TextExpander (Version 1.4.1) Review (formerly "Texpander")

Installation & Setup were Easy-Peezy. Download it. Unstuff the disk image. Double-Click to install. Turn on "Enable access for Assistive Devices" in the Universal Access preference pane. Turn on TextExpander. Go. No need to reboot. 3-5 min. @ 350� and you've got brownies.

What It Does — The Basics
TextExpander saves you time by letting you create customized abbreviations for your frequently typed text strings and (pasted) images.

For example, suppose you frequently need to type the address, "123 Main Street, Philadelphia, PA 19001". You could create a TextExpander "snippet" for that address and name it "ad1". Then, whenever you type "ad1" the actual address gets inserted. It's fast and works in every OSX application I tried (no dice for Classic apps...not their fault).

Have more addresses? Make snippets with "ad2", "ad3", whatever you like. You can set the snippets to be case sensitive if you like so that "ad2" expands to different text than "AD2". It's not hard to see the possibilities: email signatures, commonly used paragraphs, forms, etc.

What It Does — Top 10 (ok, 8) Advanced Features:

1. Lets you create snippets with plain or formatted text. You can even add pictures if you like. (But the only application I found that allows TextExpander to dump in combinations of text and pictures is TextEdit, which I am writing this review in.
2. Supports Dates and Times via built-in 'tokens' that automatically insert the current date or time. So, for example, a snippet containing the text "Today is %A" would instantly expand to "Today is Monday." (TextExpander's built-in token, "%A", expands to display the current day.)
3. Adds an icon to the menubar which gives you quick access to the TextExpander window, which is installed in the Preferences pane) as well as the menu selection to "Create snippet from selected text". However, there's no contextual menu to create the snippet from selected text...it's only from the menu.
4. Lets you nest snippets so that if you create a snippet for a certain format of day/date you can then reference that snippet in another snippet.
5. After your snippet expands, the text insertion cursor waits at the literal end of the line, blinking, ready to accept your next keystrokes....or does it? TextExpander lets you, through a token (remember tokens from above?) designate where the cursor will be after the text is expanded. Fantastic.

   Example? Sure. Suppose you're a webpage programmer and you want to make some bold text. The HTML for bold text looks like this: <B>This is the text that would show as bold. </B> See?...Two sets of brackets (HTML tags) with the text which will display as bold in the middle. But if I create a snippet, perhaps called "bHTML", which expands to something like "<B></B>", the cursor would end up after the final ">". But where I really want the cursor after it expands is dead center...between the "<B>" and the "</B>", because that's where the bold HTML text will go!

   So TextExpander gives you a token called "%|" (hard to see but it's a percent and a vertical line...doesn't matter as you choose the TextExpander tokens from a menu) so I can recreate my snippet as "<B>%|</B>" which puts the cursor right between the brackets. Awe...some.

6. Export/Import Snippets, even from other typing utilities including Textpander, TypeIt4Me and Typinator). If you're like me you have your own set of words you constantly mistype...thier, teh, etc. Instead of making them all snippets TextExpander offers a free library of misspelling snippets (on their website), but not a library of HTML commands! Huh?!
7. In the Register tab of its window is detailed the time and effort TextExpander saves you.
8. Delimiters: There may be times when you might not want your text to expand until a certain other keystroke occurs, a trigger character if you will, such as pressing tab in a spreadsheet. TextExpander lets you choose from 30 different delimiters such as tab, return, space, and all kinds of other brackets. You can even choose if the delimiter character itself gets kept or abandoned.

What I Wish It Did (but doesn't)

1. Show invisible characters when you create your snippet.
2. Let you create application-specific snippets (but it does let you specify applications to *not* expand into).
3. Expand into Classic apps. (Right now you get "Snippets with formatted text & pictures". This is because of the way that Classic interacts with the clipboard on OS X. Not a TextExpander bug.
4. Let you include a comment for each snippet as they can get complex.
5. Include a contextual menu to create the snippet from selected text.
6. Record the way you work and make suggestions for useful snippets.

Get a fully functional demo (30 day) of TextExpander at: www.smileonmymac.com/textexpander/. at $29.95, it's a bargain!

Note: TextExpander 1.4 requires Mac OS X 10.4 and above. For other OSX versions, use TextExpander 1.3.1.