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Type less with text expansion

A replacement watches what you type. When you type its code and then press Space, the code is erased and the replacement text is typed in its place. The starter set has one already: type ;shrug and press Space in any program.

Add a replacement​

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About
Replacements
Type a shrug
Home address
Text expansion
ReplacementsSettings
App group
Global
Trigger
Typed text
Case-sensitive. Expands when followed by Space, Tab or Enter, or by a period, comma, exclamation mark or question mark.
;addr
What it does
TextText via clipboardRTFHTML
Replacement text
1 Main Street, Springfield
  1. Open Text expansion. The Replacements tab is selected.
  2. In App group ①, choose Global so the replacement works in every program. Choose a program's app group instead to make it work only there. A new replacement can't be made while All is selected.
  3. Click + New at the bottom of the Replacements list ②, and type a name for it.
  4. In Typed text ③, type the code, for example ;addr. Start it with a character such as ; so it never matches an ordinary word.
  5. Under What it does, keep Text ④ and type the replacement in Replacement text ⑤.
  6. Click Apply.

Open Notepad, type ;addr and press Space. The code disappears, the address appears, and the space follows it.

The rules​

  • Case matters. ;addr expands; ;Addr doesn't.
  • What ends the code: Space, Tab or Enter, or a period, comma, exclamation mark or question mark. The key you pressed is sent after the replacement, so Enter acts on the finished text.
  • A space can't be part of the code, because a space ends it.
  • Holding Ctrl, Alt or Win while typing starts the watch over: a shortcut is never typing.
  • Which replacement runs depends on the window you type in: its app group's replacements first, then Global's.

Text types the replacement as keystrokes, which works almost everywhere but is slow for long text. Text via clipboard pastes it, which is instant. See Text expansion.

note

Advanced mode. The Settings tab also shows Expand on Space, Expand on Tab and Expand on Enter, to choose which keys end a code. In Simple mode it shows only Text expansion enabled, which turns every replacement on or off.

Next​

Pause, bypass and exit.