Text expansion embodies everything great about modern computing. It helps you get things done faster, easier, better than before. Text expansion works like this – you enter a keyword – a piece of text and it automatically expands into a much larger block of text.
Yes, you need to pre-configure these but in the end you will win and be smarter. And because these are computers, you can do a little bit of programming magic. Nothing fancy – just the basics. Shortcut to enter today’s date or current time. Stuff like that.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that text expansion is a must for any Mac user who spends hours on end at the keyboard. But the best text expander app according to the Mac community (and podcast sponsor that reads me every day), is Text Expander. Good for them, but the app costs $45. If you’re willing to spend that much, go ahead, you won’t be disappointed (I tried the demo version).
But if you can’t and you’re looking for something basic anyway, there’s a Text for you. It does a lot of what TextExpander does, reliably, for just $4.99. Now that you’ve rushed to buy the app, let’s see how to use it.
Use a text
aText will run in the background. Always. You’ll see the app’s icon in the menu bar. Click on it and select Open Text to display the main screen of the application. This is where you will configure your snippets.
Expand the text in the works.
You’ll be happy to know that aText has taken the time to create a lot of boilerplate code for you. Things like Thank You Very Many, On My Way! and more. If you’re a web developer, you’ll find an entire directory dedicated to HTML shorthand. In addition, macros for entering the date and time are also available here.
Snippets Hint: If this is your first time using text expansion code, you may have to scratch your head a bit. But don’t worry, I wrote about 6 types of text extensions that everyone should use. That’s a great place to start – your address, email signature and the like. Most importantly, create a snippet whenever you find yourself entering the same content more than twice in a relatively short time frame.
Create a piece of code
On the main screen of the application you will see a + button with New label. Click on it and on the right side you will see two empty cells acronym And Content field. Enter a keyword in the top field and the content you want it to expand into the bottom field. And you are done. No need to save or anything.
Isn’t that easy?
But every time we open the application, entering the content manually does not really look like we are saving as much time as possible. It is possible to speed up the process by creating an excerpt from the selection or the clipboard. So when you come across a piece of text or text that you want to retype quickly, just select/copy it, click the icon a text menu bar button, select keyboard shortcuts -> Generate excerpt from selection/Create excerpt from clipboard.
Now, a text New the screen will display, with the content right there. Input acronym and you’re done.
Notable aText Options
By default, aText does not back up your code. But you can activate it by going to Interest -> Sync. You can choose iCloud or any folder. I personally used a Dropbox folder, which means it’s accessible from all my devices.
From hotkey part you can create shortcut to quickly create a snippet from clipboard/selection and most importantly disable/enable aText quickly.
Currently, there is no option to disable aText in a particular application. Create a shortcut or just click a text icon in the menu bar and click Enabled.
Use Macros and other pro features
When you’re creating a new piece of code, you’ll see a down arrow next to it Content button. This is to change the snippet type. By default, it’s plain text – because you’re just expanding the text. But it is also possible to run AppleScripts and ShellScripts this way.
Probably the most important option from the menu is formatted text. If you play with this application for a while, you will notice that the application does not really consider the formatting and arrangement of the text. Switch to this option and it will.
Also, below Content area you will see options for Insert And Format. aText gives you access to some very basic macros like date, time, clipboard, images, keystrokes, and pointer input. So if you want to create your own macro using one of these, this is the place to do it.
From Format optionally, you will be able to format the text – align the text, change the font size, etc.
What did you automate?
What time saving code did you create? Share with us in the comments below.
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
