With auto-expansion, you can expand your snippets automatically in any app by typing the snippet's keyword, without popping up Alfred's Snippets window! Snippet auto-expansion is disabled by default. To activate it, launch Alfred's preferences to Features Snippets and check the box for 'Automatically expand snippets by keyword'. Below is a list of the best text expander apps for Windows. It’s an easy-to-use text expansion app that’s completely free for personal use. It allows you to use both keyboard shortcuts and abbreviation text as triggers to automatically input specified phrases.
AText is a Typing Accelerator, Text Template, Text Expansion tool. AText accelerates your typing in any application by replacing abbreviations with frequently used phrases you define. With aText you can easily avoid typing the same thing over and over. Click the link above to download. For TextExpander v5 or earlier click here. Download the app. Unzip the application and double click the file. Drag TextExpander into your applications folder. Double click on the app icon to launch TextExpander. For iPhone & iPad.
Nowadays, you cannot imagine a world without copy and paste, right? These two functions save a lot of time — no matter who you are. That having said, there are limits to this function.
Haven’t you wished if you could keep certain things in the device memory and paste them as you wish. For instance, when you’d like to paste your entire Signature, you can just type sign. And, boom — you have the full signature with all the credentials.
This is exactly what text expansion software does. Text expansion works like this:
Suppose you want to use an entire paragraph, repetitively. Instead of copying and pasting the content time after time, you develop a shortcut. Through this shortcut, you can paste the entire paragraph by entering a simple keyword. As we said earlier, it may be sign for signature and btw for by the way.
But, how do you bring a text expander to macOS? Well, as it happens, macOS has a built-in text expander.
Built-in text replacement in macOS
Technically speaking, macOS has a built-in text replacement utility. It means you can set up macOS system to replace certain words with their full forms. For instance, as you can see below, you can change btw into a full form like By the way. macOS also lets you make certain customizations here. And, you can as many text-full-form combinations as you want.
Despite all these, the built-in text replacement in macOS is barebones. It’s not a productive solution for most people, especially professionals. For instance, if you are a social media manager who has to have hundreds of combinations, the macOS system won’t be enough. And, it doesn’t help that you have to go to Preferences to make these changes.
This is why most customers leave the built-in option for something more productive and reliable. Thankfully, we have so many text expansion software solutions to choose from.
Here, we are set to find out the best text expansion tool for Mac.
How we chose the best?
We had a few factors in mind while choosing the best text expansion software for macOS.
- Advanced Features: We looked for advanced features that make text expansion more productive. By features, we mean the options for customization, different modes and support for multimedia etc.
- Intuitive UI: As we always do, we are strict about suggesting software that is easy to use. You won’t have to spend your valuable time trying to figure out stuff.
- Compatibility: More importantly, the text expansion software should be able to integrate well with the macOS system. Only this will you be able to make the best of the features.
- Support: In this context, support refers to two things, which are the amount of updates and the level of customer support from the developer. We’ve tried to bring the best of both worlds.
Of course, we had looked at general aspects of security, privacy and popularity before suggesting software solutions to you.
Our pick – TextExpander
TextExpander is definitely one of the most popular text expansion software solutions in the market. Designed and built as a multi-platform solution, you can enjoy the same experience on almost all your devices. In this article, however, we will be looking primarily at how the macOS version of TextExpander functions. The core idea behind TextExpander is to help you communicate smarter, and it does a very good job in it.
Getting Started with TextExpander
One of the best things we love about TextExpander is that it is easy to use. You do not have to worry about prior experience when trying to get started with this text expansion tool. The installation process is simple, as you can download the setup file from the official website. In seconds, TextExpander and the helper utility would be installed on your Mac.
Apart from the fully-fledged window, TextExpander also offers a mini menu bar on the top. You can use this menu to access, create and manage snippets as you wish. Now, however, we will see some instances where you can use TextExpander to simplify your life.
Now, there are a few things to know:
A TextExpander snippet is a combination of text and abbreviation that is used to enable the expansion. For instance, the code ‘sign’ could be used to paste your entire Signature. Similarly, something like ‘date’ can be used to insert the current date. In the same way, you can create a variety of snippets according to your needs.
