the reader acts on, so it stays even in a one-sentence version.
When not to use a summary
If the summary will be graded as your own work, do not hand in a draft from an app. The UNC Writing Center says the majority of a paper should still be your original ideas in your own words, and that quotations and paraphrases both require a formal citation. Because a summary restates the source's ideas, the UNC rule for paraphrases suggests giving it credit too, and your course may have its own rules on AI. Read them first. Our guide on AI and voice to text for students covers where the line sits.
A safe use: summarize your own notes for revision, then write the assignment yourself. If you recorded a class, turning a lecture into notes works the same way. For work, a summary also helps after a meeting. See how to write meeting minutes. For more about the app, visit Retexta, voice to text for Android.
Sources
All pages accessed on October 22, 2026.
- Purdue University, Purdue OWL, Summarizing: summarizing removes minor details, avoids cutting important information and keeps the original order.
- UNC Chapel Hill, The Writing Center, Quotations: most of a paper should be your own ideas in your own words, and quotations and paraphrases need a formal citation.
- Retexta: input types, goals and plan limits as shown on its Google Play listing and in the app.
- The example, table and checklist: written by FLAME Apps.
