Text Expansion Apps For Mac Free
If you spend a lot of time at your computer it probably means you are going to be doing a lot of typing. That will be the case if you use the computer to work, write letters, documents, emails, articles or simply spend time on forums or social networks. Whether you realize it or not, you’ll very likely be typing in the same things like long words or common phrases, names, addresses or email signatures over and over again. That all takes time that could be saved if you shorten the process.
Mar 11, 2020 Below, you can find some applications that we had considered while trying to find the best text expansion software for Mac. However, due to certain reasons, they did not make it to the top positions. That said, you can consider the following options if you are looking for. Easily insert text snippets in any application from a library of content created by you and your team. Try it for free. See how TextExpander benefits your team and enterprise – LEARN MORE. TextExpander lets you instantly insert snippets of text.
It’s possible to use something like the Clipboard to paste in the same text over and over, but the Windows Clipboard has it’s limit of pasting a single copied item at a time. Users of Microsoft Word will likely know about the Autocorrect function that can take an abbreviation or short string and replace it with another word or short phrase. While that works in Word it doesn’t help when you want to use something similar in other applications or web browsers.
As Windows doesn’t have the ability to expand words or strings into phrases a third party application will be needed. We’ve previously written about how to insert words or phrases with hotkeys, but here we list 5 free tools that can quickly or automatically expand a short typed string into a longer string. All programs were tested in Windows 7 and 10 64-bit.
1. PhraseExpressPhraseExpress is probably the most feature rich and comprehensive free text replacement tool around today. Depending on your needs it may be exactly what you want or you might prefer to use something smaller and simpler. There’s an add-on system where phrase files can be downloaded and imported, such as sample phrases, special functions, English contractions, autocorrect words, chat acronyms and sample macros. Even Autotext and Autocorrect From Word and emails from Outlook can be imported. PhraseExpress has both portable and setup installer versions.
Adding a phrase can be done a couple of ways, either open the main window and press the Phrase button in the ribbon toolbar, or highlight a phrase in some text and press Ctrl+Alt+C. The second method is simpler and quicker because you only need to supply the abbreviation autotext. The first method is more powerful as the replacement text can include a massive array of content. It includes text formatting, images, URLs, tables, date and time, automation such as create email or run program, text operations, clipboard operations and mouse/keyboard functions.
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After typing the autotext shortcut the phrase content can be inserted immediately, after a delimiter such as Enter, Space or Tab is pressed, in a manual confirm popup menu (press Tab to accept), with a predefined hotkey or SmartComplete suggests as you type. PhraseExpress also has a clipboard cache that stores clipboard data allowing you to select it from a menu, and an option to include or exclude individual phrases or whole phrase libraries in specific programs. Memory usage is a touch high at around 30-40MB.
Download PhraseExpress
2. TyperTask
TyperTask is from the same developer as the popular TinyTask macro creation tool. It’s a plain no frills program that does the task at hand with a few more interesting features besides. These include entering text snippets via keyboard shortcut, launching programs/websites, creating list menus and emulating keyboard keys/mouse actions. It can do all that from a portable executable of only 56KB and consuming only 1-2MB of RAM in the background.
As it packs several features into a tiny package that does also make TyperTask a touch more difficult to setup. This is because the settings have to be configured manually in a user interface that closely resembles Notepad. Luckily, creating a simple text expansion is easy. Enter the abbreviation on a new line, add an equals (=), then add the expanded text snippet. For a line break add {enter} into the text. Additional keyboard keys and abbreviations for date and time can also be used.
Go to File > Save and minimize TyperTask to the tray. An informative Readme file is available for the more advanced uses of the program and how best to use text snippets. Go to Help > Help Reference to open it.
Download TyperTask
3. WordExpander
WordExpander is by Bartels Media, the people behind Sharemouse, and advertised as a free alternative to the shareware and quite expensive PhraseExpander. The program is a traditional text replacement tool and not stuffed with features like PhraseExpress, which is good if that’s all you want. There are two modes of operation (called Libraries) in WordExpander, phrase replacement shortcuts or autocorrection.
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For a Phrase you supply a shortcut word and then add the snippet or block of text to replace it with. When you type the shortcut a menu will popup with one or more snippets that are configured for that shortcut. Press the default qualifier key Shift to insert the replacement text. Autocorrection is different because it’s meant for auto correcting misspelled words but can also be used for phrases or sentences. Enter the Typo (shortcut phrase) and replace with text in the Correction box. As soon as you enter the typo text and press space it will automatically be replaced.