While creating a snippet, you can provide two things: the text and the abbreviation. Abbreviation is the short form that you want to type instead of the long text. It could be ‘te’ in case of text expansion or ‘ai’ instead of Artificial Intelligence. You can also set up TextExpander to choose the capitalization accordingly. So, in the end, you have a clean UX.
Using TextExpander in Real Life
Almost every professional has a signature with credentials that they use on a regular basis. However, typing the whole thing every single time can be a tiresome task. Won’t that be awesome if you can just write the word sign and it would be converted to your actual signature. It’s very easy to set that up using TextExpander.
When you click on the New Snippet button, you can see an empty generation box. In the whitespace, you have to enter the full text and you have to place the trigger word against Abbreviation. Now, this is where the fun begins. You have the complete freedom to customize the full text in any way you like. For instance, you can add variables like time, date, calculations and even some extra scripts.
TextExpander also allows you to expand your trigger word into multimedia content like formatted text and images. Long story short, you can expand a bunch of characters into almost anything with the help of this simple tool. Once you have chosen all these options, you can go ahead and give a label to the snippet. These labels are handy when it comes to organizing a lot of stuff.
To take the above example, when you write the word signature, TextExpander will replace it with the actual signature. You can check the image. Just so you know, TextExpander works in almost every text field. Word, Chrome are some of the places you would find it useful.
Features We Loved
As we mentioned earlier, TextExpander is very rich when it comes to features. Since we couldn’t reproduce the entire list, we have sorted out the ones we think need mention.
Smart suggestions
This could easily be one of the best features in the TextExpander suite. When given the right permissions, TextExpander will analyze your keystrokes and make suggestions. For instance, as I was writing this article, TextExpander has asked me if I want to create a snippet for the word text expansion. If you see a notification from the program, you can enable it for easy access.
Variables
Variables are one of the most useful features in the TextExpander package. This feature allows you to insert variable content like dates, time and even system shortcuts as expanded text. Depending on your need, you can customize what appears when you type the trigger word. This is a helpful feature when you have to do things repetitively, but with slight changes.
For instance, if you are a customer service executive, you may have to tell details like shipping dates. Instead of saying 1 to 2 days, you can say something like your package would be arriving on Tuesday. You just have to program TextExpander to insert the date that corresponds to today+2.
Delimiters
Delimiters are certain letters or key combinations that trigger or prevent text expansion. For instance, you’ll be able to set up TextExpander to expand a certain piece of text only after you have entered a specific key, say Tab or Space Bar. Setting up a delimiter would help you have more control over text expansion. You will also have fewer accidental expansions.
Hotkeys
In addition to the amount of automation it provides, TextExpander itself can be automated. You will be able to create and use a number of keyboard shortcuts for this purpose. You may not actually need this feature if you make the best use of the menu-bar widget, though. Still, when you are up and running, these keys are of immense help.
A Great Community
TextExpander is also powered by one of the biggest user-base out there. There are two benefits: one, if you come across issues, you can always consult the experienced customers. The second benefit is that you can explore and download a variety of snippet collections. Depending on your usage habits and the professional environment, you may find some awesome snippets out there.
What Could Be Better
Despite being the best expansion software for Mac, TextExpander is not a perfect tool. There are some areas where the program can improve drastically.
One of the problems is that TextExpander does not provide a one-time purchase option. You have to keep paying a monthly subscription fee if you want to use the program. We would have loved to see a one-time purchase option, even if the prices were a bit high. That having said, the subscription plans are inexpensive when compared to others.
Another area is the User Interface itself. We don’t want to confuse you here: the UI is good, and it gets the job done. Nevertheless, there are instances when we found the UI design to be quite old and rudimentary at its core. It would be great if the developers take time to address this issue and redesign the UI with some modern icons and design philosophy.
It is also worth noting that the program can be made simple in general — without compromising the features that matter. If these areas are taken care of, TextExpander can easily be the best option out there.
