![]() ![]() One tip: I suggest starting nearly all snippets with x for ease of access and typing on iOS and OSX. Remember, you’re creating a shorthand language, so make it work for you (and your team, as you can share snippets with others). TextExpander has been recommended many times (here at Attorney at Work, and again, and by MacSparky), and has good instructional videos. So, rather than telling you how to set it up, I’m going to share some of my favorite uses and snippet abbreviations. Format text, including creating internet links.Use other snippets you’ve made inside a snippet.Put a fill-in text field in a snippet, for you to complete when you call the snippet.Define “optional” sections in a snippet that you choose with checkboxes when the snippet expands.The text you expand doesn’t have to be only plain text. There’s a useful but limited iOS keyboard you can use from any iOS app, and many apps (Fantastical, Daylite, Drafts, Launch Center and Dispatch, to name some of my most-used apps) will automatically expand TextExpander snippets as you type. While I’m still on the older version, I believe I’ll stay with TextExpander and pay for the subscription because of the combined ease of use, flexibility, sync and integration in iOS. There are many less-expensive desktop text expansion utilities (e.g., aText, TypeIt4Me, Typinator), and there are more powerful Mac text expansion and macro programs (e.g., Keyboard Maestro), and the geek-sphere (where I often am) likes to discuss which to use, and what to use them for (see here, here, here, and here). Unfortunately, it recently moved from a license model to a subscription model, with an increase in price (which angered many users, but see Brett Terpstra’s assessment). I chose TextExpander based on recommendations from colleagues and the integration with my computer systems: TextExpander is available for Mac and iOS, with a Windows beta. You increase your efficiency and your accuracy. By creating your own shorthand for phrases (or multi-paragraph blocks of text) you use repeatedly, you can quickly create a document, letter or email that says what you want - without having to hunt for the last contract or email you wrote that said something similar, and then go through it to change, for instance, people’s names. Keystroke expansion tools, also called text expansion, let you create shortcuts for words and phrases. If you could save yourself 10 or 15 minutes per day while ensuring the high quality of what you write, wouldn’t you? What Is Keystroke Expansion? Or go to an industry networking event, or catch up with a friend over lunch. ![]() You could use that time to get in a little more work on a motion. If you can get your work done more quickly, and avoid mistakes such as typos (or overlooking something you meant to say), you will be more productive. For a practicing attorney, efficiency and accuracy are key components of effective work habits. ![]()
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