Tools I use: TextExpander

A few years ago a friend recommended I take a look at a mac tool called TextExpander that is a quick way to type things with a shorter code.  It is along the same lines as having a canned response to emails that come in often.  The benefit is that TextExpander runs in the background and works anywhere you get a cursor prompt.  The nice things for teams is that you can create custom text that everyone can use and always be sharing the most up to date information.

Below is an example that I hope brings this to life as well as a picture of our shared TextExpander folder that I host.  You can see that I created a short code called “#test” that will put the line you see below anywhere I type this shortcode

Here is what it looks like in action – (sorry for the fuzzy gif, this is my first animated gif from a video)

 

The benefits from TE have been endless.  I have probably used this tool every day since I started using it, and it even has a handy “time saved” from typing counter.

A few things I have used this for that make it worthwhile;

Conference call dial in info, Email responses involving numbers/stats that need to be updated often, links to partners or external parties, FAQs or help emails that have to go out often…and the list goes on.

Rolling this out to the team was simple and having a centralized repository of all texts was simple to create.

This is a tool I use and highly recommend it.