[START OF AUDIO] Steve Dotto here. How much time do you think
you spend correcting your typing on daily basis? I know I spent a lot, or used to spend
a lot because I learned to type a little later in life and my typing skills are somewhat
lacking. But it�s amazing how consistently I make the same mistakes, the transposing
letters or the same spelling mistake over and over again. I�m remarkably consistent.
So I went about looking for a tool that would help me. Rather than learning to type correctly
and developing the actual skill, I looked for technology to help me and I found it.
This is a life-changing piece of software. In fact, I kind of get a little bit choked
up when I think about it. It�s called TextExpander. It is basically a keyboard macro tool. What
it does is it looks for the string of characters that we type and as we type it in, if it sees
or recognizes a certain string, it replaces that text with what we want to put in place.
For example, I often that letter transposition around typing. Instead of typing the as T-H-E,
I do the T-E-H all the time. So take a look here at the screen and watch with me in amazement
as I type T-E-H and then normally would have to go back and correct it, correct? Watch,
I�m going to hit the H. What!? Did you see that? It automatically changed it. Yes. Well,
does it work for other things? Perhaps it does. Let�s try can, C-N-A. What!? It did
it again. TextExpander is awesome. Now it does correct
little typos like this. It corrects common spelling mistakes but you can also use it
to insert common phrases like your address or your name or your email address. Things
that you put it on an ongoing basis, you basically program them as little macros. So for example
if you were a tech support person and you constantly wrote the same phrase in emails
or in correspondence to ask people to restart their modem, what you can do with TextExpander
is put in �:restart� and it then replaces that with a text that you want to use over
and over again. It�s a terrific little tool. Let me show you the control area. I�m going
to open it here. Let�s stay in the menu for a second. You can see we�ve got what�s
called snippets, each of the little phrases that are there. I've got a folder here that
I�ve made for my mistakes. These are kind of default snippets for putting in things
like your address, and then you can download other things like proper accents. You can
download a library of accents. I have downloaded a library here of common spelling mistakes
that people have and it also has those typing transpositions that are common. But if you
have a new one, any time that you have a problem, can create a new snippet yourself or a new
opportunity if you�re going to be typing the same phrase over and over again. You can
create the snippet just from a selection, or from your clipboard, or type it in.
Where do you manage it all? Let�s take a look at the management tool here. It is in
the TextExpander window here and you can see basically it�s a library of different common
character strings that we�re going to put in. For example, I often type �today�s�
wrong. This is the other thing that I do. Watch. I always hit the colon instead of the
apostrophe. That�s the common mistake that I make over and over again. It�s where I
put my fingers. So when I type in �today� and then I hit �:s� it then replaces it
with the correct spelling. That's just really the benefit that I get.
In the past, after I type, because I�d be madly typing away, and I tend to look at my
keyboard more than I look at the screen as I�m typing, then I�d go back and I�d
proofread. If I missed a mistake then I�m just embarrassed because I sent something
wrong. But then after all this time I spent writing, I�ve got to spend time going through
and cleaning up my document. TextExpander is just a great option for that.
Now it is not an inexpensive tool. For the basic version, it costs $35 and then if you
want to buy the family pack which will allow you to install it on, I think, five computers,
it�s $46. I don�t normally heartily endorse you getting and paying this much money for
any simple utility but this one here, I recommend it without any hesitation at all. Try me.
Ask me. Say, �Steve, do you recommend we buy TextExpander for Mac?� Yes, I do. See,
no hesitation whatsoever. If you are a Windows use, they have a tool
called PhraseExpress, which does most of the same things. In fact, you can even import
the libraries from TextExpander so that our Windows brethren are not left out. I haven�t
tested this program but it probably works just as well and it�s cheaper. I think it�s
free for the most part. This is the best $35 to $45 you can spend.
I hope you�ve enjoyed your time with us. Hey, I haven�t mentioned it recently but
you know we do a podcast. We do a weekly radio show up here in Canada and its podcast each
week on our site, at DottoTech.com. There we have each week�s show available to you.
What have we talked about this week? We�ve talked about social sporting sites, SalesForce,
and PogoPlugs, fascinating stuff. I hope you enjoyed this. Drop by again next
time and we will give you more productivity tips. I�m Steve Dotto. Thanks for spending
time with me today. [END OF AUDIO]
Steve Dotto0TextExpander0June 11, 2013
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