TextExpander: Coming to an Apple Store Near You!
TextExpander is coming to retail! You should be seeing it at your local Apple Store this month. It’s priced at $29.95 (same as the download version), and the box includes a CD with the software and a Quick Start card.
Send us your photos of TextExpander in the Apple Store. We’ve got lots of good photos of PDFpen. Now we want TextExpander!
The first person to send me a photo that we can post will win their choice of SmileOnMyMac software plus the fabulous limited-edition SmileOnMyMac coffee cup!
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:59 pm
So you’re encouraging people to violate Apple’s policy of taking pictures inside of Apple stores?
December 3rd, 2007 at 7:13 pm
I didn’t know that was their policy. So far they haven’t arrested me anywhere…
December 3rd, 2007 at 8:00 pm
Seems like a better deal to buy it at the store than to download it.
December 3rd, 2007 at 10:36 pm
Actually, anybody can “try out” one of the many digital cameras on display at any Apple Store, load the pictures into iPhoto on one of the display Macs, then pop them into an email from Safari, and nobody will say a thing….
December 4th, 2007 at 8:20 am
Mister Ron, it may have worked the few times you’ve tried it, and Jean, obviously they can’t arrest you (but they can kick you out of their store). Neither of your experiences or thoughts change the fact that “no photography inside Apple stores” is the standing, official policy of Apple, and there are several references to people running afoul of the policy around the web. As a former part-time associate (hey, I did it for the discount!), Mac Genius, and Genius coordinator, I also have personal knowledge of the policy, as do my friends who are still with Apple.
December 4th, 2007 at 9:19 am
Couldn’t find a place to report a bug, so here goes. For Snippet subscriptions 1) the last update date does not respect international settings (12/04/07 is April 12th in many parts of the world, not December 4th) 2) has no way to show the URL I have subscribed to (it just shows URL).
Also, I can not find any documentation for the syntax of text files. (shortcut)(TAB)(snippet) appears to work, but how about multi-line snippets, inserting the clipboard, etc.?
December 4th, 2007 at 10:47 am
@Partners in Grime: The deal is the same, except that you get a physical product. But it’s exactly the same software as what you would download. If you were giving TextExpander as a gift, it would be nice to get the box so you could wrap it and put it under the tree.
@Erik J. Barzeski: Sorry, I was being facetious about being arrested. (I would be severely traumatized if I was kicked out!)
If an Apple Store employee tells you that no photos are allowed, you should respect that. They are doing their job. Most retail stores have some policy against photography. I think they are primarily worried that competitors will try to copy their store designs. (It would be a hilarious failure if they tried copying Apple…) I’m sure there are also issues of consumer privacy.
December 4th, 2007 at 10:48 am
@Paul All bugs can be reported to support@smileonmymac.com. I’ve gone ahead and sent yours over. Thanks for the feedback. As soon as I have an answer, I’ll post it.
December 4th, 2007 at 11:01 am
@Paul: TextExpander uses the long date and time formats as specified under the Formats tab in the International system preferences when displaying the last updated date for URL-based snippet groups. You’re right that it does not display the URL. I’ll add that to our feature request list.
Text files can be in plain text format, RTF format, and RTFD format. They can be comma- or tab-separated. This is documented under “Add Group from File…” in the “Snippet Groups” section of the help. There is no provision for multi-line snippets. Here is a list of the special characters:
%Y Date: Year: 4 digits (2006)
%y Date: Year: 2 digits (06)
%B Date: Month: long name (January)
%b Date: Month: short name (Jan)
%m Date: Month: 2 digits (01)
%1m Date: Month: 1-2 digits (1)
%A Date: Day: long name (Monday)
%a Date: Day: short name (Mon)
%d Date: Day: 2 digits (01)
%e Date: Day: 1 digit (1)
%H Time: Hour: 24 hour clock, 2 digits (14)
%I Time: Hour: (capital letter i) 12 hour clock, 2 digits (09)
%1H Time: Hour: 24 hour clock, 1-2 digits (9)
%1I Time: Hour: (capital letter i) 12 hour clock, 1-2 digits (5)
%M Time: Minute: 2 digits (09)
%1M Time: Minute: 1-2 digits (9)
%S Time: Second: 2 digits (05)
%1S Time: Second: 1-2 digits (5)
%snippet:% : insert abbreviation here
%clipboard : insert clipboard contents here
%| : (shift-\) position cursor here once snippet is pasted
% : cursor right
%^ : (shift-6) cursor up
%v : (letter v) cursor down
%+ : keep delimiter
%- : abandon delimiter
December 7th, 2007 at 2:40 am
just to let you know, textexpander does not function with sofacontrol. maybe you can fix that. might have something to do with their security workaround.
December 7th, 2007 at 2:47 am
yeah, i just checked. if you activate a somewhat necessary security workaround for sofacontrol textexpander fails. might be that dudes fault. after unchecking (deactivating) and restart TE works.