You've probably seen a lot about the program TextExpander over the past week or so on
MacNN; there was the sudden move to a required subscription model, our Monday Pointers column about how to move the snippets one had in TextExpander over to
Keyboard Maestro if you decided you didn't want to go subscription right now, and then Smile's equally-sudden reversal of some elements of their plan, and lowering the cost of other parts. This Pointers column will continue to praise TextExpander as the cream of the macro utility crop, but maybe we should step back, remind ourselves why macros are so addictive, and take a look at some more alternatives to weigh up what will likely work best for you.
For those not using any text-expansion program, we say: you little liar. You are, and you may not even know it. OS X has, for a couple-three versions now, included some automatic "macros" that convert certain common expressions, like (c) which is often used to indicate copyright, into the proper copyright symbol ©, which can also be invoked by pressing the option key and the "g" key (why the g key? Beats us. Maybe this is why Apple thought it would be a good idea to macro-ize this and many other common symbols in the first place).
The magic of macros
Try it yourself: write 1/4, and it should magically turn into ¼, unless you've specifically turned this ability off in system preferences. Text substitution (as Apple calls it) or macros (as Microsoft dubbed it with Office) can do a great deal more than just substitute text expressions with the right symbols: you can use macros to turn a short "snippet" of text into a full-blown paragraph and beyond of routine "boilerplate" text you'd otherwise have to type out by hand.
We wrote a Pointers about this
over a year ago, but on the OS X level, nothing at all has changed: you can use the Text subsection of the Keyboard system preference to edit and create your own handy text shortcuts, or macros if you prefer and save yourself enormous amounts of time if you do a lot of repetitive typing, like say your full address on web forms for example.
In that column, we recommended TextExpander for people who needed more than basic macro expansion, and later proved it by writing an entire Pointers column on
just the program alone. We still do think TE is the most advanced of that type of program. The built-in OS version is much more basic, but it does have one huge advantage: text shortcuts you store in there also work automatically in iOS, and man is that ever handy.
Most users, however, fall somewhere short of actually needing the full advanced power of TextExpander, and some may have just been acutely reminded of this through Smile's rather ham-handed way of handling the latest update. Without getting into the whole discussion about "software as a service" and the wisdom of going subscription with a relatively minor (albeit very useful) utility like TE -- mostly because
we already did so earlier today -- some users may decide its time to look at alternatives, or even use the publicity over this recent brouhaha to start exploring what all the fuss is about.
In short: a little setup time to type in or copy-paste your most frequently-used phrases, expressions, and "boilerplate" text will pay off enormously in time savings and productivity gains. Imagine, for example, if you were a presidential candidate's secretary, charged with replying to complainers. How great would it be if you could just type "xoops," for example, and have it expand out to "Dear Sir or Madam, thank you for your recent letter bringing your concerns to our attention. We believe our candidate misspoke in his most recent remarks, and we are sorry if any groups or individuals were offended. A clarification of his thoughts on this matter will be published soon. Thank you again for letting us know your thoughts."
So for the most basic uses of macros, for example using the abbreviation "omw" to text "on my way!" when you are running late, Apple's built-in facility works fine, and carries over to iOS, and costs nothing. However, there are other occasions where you might need something a bit more powerful ... such as a macro that contains a variable, like a specific person's name, or today's date. Obviously, TextExpander can handle this and much more, but if you're not considering it for whatever reason, there's some "third ways:" Typinator, TypeIt4Me, and aText.
The power of perpetual
These two alternative programs are sold for a single price, which generally lasts for at least as long as the next major version -- and thus is likely to last you for a couple of years or so. These are called "perpetual" licenses, in that they don't expire so much as become obsolete due to your upgrading the OS, or version of the program. The developer is based in Austria, which uses Euros, so the price of it is €25, or around $28.20 US -- but through the end of April, the developers are running a special for TextExpander switchers that takes 25 percent off the price, and includes the next major version (v7, coming later this year).
