Take Control of TextExpander

Type 120 words per minute and have fun doing it with TextExpander!

Join expert Mac writer Michael E. Cohen as he helps you enjoy the power of TextExpander 4, the award-winning text expansion utility from Smile. If you're a TextExpander newbie, you'll learn how to create "snippets" of text (like your address) that you can insert into any text by typing a short abbreviation (for example, addd).

Once you're comfortable with TextExpander's core controls and options, it's time to learn the more sophisticated options for inserting a snippet. You'll also discover how to add optional snippet groups created by Smile and others, create and share your own groups, move groups between Macs using Dropbox, and get the basics on integrating TextExpander with AppleScript and even with the command line.

The ebook also explains how to share your snippets with your iOS devices and access them using Smile's TextExpander touch app.

More Info
Contents & Intro
What’s New
FAQ
Blog

Running TextExpander is like embedding a superhero typist in your Mac. Read Take Control of TextExpander to learn how to:

Reply faster: If you frequently send similar bits of text—directions, chunks of legal writing, bios, product descriptions, company names, addresses, URLs, and so forth—let TextExpander quickly type all that text for you, making it a snap to respond quickly to customer questions or requests from colleagues, and a breeze to send other routine correspondence ("Dear Mom, I'm still not pregnant. Love, Me"). You can even create fill-in snippets that ask you for details and fill in all the rest of the text automatically.
Make typing more exciting: Discover how to grab and insert the URL in your browser’s frontmost window into whatever you’re writing, to insert HTML or CSS tags in a flash, to automagically add the date to filenames as you save, and more. It's like having another set of fingers.
Type more accurately: Find out how to add the auto-correct dictionary groups from Smile and to create your own auto-correction options, so you’ll spend less time fixing common typing mistakes or going red-faced when you spot an egregious error too late.
Enjoy life more: When you let TextExpander handle your routine typing, your brain will be free to think more creatively about the rest of what you type. And you just might knock off work a little sooner some days.

Specific questions answered in this ebook include:

How do I register my demo copy of TextExpander and buy a family pack?
What are some common uses of TextExpander that I can try as I learn?
How do I use TextExpander to timestamp my text automatically?
How can I put the clipboard contents into an expanded snippet?
How can I make a TextExpander snippet that expands into a fill-in form?
How do I work with formatted text and pictures in snippets?
How do I handle capitalization and snippet expansions?
How can I get to TextExpander quickly, and hide it when I don’t need it?
What do I do if I can't remember a snippet's expansion abbreviation?
How can I edit my snippets quickly?
How can I quickly insert special characters like smileys and stars?
How do I insert a snippet and move the insertion point into the middle of it?
How do I insert a snippet immediately after a quotation mark or bracket?
I do a lot of CSS coding. TextExpander sounds great, but how can I leverage someone else's work and not have to create my own set of CSS expansions?
How can I invoke an AppleScript from within a TextExpander snippet expansion, and use the result in my snippet?

This ebook was created in collaboration with Smile. Thanks to everyone at Smile who helped us make the book even more detailed and useful!

Book Info

100 pages
Version 1.1
Updated Jul 31, 2012
2.0 MB download
ISBN: 9781615421374
Free sample with Table of Contents, Intro, Quick Start, and section starts.

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About the Author

Cohen, Michael headshot Michael E. Cohen has taught English composition, worked as a programmer for NASA’s Deep Space Network, helped develop the first commercial ebooks at the Voyager Company, co-founded a major university’s Humanities computing center, taught a number of people, and played with a lot of new technology. He's the author of a number of books, including Take Control of PDFpen 6, Take Control of iBooks Author, and Take Control of TextExpander.

Book Reviews

MacTips
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Author Interviews

Introduction
TextExpander Quick Start
Meet TextExpander
Create and Use Complex Snippets
Organize Your Snippets
Find Your Snippets
Set Text Expander Options
Create Snippets as You Go
Share and Sync Snippets
Script with Snippets
Appendix A: Use TextExpander touch
Learn More
About This Book

Read Me First

This book covers how you can use Smile’s TextExpander 4 text-substitution utility to make your writing, programming, and editing far more efficient and enjoyable. It was written by Michael E. Cohen, edited by Tonya Engst, and published by TidBITS Publishing Inc.

Introduction

In my introduction to the first version of this book, I described how, as someone who preferred to drive a Mac with as few add-on software utilities as possible, I nonetheless became a TextExpander convert and enthusiast.

Now, a year later, I remain just as converted and enthusiastic. In that year, according to TextExpander’s Statistics feature (which I don’t cover in this book because it’s nothing you need to take control of beyond clicking Statistics in the TextExpander window’s toolbar), TextExpander has saved me 129,345 characters in typing and has expanded 7,948 snippets. At 80 words-per-minute, those saved characters comes to 5.39 hours of my time saved. That’s a lot of snippets, a fair chunk of time, and, at my normal hourly working fee, worth far more money than TextExpander’s price!

And, a year on, I still revel in how TextExpander fixes so many of my own idiosyncratic typos with a satisfying “pop”! I still delight in how it can fetch the URL of a Web page I have open and insert it magically with just a few quick keystrokes into an email message that I’m composing! I still smile (or ☺) every time I realize that I won’t ever again have to open and search through the Character Viewer whenever I need to type a ⌘ or a ⌥ or a ⌦!

