In working on my daily mailing to theMac OS X HintsandMacworldWeb sites , I do a lot of insistent typewriting . Here are just a few examples of such repeat :
That command changes a URL reference in the database from my local automobile to the hints server , so that sure links will make for aright .
A Finger Saver
On any given day , I ’ll terminate up using some or all of these drawstring on multiple occasions . After a while , the finger arise banal of pound the same keys over and over again , so the mastermind goes in search of a better solution . Enter Peter Maurer’sTextpander 1.1 ( ) . Textpander is an abbreviation service program , much likeTypeIt4Me ( , July 2003 ) . However , I prefer Textpander for its round-eyed installation ( it ’s a System Preferences pane , not an comment method acting that requires a full organisation restart ) and more docile pricing model ( Textpander is unpriced donationware ; TypeIt4Me is $ 27 shareware ) . After act with both for a fleck , I also found I favour Textpander ’s method acting of make fresh shortcuts — it just seemed more visceral to me .
Textpander Interface
The independent Textpander interface is a penchant jury , with a simple three - tabbed port :
The Snippets tab is used for your snip — and though I use Textpander strictly for pasting pure text , it can also care image , or a mix of textbook and images , in its snippet . Creating an abbreviation could n’t be simpler ; just click the positive sign , type or glue your cognitive content , and then type the abbreviation you ’d like to use . I ’ve opt to premise most of my cutoff with two exclamation point , but you could use whatever you wish . As soon as you ’ve assigned a new abbreviation , it ’s like a shot available , even to running applications . Textpander seems to do a corking job of capturing keystrokes ; it work in Cocoa , Carbon , and even Java applications . It wo n’t , however , work in Classic apps . ( The key stroke are acknowledge by Textpander in Classic apps , but the abbreviations are not pasted in . )
The Preferences tablet lets you rig the default manner for match ( i.e. , case sensitive or not ) , snippet format , and , most significantly , when to replace abbreviations . The mode I prefer is “ when typed , ” which basically intend as soon as Textpander recognize an abbreviation , the full snippet is inserted . you may also apply it in a “ delimiter ” musical mode , whereby the text wo n’t be replaced until you type a outer space , chit , or return . you’re able to also use the Preferences tab to produce a inclination of apps that Textpander will basically brush off . ( In other countersign , in which it will not essay to expand your abbreviations . )
The Updates check is simply used to see to it for new versions of the program , either automatically or manually .
About snippet
One of the things I love about Textpander is the intelligence that you’re able to encode in a snippet . look at the MySQL example above , which needs to have the current appointment inserted each time I go it . As a snip , the text looks like this :
The%Y,%m , and%dvariables are replaced , respectively , with the four - dactyl class and two - digit calendar month and solar day numbers whenever I type the abbreviation for this snippet ( ! ! rel ) . Consider also the download filing cabinet URL above — after typing it , it ’d be ideal if the cursor were put right in the middle of the universal resource locator , between the < and the / a > . Textpander makes this easy with a “ side pointer here ” varying :
I type the abbreviation , type the name for the link , then backspace a few clip and replace the underscore with the name of the uploaded file . It ’s not altogether automated , but it sure beats typing the affair out by hand each time ! There are other fashion to position the cursor , as well as setting for the time and keeping or dropping the delimiters , if you have Textpander typeset to move after type a delimiter .
Raves and Rants
I love Textpander ’s simplicity of installation and removal — and a simple checkbox to deactivate it without uninstalling — as well as the ease with which I can make shortcuts . Textpander ’s power to capture the shortcuts in every diligence I throw at it also impress me .
On the downside , one affair you ca n’t do with Textpander is insert Command - winder shortcuts into the abbreviations . For representative , I could fully automate the download URL shortcut , mark above , if I could just tell apart Textpander to hit ⌘ -V instead of typing those underscores . Alas , Command - key command ca n’t be encoded into snippet . ( Interestingly , you could do this the canonical macro facilities inButler , another Peter Maurer product — so I ’ve used Butler to work around this limitation for a couple of crosscut . ) It ’s also not a substitution for a full - fumble macro program , such asQuicKeys X3 , but then again , it ’s not hypothesize to be .
ending
If you type the same string over and over , and you ’re look for a way to preserve your fingers some wear and bust , Textpander is deserving a look - see . Just remember it ’s donationware , so you should give what you experience its deserving if you decide to keep using it .
