![]() ![]() The snippet creation process revolves around a new “Insert” menu that lives, alongside the (also new) “Format” option, in the copy & paste menu. ![]() The big new feature of TextExpander touch 2.0 is that it allows to more easily create complex snippets directly on an iOS device. TextExpander touch 2.0, while still limited by sandboxing, takes important steps towards being more similar to TextExpander 4. The problem with TextExpander touch 1.0, however, wasn’t strictly related to its sandboxed nature – it just didn’t have the same amount of features of TextExpander for Mac, resulting in a crippled experience for users who, upon seeing the app on the Store, thought it would work exactly like on OS X. Some of my favorite iOS apps such as Drafts and Day One allow me to save keystrokes – something that’s even more convenient on iOS. To overcome this limitation, Smile created the TextExpander SDK, which has so far enabled over 150 apps to integrate with TextExpander to offer snippet expansion natively on iOS. ![]() ![]() Due to iOS’ sandboxed nature, TextExpander touch cannot work in any app that accepts text this is why you can’t type a TextExpander abbreviation in Safari or Apple Mail and receive the full text. Prior to today’s update, TextExpander touch could only support a fraction of the Mac version’s functionalities. If you’re often dealing with text on OS X, I have no doubt you can come up with TextExpander ideas for your workflow. Combined with the app’s support for standard strftime timestamps and script execution, a single TextExpander snippet can trigger visual menus, handle multi-line fill-ins, and manipulate the cursor position or text selection in a current document. In TextExpander 4, originally released last year, you can go beyond basic abbreviations and text expansions and create complex fill-in snippets that implement macros, optional selections, and even popup menus to generate text boilerplates that are actually based on variables, such as dates. While alternatives have surfaced over the years, I believe TextExpander is the premiere text expansion utility thanks to Smile’s excellent support, frequent update cycle, and advanced feature set on the Mac. You can use TextExpander to type sig and be presented with your full email signature, so you don’t have to type it every time adddr for your home address, useful for web forms or, you can create a snippet called cccard that will be expanded with the number of your credit card. TextExpander, for those unaware, is a text expansion utility: it takes a pre-defined abbreviation and outputs the full text associated with it. I have been able to test the update for the past month, and it’s already become part of my workflow in interesting (and powerful) new ways. Today’s major update, TextExpander touch 2.0, aims at rising the app’s grade of efficiency by introducing several new features that have become must-haves for TextExpander on the Mac. I rely on Smile’s TextExpander to save keystrokes on my Mac on a daily basis, but the iOS counterpart, TextExpander touch, has always felt vastly underpowered due to limitations imposed by Apple on the iPhone and iPad. ![]()
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