Availability and Pricing
As mentioned earlier, TextExpander is available for macOS, Windows, iOS and Chrome OS. You will be able to download these apps once you have created an account on the website. Of course, it’s productive to have a software that works seamlessly everywhere.
Cross-platform availability is definitely one of the best things about TextExpander. Once you have signed in using the TextExpander account, every snippet you save will be synced with other devices where you have installed the apps. Considering that TextExpander has applications available for macOS, Windows, iOS and even Chrome OS, this becomes an awesome solution for productivity.
Even better, you don’t have to bother about any of these. All you have to do is signing into TextExpander via the same account. We’d say cross-platform support makes TextExpander one of the best solutions when you need a seamless text expansion experience across platforms.
Coming to pricing, TextExpander offers two major plans and a customizable enterprise plan. The first plan, called Lifehacker, is priced at $3.33 per month and the Team plan would cost you $7.96 per user per month. With the Team plan, you get additional features like SSO support, advanced sharing options and control.
And the latest good news is that software developer is offering 20% Off 1 year of a TextExpander Life Hacker plan. Regularly starting at US $40, now only US $32 for a year of increased productivity.
Considering all these, we think TextExpander deserves the position to be our pick.On top of offering some of the best features and control, it also gives you multi-platform support and save a lots of time. At the end of the day, you can make your macOS experience more productive and less repetitive.
Also great: Typinator 8
One of the limitations with TextExpander is that you have to pay a subscription fee every month. For some of you, this could be a problem and may be looking for a one-time-purchase alternative. This is exactly where Typinator 8 comes in. This text expansion software is an awesome alternative if you are aiming at a medium-priced software solution for your productivity needs.
More of a direct competitor to TextExpander, Typinator has several features that you all will love. This is why we have chosen the product as the second best option.
UI and Getting Started
Getting started with Typinator is easy, but we found the UI to be a bit complex. As you can see in the given screenshot, all the options are available on the same screen. You might need some more time to figure out where to begin and where to end. You will be able to select abbreviations from the left pane and see their trigger-expansion combinations on the right.
We won’t say the getting started process is easier, but you can do it anyway. In spite of this, you will have a good time managing the collection of combinations once you have figured out the UI. Although not as good as TextExpander, we loved the way Typinator has been arranged and offers its options.
Advanced Options
As you may have guessed, Typinator also offers some advanced options for text expansion. Just like we did in the case of TextExpander, you will be able to add a variety of content as the expanded text. This includes a number of variables like date, time, days etc. There are also some built-in functions that you can use with complete ease.
You will notice the lack of some features as well. For instance, Typinator cannot learn from your habits and suggest the potential combinations. However, you have an option to check out some predefined sets. These are basic presets that you can download and include in your collection, without any hassle. This option is not as advanced as the Variables choices, though.
Availability and Pricing
Probably the least impressive thing about Typinator is its availability. This text expansion tool is available for only macOS. So, you don’t get the benefits of multi-platform sharing or collaboration features. This could be an area where the developer can improve a lot. As we saw in the case of TextExpander, the multi-platform support makes all the difference.
Coming to certainly one of the good parts, Typinator offers a one-time purchase option. You will be able to purchase a single license of Typinator 8 for just EUR 24.99 and forget everything else. Considering the list of features and the okay User Interface that the program offers, we think the pricing is pretty okay. And, you don’t have to worry about monthly payments. There is also a Family version if you want to save money.
Other apps we considered
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 an alternative of some sort.
TypeIt4Me
TypeIt4Me is an amazing choice if you need a more affordable, minimal and trustworthy text expansion tool for macOS. Starting with a simple User Interface, TypeIt4Me has almost every feature you would need, such as the support for calculated data and other algorithms. You also get support for variables and scripts such as Applescripts. Despite all these, when compared to other tools, this one looks way simpler.
Of course, you are missing out on some features like multi-device syncing and the huge community. Apart from the Example set that you can get, you have to create all other combinations by yourself. There are no options for suggestions or customizations either. Nevertheless, if you want an effective tool that does not take a lot of space or resources, TypeIt4Me is an awesome choice.
