Typing aid for Mac
Thread poster: Hans Lenting
Hans Lenting
Hans Lenting
Netherlands
Member (2006)
German to Dutch
Feb 7, 2021

pex_autotext_smartcomplete.187x0

Some time ago, there was a discussion here about a typing aid for the Mac. Only one, rather old software was mentioned then.

Yesterday I discovered Phrase Express for Mac: https://www.phraseexpress.com/mac/ (82,60 EUR (ex. VAT))

It has a great feature: SmartComplete (also known as Auto-Suggestion, Auto-Complete in some CAT tools), a typing aid that works in (nearly) all your Mac programs.

Here's a demo (from 2014 ...):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C82Iv93Hik

And a description:

https://www.phraseexpress.com/mac/doc/edit/properties/autotext/#autotext-options

The really nice thing about SC is that you don't have to define your text shortcuts: SC will learn them from your previous keystrokes, or ... from your previous documents (which you can import to have them analysed!!!).

It looks that PE is maintained very actively. The feature set is impressive, though some features can also be found in other software (Keyboard Maestro, TypeIt4Me, TextExpander, aText, Typinator etc.).



[Edited at 2021-02-07 09:58 GMT]


Wolfgang Schoene
Dan Lucas
 
Dan Lucas
Dan Lucas  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:33
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
I find it very useful Feb 7, 2021

Hans Lenting wrote:
It looks that PE is maintained very actively. The feature set is impressive, though some features can also be found in other software (Keyboard Maestro, TypeIt4Me, TextExpander, aText, Typinator etc.).

The developer is quite active and there is a new version about once very 18 months. I find that additional functionality is generally not of major interest - the law of diminishing returns set in some time ago for me personally - but I upgrade once very few years, just to keep the license going.

In addition to text expansion I use PhraseExpress for launching websites, files, folders, or software.

In English I find the two-letter combination "ii" almost never occurs, so I use this to prefix most of my autotexts. For example, typing iisdgjapan will open a new browser tab at https://www.sdg-s.jp/about/. In fact I have "Postfix" set to "Incremental" and "Manual Confirmation", so that as I type PhraseExpress displays a menu showing other phrases whose autotexts begin with "iis", then I can just select the one I want from the menu, or keep typing to filter until iisdgjapan becomes the only remaining choice, then hit return.

Loads of other potential uses. Inserting symbols, for example.

Regards,
Dan


Hans Lenting
 


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Typing aid for Mac






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