Finally, I still am happy to proclaim, I ♥ TextExpander!

TextExpander Quick Start

This Quick Start guide offers an overview of what you’ll learn in this ebook.

If you have never used TextExpander, I suggest that you Meet TextExpander and Run the Snippet Creation Assistant. After that, explore how to Create and Use Complex Snippets. Those two chapters should give you a sense of what TextExpander is and what it can do; after that, feel free to read around as your fancy dictates.

If you have used TextExpander before, you might benefit from reviewing Customize Group Settings and Set Expansion Options, and be sure to read Don’t Forget These Fine Features!, ahead a page or so. If you’re an advanced user, you may find that Script with Snippets can take you even further than you have gone before.

For all readers, I strongly suggest that you learn how to Back Up Your Snippets Automatically.

Preliminary steps:

For tips on downloading and installing TextExpander, see Get TextExpander.
If you’re curious about what changed between TextExpander 3 and 4, flip back to What’s New in Version 1.1. (1.1 refers to the version of this ebook.)
Get a running start: Run the Snippet Creation Assistant.
If you’re switching to TextExpander from another text-expansion utility, consult Add a Group from a File.
To get an overview of TextExpander’s two interfaces and start building your first, simple “snippet,” read Meet TextExpander.

Broaden your horizons:

To learn about the wide variety of snippets you can make, and to discover what they can do, read Create and Use Complex Snippets.
To keep your screen uncluttered while having ready access to TextExpander, read Manage Your Interfaces and Use Hotkeys.
For ways to control when snippets expand, see Customize Group Settings and Set Expansion Options.
See how to expand your snippet collection when you Save, Add, and Import Groups.

Get organized:

Corral and catalog your snippet collection; read Make Groups and Arrange Them and Organize a Group’s Contents.
Don’t get lost in a big snippet collection; read Find Your Snippets.

Cover your assets:

To protect your snippet collection, see Back Up Your Snippets Automatically.
Don’t keep all your snippets in one basket; read Share and Sync Snippets to see how you can have them in two (or more) places at once.

Flex your scripting muscles:

Drive other applications from a snippet when you Script with AppleScript.
Find out how to Script with the Shell to harness the power of Unix.

Go mobile:

If you have an iPod touch, iPhone, or iPad, visit Appendix A: Use TextExpander touch to see how you can use your snippet collection on the run.

Don’t Forget These Fine Features!

TextExpander has many useful features that even experienced users sometimes overlook. The following are among my favorites:

Suggest matching abbreviation: Use this hotkey-only command to get at that almost-but-not-quite remembered snippet, even when you can recall only part of its label, content, or abbreviation. See Use Hotkeys.
Enable/Disable Expansion: You can make TextExpander ignore your abbreviations temporarily; it’s another one of the choices you have when you Use Hotkeys.
Predefined groups: Smile provides a collection of snippet groups that are really useful, including the compendious TidBITS Auto Correct dictionary and a collection aimed at people who write HTML and CSS, among several others. Check these groups out in Add a Predefined Group.
Auto-capitalization options: TextExpander can automatically capitalize sentences, and eliminate the common double-capital typo. See Set Auto-capitalization Options.
Adapt to Case of Abbreviation: A snippet can be capitalized when you want it, and be lower-case when you want it. Read Assign an Abbreviation.
Expand after All but Letters & Numbers: This group setting lets snippets expand after both whitespace and punctuation; if you’ve ever wanted a snippet to expand after a parenthesis or a quotation mark but not in the middle of a word, this setting is for you. See Customize Group Settings.
Edit Last Expanded Snippet: Especially if you use TextExpander snippets to reply to customer queries, you may find that your snippets often need updating as products, policies, and services change, or when you find a better way of explaining something. If you’ve just inserted a snippet that needs an edit, you can quickly make the change; see Edit the Last Expanded Snippet.

Update Plans

July 31, 2012 -- Now that we've released version 1.1 of this ebook to explain how to use TextExpander version 4, we have no immediate plans to create another update.

—Adam Engst

TextExpander touch 2.0 Gives You Style and More

May 28, 2013 --

Smile recently released version 2.0 of TextExpander touch, a free upgrade to users of the previous version of the $4.99 iOS app. The latest version brings with it a number of features familiar with users of the Mac version, including styled text in snippets and fill-in snippets. You can find out more about the new features in this release in the TidBITS article, TextExpander touch 2.0 Gains Features from Mac Version.

Appendix A in Take Control of TextExpander (version 1.1) still remains accurate with the exception of this sentence (found at the bottom of pg. 90 in the PDF): "Keep in mind that the text-editing environments on an iOS device, including the one in TextExpander touch itself support only plain text." That is no longer the case: iOS has supported styled text in apps for some time, and now so does TextExpander touch 2.0. However, apps that use the TextExpander API to implement snippet expansion on iOS must be updated before they can use the styled text snippet feature of TextExpander touch 2.0.

—Michael E. Cohen

Shell Script Can Fix Safari 6 Default Fonts

August 16, 2012 --

Safari 6.0, which Apple released into the wild at the same time it did Mountain Lion, lacks the preference option for setting the default proportional font and fixed-width fonts. Fortunately, you can still set these through other methods.

—Michael E. Cohen