One-time license purchase of TypeIt4Me costs $19.99, but a free trial is available.
Rocket Typist
If you take almost all the necessary text expansion features and shrink everything into a small package, you will get Rocket Typist. It’s one of the most trusted and popular tools in the domain, offering an amazing set of options. That having said, Rocket Typist is not as advanced as the other tools. For instance, you can easily manage the whole system from a menu-bar widget itself.
Does it get the job done? Yes. Rocket Typist is wonderful in that case. You don’t have to worry about smooth performance when you are using this tool. Everything goes in sync and you can manage all your snippets via the simple interface as well. We also love advanced features like the support for variables, iCloud sync and the overall intuitive UI.
The full version of Rocket Typist is available for €9.99 and you can get it on Setapp as well.
Alfred
Alfred is not technically a text expansion software, but more of a Spotlight alternative. It creates a singular platform where you can search things across your Mac and do some automation stuff. However, you will be able to use this productivity app for expanding snippets as well. The only problem is that you should have its Powerpack to avail this feature.
Compared to other products we have covered in this list, Alfred does not offer much control over how you’re creating snippets and expansions. That said, you will be able to check out other Collections from the internet or make some on your own. There are also some additional options such as non-text content support as well as some other integration options.
Alfred is basically free to use, but Powerpack costs you £45, and this is required if you want text expansion.
Keyboard Maestro
Yet another multipurpose solution, Keyboard Maestro was our top choice when we covered the best macOS automation tools. Because we are dealing with task-based automation here, you can use Keyboard Maestro to expand certain words into phrases or some other content. You just have to create a corresponding system of trigger and action.
Compared to how it is like to use other apps, Keyboard Maestro may turn out to be a difficult. You don’t get a go-to pane where you can create a word and enable the expansion. Instead, you have to choose a trigger and action from a list that’s so huge. Even then, if you like to customize things to the core, Keyboard Maestro is the best choice.
Keyboard Maestro costs $36 for the latest version and is available for macOS only.
PhraseExpander
PhraseExpander is a worthy mention, just in case you are looking for a text expansion software that works on Windows devices. In comparison to other tools out there, this one is not the richest in terms of features. That having said, you won’t have trouble in creating some snippets and using. The developers have also done some optimizations, making it easier for doctors among others.
So, if you are a doctor looking for a text expansion program for Windows, do check out what PhraseExpander has to offer.
Wrapping up
We hope you liked our list of the best text expansion software for macOS. As we mentioned, we have chosen products that are reliable and trustworthy. So, regardless of which program you choose to use, you will not have any trouble in scaling the productivity options. It’s always good to go with something like TextExpander, which offers you control as well as multi-platform experience. At the end of the day, it all comes down to what you expect from text expansion tech.
Elsewhere on this site, I covered a variety of different hacks and tricks you can implement using a tool like Textexpander. Textexpander is one of many text replacement tools available on the web. They all have varying capabilities and pricing levels, but they all do basically the same thing; they allow you to type a short word or key-phrase and have it automatically replaced with a full block of text.
At the most basic level you have an autocorrect feature that capitalizes words and acronyms for you. Higher tier usage allows you to use common commands to add symbols you’d otherwise need to look up and copy-paste into a document. Many people also use preconfigured text blocks to insert things like your name, address, and phone number, turning a full NAP block into something as simple as typing [nap] and hitting Enter.
Textexpander is a good app, but it’s not the right choice for everyone and every purpose. That’s why I’ve put together this list; fifteen different options for text expansion apps you can use to put those clever hacks into use.
15. Phrase Express
Phrase Express is one of the more robust entries on this list, with a ton of features that make it great for personal and for business use. In addition to a huge array of snippets, you can sync snippets across platforms and even share them with team members. One of their more clever features is the ability to translate entire phrase trees into different languages for cross-language work.
In addition to a free limited version, they have three versions licensed for commercial use with escalating ranges of features. Pricing ranges from about $50 to about $200, one-time fees for lifetime licenses, with additional costs for “maintenance”, which includes program updates.