WordExpander has some downloadable phrase libraries but they’re all medical related for some reason. There is an English autocorrect file which has over 4,100 word corrections. Download it then use the Import Library function to import the text file into the program. WordExpander was a bit erratic on memory usage, averaging anywhere between 20MB and 60MB.
Download WordExpander
4. Texter
Texter was developed by an editor working at Lifehacker and created in the AutoHotKey scripting language. Sadly Texter is not in active development and the last version was from back in 2007. That’s not to say it doesn’t work on newer operating systems because we tested it in Windows 10 and it worked OK. Any found issues or bugs are never going to get fixed though. Both setup installer and portable versions are available, as is the AutoHotKey source code if you want to have a look.
After launching Texter and it’s sitting in the tray press Ctrl+Shift+H to open the create hotstring window. Alternatively double click the tray icon and press the plus button. Enter the hotstring into the small box which is the abbreviation text, then enter the replacement text into the large box. A new line here will also insert the text as a new line in the software. The Trigger is how you would like the text to be expanded, either after you press Enter, Tab, Space or instantly after the hotstring has been typed. Press OK when done and test out your new hotstring.
To edit or delete the hotstrings open the management window by double clicking the tray icon or pressing Ctrl+Shift+M. Texter also has a basic scripting mode which can add keystrokes to the text, change the Text drop down to Script to enable that function. More help can be found on the Lifehacker page for the program. Texter uses about 4MB of memory sitting in the tray
Download Texter
5. ProKeys (Google Chrome Extension)
If you only want to use text expanding capabilities within your web browser to fill online forms or forum posts etc, it makes sense to use a browser extension. That way only the browser will be affected and other software on the computer will not, and nothing will be running in the background while the browser is closed. ProKeys is a Chrome extension that can do the job.
The extension works much like the other tools by adding a keyword or phrase and then entering the expanded text to replace it with. Text replacement is not automatic and you press a hotkey after typing the abbreviated word to expand it, the default is Shift+Space but can be changed. ProKeys also has an auto character pair insert option (if you type a left bracket it will add a right bracket and place the cursor in between them) and an exclusion list where specific websites can be added that ProKeys will ignore.
Download ProKeys Chrome Extension
We did look at some other extensions for both Chrome and Firefox, such as Auto Text Expander and Text Complete, but found they didn’t work very well or never worked at all. One issue with using an extension is it will use more memory than the lighter tools listed here. If your system is quite old or its memory is limited it might be better to use something like Texter or TyperTask instead.
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5 Tools To Insert Text or Commands With Keyboard Shortcuts5 Free Tools to Search and Replace a Word or Phrase Across Multiple Text Files5 Free Tools to Paste Copied Texts Without Formatting7 Ways to Copy Text or Error Messages from WindowsScan and Convert Images to Text with OCR, Optical Character RecognitionIt appears that TyperTask is no longer on the vtaskstudio.com web site. It available for download from CNet.com and other download web sites. There is also a Typer Task program on SourceForge.net, but it is not clear if this is the same program.
ReplyThanks for the report, we’ve changed the download link to Softpedia. The tool at Sourceforge is different and never really got off the ground by the look of it.
ReplyMy attempts to use TyperTask have been somewhat disappointing. It seems to work very nicely, but the help information included with TyperTask says that there is an additional online help file with a complete list “bracket codes” that allow you to use non-alphanumeric keys on the keyboard. TyperTask is handicapped without this additional information.
It appears that all references to TyperTask have been purged from the vTaskStudio,com web site. They have shut down their support forum and they say that they don’t respond to requests for help via E-mail or phone.
If someone has saved a copy of the online help file or the “bracket codes”, it would be a great service to the user community if they could post that information somewhere online. Perhaps someone could find the unknown bracket codes by examining the executable file and looking for ASCII strings that correspond to the known bracket codes.
ReplyThe help file says the extra bracket codes are contained within the help files of vTask Studio. Those files are still online so you will have to search through and find what you are looking for. The below help page might be of some use.
Best Free Mac Apps
vtaskstudio.com/help/lookup.htm#keys
Best Mac Apps
It’s a shame when a developer completely disowns its own software. TinyTask and WhatChanged are other free tools we have mentioned before that have been erased from their website.
ReplyI am an advanced user of this program and I can highly recommend the Pro version for business use. I use it every day and consider it indispensable. To use the advanced features you do need to sit down and read the user manual, but once you do you will be amazed at what it can do and how much time it can save you? Texter is good, but PE offers a whole new level of customization and features that become hard to live without.
Replythanks ray….its nice to see you post regularly these days…
ReplyI use Texter -simple and good
Reply