The Entourage Help Blog

You might think you don't have a need for "Auto-enter shorthands", but think of how many times you type your signature, phone number, address. Imagine typing one or two letters and your data is entered. That's a time saver! If you do any kind of support and are constantly typing the same data over and over, this is definitely going to improve your productivity.

I use words like System Preferences, Microsoft User Data folder, Identity, Junk Mail Filter a lot. To type out these common words I use my assigned shortcuts:

sp = System Preferences
mudd = Microsoft User Data folder
idd = Identity
jmf = Junk Mail Filter

For email addresses and URLs I use the @ sign and “u”. For example:

You can also insert large blocks of text with just a few letters. You’ll need to check the limit for each application if you have really large blocks of text as each application differs. I’ll discuss other methods for inserting blocks of text in Part Two (coming soon).

Do you include a signature delimiter --(space)(return) for your typed signatures ? Probably not, but if you create a shorthand and assign a short cut to this, it's easy and quick. Here is one of my plain text sigs that's inserted using a shortcut of two letters.

--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>

What if you want to personalize each message with different signatures without having to go to the menu and selecting an alternate? Set Entourage to use no signature and insert the signature you wish for each message using your shortcut.

One of features that sets Typinator, TypeIt4Me, TextExpander and yType apart is the ability to insert your company's logo and other graphic text into your signature. SpellCatcherX only does plain text insertions.

"Auto-enter shorthands" applications come in different flavors. Some come with clipboards, multilingual spelling checkers and specialized auto-correct features. Here is a list of some of the more popular "Auto-enter shorthands" applications.

• CopyPaste + yType
• SpellCatcherX
• TextExpander
• TypeIt4Me
• Typinator

Features to look for:

• Speed of completions
• Easily add clipboard selection into application for expansion
• Position the cursor wherever you want in your expanded snippet.
• Ability to group snippets by their meaning or purpose (such as URLs, signatures, letter templates, code fragments, mail boilerplates, auto-corrections, Unix commands, etc.)
• Import and export sets for sharing them with others or moving them to another Mac
• Selectively enable or disable groups of abbreviations in specific applications
• If you are a Cross Platform User, check for availability in both platforms

Typinator from the makers of PopChar X and Keycue comes with built-in sets for automatic correction of many popular typing errors in English, German and French. If you are typing German text, you will particularly enjoy Typinator helping you to switch to the latest language reform by translating many words and phrases according to the "Neue Deutsche Rechtschreibung".

Typinator and TypeIt4Me both have the ability to set the cursor position within the expanded text. This is an extremely useful feature.

Spell Catcher X is a spell catcher, dictionary, thesaurus, and abbreviation-expanding typing saver. I love Entourage's spell checker, but it doesn't work in other applications. Spell Catcher does. Spell Catcher is a multilingual writing tool - able to check spelling in 14 different languages, and provide thesaurus look ups in 10 different languages. You can create as many different shorthand sets as you like or put them all into one glossary file. It accesses all files without having to switch beteen sets. This way I keep organized and have access to all my shortcuts.

yType was added to CopyPasteX, a multiple clipboard editor and archival utility. Unlike the other applications discussed here that expand the text automatically, yType displays the word in a Suggestion Window located at the cursor. If you have trouble remembering your mnemonics, this method might be more user friendly. Personally, I don’t like this method, but can’t do without the multiple clipboards in Copy/PasteX. For example, I’ve just copied over some text for an email. A few emails later, I find that I need that same text. I just go to the Copy/PasteX palette and quickly find the previously inserted text. I click on the Paste icon and my text is inserted wihtout having to go back to the original email or text document to find the material.

TypeIt4Me has been around since 1989 and is probably one of the best known "auto-enter shorthands" applications. The latest version of TypeIt4Me includes the ability to launch AppleScripts. Unlike other menu utilities, you don't need to use obscure or difficult to remember key combos to launch AppleScripts. You can make your own abbreviations - ones that make sense to you, based on the purpose of the script. For example type "togloc" for Toggle Location, the AppleScript launched switches network setting from work to office. Great time saver, and your fingers never leave the home position on the keyboard.

If you are familiar with Peter Maurer, the developer of Butler you‘ll want to try out SmileOnMyMac‘s TextExpander. TextExpander and TypeIt4Me is available from the Menu bar so if you forget, your shorthand abbreviation you can easily view your list. TextExpander comes with an HTML snippet list for web designers.

All of the Applications come with a predefined library of common spelling errors in shorthand-glossary format. You can add your own just as you can with AutoCorrect. Both yType and SpellCatcherX have a ghostwriter feature. TextExpander and TypeIt4Me are both System Preference panes. SpellCatcherX, CopyPaste + yType and Typinator are applications. Prices range from $19.99 to $30.00.

I suggest you try out all of the applications for speed and ease of use before purchasing. You might find that you’ll enjoy the other features these applications have to offer that will also improve your productivity.