14. Auto Hotkey
Auto Hotkey is one of the more popular text expanders for Windows. Unlike Phrase Express, it is not cross-platform, which is unfortunate, because it’s extremely powerful. AHK is open-source and is basically a free scripting language that can do, well, basically anything. I’ve seen people use it for simple text expansion and replacement, and I’ve seen people use it for automating entire tasks to the press of a button.
While it’s free and extremely light-weight, AHK is also a scripting language, which means you need to actually learn the basics of how to use it for scripting. If you’re not a code junky and just want something you can configure in a few seconds, this probably isn’t for you. On the other hand, if you’ve literally ever written a line of code before, you can figure out AHK pretty quickly. I highly recommend that you give it a try if you can.
13. FastKeys
Auto Hotkey is a very powerful scripting language, but it’s also tricky to use if you’re not script-savvy. Fortunately, since it’s open-source, other developers are able to build their own platform using it as a base. That’s what FastKeys is; it’s essentially a GUI for AHK. It is, specifically, built to make the text expansion features of AHK much more accessible. You can still create complex macros and scripts that include mouse movement and other advanced features, it’s just all made a little easier.
Of course, this accessibility comes at a price. Open source software is typically free, but the apps built on top of it don’t have to be, and this is no exception. FastKeys is a $19 license to bring you all of the benefits of AHK with none of the need to learn scripting.
12. Typinator
Typinator is a relatively cheap, but not free, text expander program. One of its primary benefits is that it comes with a lot of basic autocorrect features built-in already, so you don’t need to set up snippets for individual typos and basic mistakes. Anything from double capitals, to sentence capitalization, to basic HTML works out of the box.
Typinator is a little bloated with some additional features you don’t really need in a text expander, which is a little unfortunate and makes the app a bit larger than it really needs to be. For example, it can do currency and unit conversions and basic math, in case you really need math done without tabbing over to a calculator. Overall, it’s still pretty good, though.
11. Alfred
Alfred is a text expander that has a free version and a paid Powerpack full of additional features for a one-time license fee. It’s also limited to Mac, because it has a lot of additional features beyond text expansion. It works as everything from a launchpad for your programs to a remote control that syncs via your phone. It includes everything from app search, web search, and a calculator to remote commands, clipboard history, and workflows.
Calling Alfred a text expander is dramatically downplaying its features. It’s way, way overkill if all you want is a text expander, but if you can make heavy use of the advanced features and remote access it gives you, it’s well worth the relatively small license fee.
10. Auto Text Expander for Chrome
This is a free Google Chrome extension that handles text expansion for you within your browser. It’s very simple, it doesn’t cost you money, and it handles both regular text and rich text. It has some more advanced features, including custom cursor placement, expansion inside sub-windows of Chrome like the address bar, and macros that can paste whatever is on your clipboard currently.
On the other hand, since this is a Chrome extension, it’s only available in Chrome. This means you can’t use it in a word processing app unless you’re using a web app, you can’t use it in other browsers, and it won’t work within business apps. That might be perfect for you, or it might be a deal-breaking limitation, that’s up to you.
9. Phrase Expander
Not to be confused with Phrase Express, Phrase Expander is a Windows app that is aimed at a specific professional niche. Specifically, this app is aimed at doctors and medical professionals. What this means is that it has a built-in dictionary of medical terms, which are often complex words with obscure Greek roots that can be a pain to have to type out repeatedly, and can cause issues in medical software if they’re typed in incorrectly.
In addition to the dictionary, it includes a template engine that allows you to customize the fields you want added to a notes document, including fields for symptoms and chief complaints. It’s all very well put together, if you’re in one of the industries that wants it. Otherwise, it’s probably not for you.
8. Breevy
Breevy is an odd app. It looks simple when you’re glancing at its website, and in fact the website makes it look like one of those old Windows XP programs with website design that hasn’t been updated since 1995. Under the hood, though, it’s actually a surprisingly deep text expander. It has a good basic interface and allows you to import snippet data from other text expanders, or even sync to the same library to use different expanders in different places.
