SmileOnMyMac Blog

We’ve all done it. Once in a great while, we go to type an abbreviation, and the little “pop” sound lets us know that the abbreviation is being used in TextExpander already.

But sometimes, we really do want the actual abbreviation, no expansion, thank you. Here’s a down-and-dirty way to keep the “pop” in check:

1) Type the first letter of the abbreviation.

2) Press the left arrow key, followed by the right arrow key.

3) Finish typing the abbreviation.

Arrow keys clear the key log–that’s why it works!

(Thanks to Greg for passing this tip along!)

This tip comes from Frank in Germany. He can type faster on a US keyboard, but the US keyboard lacks several frequently used characters:

As I’m switching from a German keyboard to a US keyboard but I still need to write in French and German text, so I set up TextExpander abbreviations, like these:

/ae becomes ä
/oe becomes ö
/ue becomes ü
/ah becomes á
/aw becomes à
/c becomes ç

Same goes for uppercase. To avoid much thinking I set the French ones up to be close to the sound of their most common use.

I set these up as I go, whenever I need one I create the new snippet first. That takes a few seconds each time but in the end saves me more than it costs me. It’s one of these practices that need dedication the first few times till you’re accustomed to doing it.

I’m going to set up these abbreviations in my own TextExpander snippet library. I may not need them as frequently as Frank does, but it would be great not having to wade through the Special Characters palette when I do.

Update: As Frank pointed out to me, this approach only works if you are using a delimiter character to trigger your expansions. Automatic expansions only happen at the beginning of a word. If I typed “Fahrvergnuegen” in order to get “Fahrvergnügen”, the “ue” would NOT turn into “ü” in the middle of the word when TextExpander is set to automatic expansion. Alles klar?

Who knew that there was an Apple Store in Pentagon City? Who knew Pentagon City was in Arlington, VA? Our friend Patrick, that’s who:

Gordon Meyer, author of the O’Reilly book Smart Home Hacks, offers this tip, based on his experience posting Amazon links on his blog:

Here’s a great tip for bloggers and the like. I use TextExpander to create a handy macro for creating Amazon Affiliate links. It’s much easier than using Amazon’s web interface.

First, create a TextExpander snippet that looks like this:

Note that uses the nifty “%clipboard” feature, which will be replaced by the current clipboard contents when it is activated. The rest of the URL can be determined by using Amazon’s “create a product link” in their Affiliate Center. (And that’s the last time you’ll ever need to use it!)

When you’re ready to create a link to an Amazon product:

1. Simply find the product you want to link to on Amazon, then copy the ISBN or ASIN to your clipboard:

2. Then I type my trigger, and link is constructed that includes my Affiliate ID:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001ES9G2/gordonmeyer08-20

That’s it, you’re done!

I’m sure there are lots of TextExpander users (myself included) who could take advantage of the %clipboard feature to reduce the time and keystrokes spent on monotonous tasks like this one.