Licenses are good until the next major version of Typinator comes out, with a window for buyers who purchased shortly before that happened, and half-price upgrade pricing for everyone else. TypeIt4Me is less expensive than Typinator at $20 for a single license, but does not have quite as many features. However, TypeIt4Me (hereafter abbreviated to TI4M ... hmmm ... maybe I should use that as a snippet to expand the full name each time ...) offers an iOS keyboard ($5) that will let you use your TI4M snippets on iOS, whereas Typinator does not (yet) offer any iOS support.
There's another option called aText, and it is the cheapest one of all, at only $5. It is probably the most basic of the three in some areas, but it does have one niche where it could prove at least as useful as Typinator, and that is for programmers who want to use coding snippets, invoke shell scripts or Applescripts, or use their snippets in Windows via virtual environments like Parallels. It can also insert images, do some basic autocorrection, and import snippets from all three of the other programs.
Important side note: there was previously a version of aText in the Mac App Store, and it is still there -- but it does not work with OS X 10.11 and is not supported, so don't download it from there; get it directly from the developer. There is a free trial (as with the others), so you may want to give all three a spin to evaluate them all. Pro tip: don't run them simultaneously.
TI4M will remind users of OS X's built-in autocorrect and text shortcut facility, but it expands upon this with the ability to set up "fill in the blank" auto cues, reposition the cursor after expansion (very useful for HTML or CSS code snippets, or just turning "iou" into "I promise to pay you the sum of $ by next Tuesday" and then move the cursor to the $ to fill in the amount), insert Applescripts in snippets, nest snippets, handle date and time math (for both present and past/future dates), and more.
Typinator does all this and a lot of other stuff: the programming snippets as aText does are all supported, with Typinator "understanding" the syntax of many common languages (Python, AppleScript, Perl, PHP, Ruby, and most shell language commands), and it also makes powerful use of "RegEx" (regular expressions), subscript and superscripts, navigation keystrokes for filling out forms, and one of my favorite features: you can set a given snippet to work only in a specific or set of specific applications rather than "universally" -- for example, summarize your pro-Apple arguments in snippets in a forums-only set, keep them separate from your "business" set of expansions.
In addition, for Filemaker users there are sets specifically for FM use, which is an incredible time-saver. There's also an active community of users who develop and share snippet sets that might be useful to others (like web programmers for example). TextExpander offers even more elaborate handling of variables, but Typinator's use of regex means that TE users looking to switch should be able to import their TE snippets without any significant issues. Indeed, the company is making something of a big deal about its improved ability in this area in the latest beta. Ergonis really wants disaffected TE owners to check them out, to be frank about it.
A wealth of wonderful options
We often say around here that "competition is good" because it keeps everyone on their toes. For some, TextExpander remains the gold standard, and worth the (now more reasonable) annual cost; Smile also reinstated the standalone ($45) TextExpander 5 for those who want a perpetual license, but it is unclear how long it will before improvements to the subscription version will hasten the inevitable shift. Some who used both TE and Keyboard Maestro (for other stuff) should look at Monday's Pointers to learn how to do it all on KM, perhaps.
For some others, the discovery that you can customize OS X's built-in text shortcuts may be all that's required, and the price is certainly right. We think, however, that once you've played around with any type of text expansion utility, most users will want to do more with it. This will likely lead them to TypeIt4Me or Typinator, or maybe aText -- each depending on the specific needs users have or want to have.
All of the third-party programs we've mentioned have free trials for the Mac versions, so we encourage you to experiment with a few "snippets" you can move around easily at first, and see which one works best for you. You may never have to write out a form letter or thank-you note again, and for students -- your ability to submit a paper containing 1,000 instances of "I will not crack a {type of offensive remark} joke in class again" is just seconds away from completion; even faster than copy and pasting 10 at a time. Er, so I'm told.
-- Charles Martin
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