Let your keyboard do the working

Let your keyboard do the working
Mac Tip #241/03-May-2006

Way back on 26-May-2004 I wrote in Mac Tip #151 about the most excellent application TypeIt4Me. This nice bit of software will do your typing for you. Set up a mnemonic such as mzx, for example, and it will type anything from a few letters to screeds of text.

Handy typing utilities

These days I use the yType feature of the essential CopyPaste-X (Mac Tip #148) for that task, since it’s already handling copying and pasting for me.

Others use the Autocorrect feature built in to Microsoft Word, or a new application called TextPander. [Update 2009: TextPander is now called TextExpander and it's my favourite utility.]

Another entrant in the field is another utility I use: Keyboard Maestro (Mac Tip #186/09-Mar-2005).

Two advantages of Keyboard Maestro are that it offers a Floating Palette that expands and contracts as required, so you can click a named button to insert text, and that it not only types text but offers macros as well. A macro may be a complex set of actions involving half a dozen programs, Applescripts and more.

Built-in autocomplete

Here’s an autocomplete feature that’s well-hidden: take a look at Safari. Let’s suppose you want to use the Google search field to look for Appaloosa horses.

That’s not the easiest word to spell, so try entering the first 3 letters: app and now press the F5 key across the top of the keyboard. If you use a laptop you may need to include the Fn key.

In my recent version of Safari that action brings up a drop-down menu of words beginning with app. I scroll down and click on appaloosa (or use the arrow keys to scroll and press the Return key).

Try it in your version of Safari — and not just in the Search field. The autocomplete works in the Address bar and possibly other text fields within the body of the page too.

In fact, this last trick is part of the Mac OS, so try it in various applications. It worked for me in OmniWeb, Omni Outliner Pro, NetNewsWire Pro, Mars Edit, iChat, iCal, Address Book — (and then I got bored with the testing).