Macros are dynamic bits of built-in syntax that you can use to do things like pull in today's date, place the cursor, paste text from the clipboard, or execute certain key combinations. You set it up once, and your text expander will link it to its abbreviation-and will paste it instead of your abbreviation whenever you type one. Snippets are the chunks of text, code, or other info that you want to drop into your work via an abbreviation. Once you type one out, your text will instantly expand into the space your abbreviation once occupied. You'll see these phrases or concepts used throughout your text expansion tool of choice, and this article:Ībbreviations are the codewords that you assign to blocks of text you type often (or 'snippets'). Expanding Your Vocabularyīefore we get started, let's cover a few common terms so you aren't left scratching your head through this entire tutorial. If you spend more than half the day with your fingers resting on a keyboard, a text expander will help you reclaim typing time that you can put towards more important work. It's like comparing shorthand to word-for-word transcription: the former is faster when you stick to a system. Like a lot of productivity and automation strategies, text expansion is all about shaving seconds off of your most common tasks and racking up extra time. So far it's saved her 33.92 hours-almost a workweek of typing.īut you don't need to be a power user to see big benefits. She uses a text expansion app to drop common responses and links into help desk tickets, so our users get answers fast. The screenshot above is courtesy of one of our customer champions at Zapier, Vicky. Of course, minutes-saved will vary from person to person. But if you do that 20 times per week, your minutes spent clacking away grows exponentially. Sure, it only takes four or five seconds to type out your phone number. It might be something simple like your company name or email address, or a more complex message like a sales pitch. The only problem users might encounter is Textexpander sometimes freezes upon startup, requiring you to Force Quit.Ĭreate abbreviations for your most commonly used phrases with Textexpander.There are hundreds of words and phrases you type out multiple times during the week, often without even noticing it. On the whole, Textexpander is a real time saving that will be of great use to editors, web programmers or just those who have to repeat the same phrases regularly. If you get stuck creating snippets, there are some excellent tutorials on the developer's website. Note that Textexpander works across all applications where you use a text editor so it's useful whether you're typing in a text document or an e-mail. shortcuts) are stored in a list on the left side of the interface, and you can create groups to keep them organized by relevant subjects. For example, you can abbreviate the time to the letters 'tt' and the time in 24 hour format will appear. It's particularly useful for entering time and dates. Although it's not a particularly complicated application, Textexpander still requires a little getting to grips with at first. If you spend too many hours a day writing the same old phrases and replies, Textexpander will allow you to define keyboard shortcuts to automatically type them for you.

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