If the website design turns you off, don’t worry too much. They could probably attract a lot more attention with a modern design, but they don’t need to; they have people like me writing articles like this to include them when we find them. Breevy costs $35 as a one-time fee to use it forever.
7. FastFox
Not related to Firefox in any way, FastFox is a text expander that includes keyboard shortcuts and macro support. It’s available on both PC and Mac. The app works a little differently under the hood than other text expanders, working directly with text rather than sending keystrokes rapidly to replace what you had typed, but in practice that difference is minimal.
Text Expansion App
What sets FastFox apart? Primarily, they have a pseudo-learning feature that will monitor your typing behavior and can suggest snippets as you write. Over time, you can build up a library of custom snippets based on the most common phrases and corrections you need to make, dramatically speeding up your writing.
Unfortunately, FastFox is a little expensive for the limitations it has, including a lack of custom cursor placement, delimiters, and some other advanced features. It’s $70 for a license.
6. ActiveWords
At first glance, I almost mistook this app’s website for a parked domain. They don’t really go all-in on their homepage design. Unfortunately, that lack of emphasis on design carries through in their app as a whole. They are a sort of “engineer’s solution” to text expansion.
What they have is powerful, and it works everywhere. It has custom scripts and complex commands, can you can do everything from launch programs to sending emails with it. You just have to take a while familiarizing yourself with the app and how it works. It’s obtuse, it’s not very user friendly, and it doesn’t spoon-feed you its advanced features. If you can’t learn it through use, you’re going to have a hard time with it. It also has an annual fee rather than a one-time license, so it will be more expensive over time.
5. aText
This is another Mac-based text expander with a bunch of advanced features you can make good use of as you go. It works with cloud-based syncing for snippets, so it’s cross-device. It has automatic corrections for capitalization and spelling, including double capitals. You can add images and formatted text in any Mac program you’re using. One of the more useful features is actually just the fact that it works in virtual machines.
It may not have all of the most robust features of an automation engine, and it may not have the best developed user interface, but it’s perfectly serviceable for the price, which is a whopping $5. Give it a try and see what you think.
4. TypeIt4Me
TypeIt4Me claims to be “the original” text expander for Mac, which I’m not sure is entirely true, but I don’t know enough about their history to disprove it either. It does standard text expansion, phrase replacement, contact information, and even pictures. You can set up your snippets with point and click menus, which works well enough. It’s only available for Mac and, while it has a free trial, does require a license to keep forever. It’s a mere $20, so it’s not a bad fee, but it’s not free.
One added bonus of TypeIt4Me is that they have a Touch version for iOS devices. You can find it available on the app store here.
3. canSnippet
CanSnippet is intended to be an assistant for coders looking to save snippets of code they use frequently. Whether for reference or repetition, having that code available can be quite handy. Of course, under the hood it’s still a service that uses simple keyboard shortcuts to replace short phrases with snippets. One of the more useful features is simply the ability to highlight text or code and save it as a snippet directly, instead of having to copy and paste a snippet into your editor.
CanSnippet is free for up to 10 snippets, which isn’t very much. The $10 version adds more features, including language recognition, syntax coloring, dark themes, and customization of keyboard shortcuts, all of which are quite useful.
2. Keyboard Maestro
Keyboard Maestro is one of the more robust Mac text expanders. In addition to text expansion, it has help documentation, a machine learning and macro production set, a MIDI support system, touch bar support, the ability to send SMS and iMessages, and a whole lot more.
Seriously, their feature list is huge. Obviously it’s overkill if all you need is a text expander, but if you want something more dev-oriented than Alfred but with similar capabilities, this is a great choice.
1. Emailmate
One of the most common use cases for text expansion is simply crafting unique emails based on common phrases and information, without needing to use templates. Emailmate is a powerful tool that allows you to do just that. Think of it like a cross between a text expander and a template engine, with many of the best features of both. I highly recommend you try it out.
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Text Expansion Apps
FastFox installed, without warning, some bloatware, which fortunately was uninstalled when I uninstalled the main program That would have been a deal-killer all by itself. Also, it does not support importing autocorrects from MS Office. I have only 4000 or so of those.