Michal Ždanský If you're a canine, there are a few things you can't live without. At the forefront is a compliant keyboard, then your favorite typing app, and maybe a latte in hand at your favorite coffee shop where you exercise your creativity in the form of text. TextExpander can be one of the other necessities, not only for editors, writers, translators, but also for ordinary users who want to save themselves from typing the same phrases over and over again.
The basic function of TextExpander is the creation of so-called text shortcuts for certain phrases. First of all, you need to think about which pieces of text you often repeat and then come up with shortcuts for them. Different names and addresses will come in handy in the beginning. You can create an abbreviation consisting of your initials for your full name, the abbreviation "adr" for your entire address, as well as your phone number, e-mail, simply all the data you often fill in forms or anywhere else.
Later, you'll work your way up to longer phrases, such as a complete email signature, a salutation, or a paragraph of text for an automated, albeit manually entered, response. There are no limits to your imagination, it only depends on you which text shortcuts you can use. Once you have created your basic list of phrases and abbreviations, you need to keep those abbreviations in mind. By typing them, you trigger an action that replaces the shortcut with the assigned phrase. In TextExpander, you can set whether the abbreviation will be replaced immediately or after writing the so-called separator, which can be a space, period, comma or any other character.
The possibilities of using TextExpander are wide ranging beyond inserting plain text. The application also supports rich text formatting, so your snippets can have a different color, size and font type, it can be a bulleted list or text in italics. It is also possible to use some variables for snippets. These can be, for example, the current date and time, the contents of the clipboard, the option to add additional text after activating the shortcut or insert additional snippets of that text. TexExpander also allows you to specify the position of the cursor after activating a shortcut, which can be useful, for example, when programming. And if even this is not enough for you, the application has no problem running AppleScripts or Shell Scripts after activating the shortcut.
In addition to typing text for you, TextExpander can be used for autocorrect. For example, if you regularly write typos in certain words, just set them as a shortcut and thus eliminate typos. In addition, the application also allows automatic correction of two capital letters or automatic writing of a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence. When using TextExpander, you often come up with another shortcut that you would like to add, so you can set keyboard shortcuts that will create text shortcuts from selected text or from the clipboard.
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TextExpander Touch
TextExpander is certainly not the only application of its kind, there are for Mac available for example TypeIt4Me or Typist, but the companion iOS app is a big plus. The Mac version can be synchronized with it via Dropbox, and you will be able to use saved shortcuts on your iPhone or iPad. However, the iOS version works a little differently due to system limitations.
First of all, it contains a simple text editor where you can write any text using shortcuts and then paste it anywhere. But the greatest strength of the application lies in its integration with other third-party applications, which include most text editors for iOS, note-taking applications, to-do lists, blogging software or Twitter clients, by the way, you can find a list of all applications at developer sites. TextExpander then works exactly as you would expect, i.e. you write a shortcut, which is then replaced by the set text.
So, in the end, TextExpander saves you a lot of typing of letters, words and sentences, you just need to have a good memory to remember the shortcuts you use. I personally use TextExpander on a daily basis and it is essential for me when writing articles, formatting them in WordPress and occasionally writing HTML code.
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And if you don't want to pay 708 CZK for TextExpander, you can download the RapidoWrtite program, which is free...