Sakshi Jain
December 7, 2022
•
8 min
Everyone loves their job until it becomes repetitive.
Whether it is writing and rewriting identical pitches, sending out thousands of outreach emails, or answering the same set of questions every day.
Repetitive tasks are not just a one-way ticket to boredom, they are also a blackhole for time, leaving workers seldom productive enough to concentrate on other, perhaps more critical ideas they can execute.
Fortunately, tech did find a way to eliminate repetitive typing sometime back. And if your job involves mindless busywork every day and you’re just catching up with the latest that can make your job easier (perhaps even bearable), we’re glad you stumbled on this article.
By using a text expander you can save around 30 hours a month. And there is no imagining what you can do with all the extra hours. Whether it’s becoming a better employee or chugging more cups of coffee every day, the possibilities are endless.
What is a text expander?
Text expanders are automation tools that you can use to type snippets of content in an instant. These text expanders autofill out a text block whether in emails, pitches, customer responses, blogs, or code.
With a text expander, you would be able to summon up content in a matter of seconds. They can be used to type out words, code, paragraphs, images, rich text, or anything you need.
For example, typing out o/intro can expand to
The power to go “Accio content” whenever you want saves you time and effort whilst reducing your frustration. It also helps you or your team keep your knowledge base or information updated at all times. Text expanders, thus, bring in consistency and reduce the margin of error significantly.
What can you do with a text expander?
You can rely on the power of automation to help you cruise through your everyday tasks speedily. Text expanders offer a variety of advantages that differ based on your team and function. Here are a few benefits that come with using them for your everyday work.
- Faster response times. Using templated responses you can insert instantly with text expanders, it is easier for customer support teams to address queries faster. Faster response times and accurate replies translate into lower waiting times and higher customer retention.
- Better quality and accuracy of information. With text expanders and ready snippets that you can leverage to your benefit, your chance of making mistakes including inconsistencies in information, grammatical errors, and typos reduces significantly.\
- Higher productivity. Text expanders eliminate the repetitive, manual work of mindlessly typing the same text again and again. This can help supercharge your productivity, helping you save more than 30 hours a month.
- Personalization. With variables insertable with the use of text expanders, frequently sent-out texts can be customized to include personalized information that makes the receiver feel seen, heard, and valued.
- Access to information. The propensity to use and contribute to a company’s knowledge base is highest when everyone knows how to access information. And when the information you need appears where you are typing, you’re more likely to stay focused instead of going down some rabbit hole on the internet. With text expanders, you can also leverage the collective wisdom of everyone in the company instead of working in silos.
- Consistent messaging. Lastly, a text expander gives a business the opportunity to incorporate the brand voice and tone into messages, emails, and other communication channels. This makes your messaging consistent with the rest of the brand.
The 7 text expanders you must try in 2023
1. OSlash
If you’re looking for the best text expander that comes with a built-in suite of productivity tools that can help you fly through work, OSlash is your choice.
You can use OSlash text expander to auto-type text using shortcuts everywhere you work. OSlash snippets also allow you to make your message personal, with the option to add dynamic variables. Plus, it comes with numerous features to manage a team, including the ability to share snippets with coworkers and a permission system to manage who can edit which snippets.
None of the other apps on our list will offer you the powers of text expansion together with a link management solution that also doubles (or triples) up as a knowledge management platform for your company.
No wonder it can save you up to 30 hours every month!
Top features
- Create shortcuts to access and share your frequent web pages, apps, documents, and URLs, in less than a second
- Create and format snippets the way you want with a rich text editor
- Insert variables to craft highly dynamic, personalized messages
- Create snippets with access control: for yourself, your team, or your whole org
- Highlight anything on the web and convert it into a snippet
- Gain one-touch access to your shortcuts, tabs, and activity
Recommended reading: Embrace fast messaging and better user interactions with OSlash text expander
Available for
Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Edge, Brave (extensions), macOS, iOS (coming soon)
2. TextExpander
An incumbent, TextExpander helps you save time by allowing you to create and use your text snippets across a variety of devices.
TextExpander is available for use in macOS, Windows, iOS, and Chrome. It is best suited for teams of all sizes or freelancers who are tired of sending the same pitches and follow-ups every day.
This is a paid app that starts at $3.33 per month (when billed annually) for a single user, or $8.33 and up (again, annually) per user for teams. You can get a 30-day free trial of the two lower tiers if you want to see how it works before you shell out money.
3. Text Blaze
Text Blaze lets you create, save, and insert text snippets and templates anywhere using keyboard shortcuts of your choice.
Text Blaze currently works on Chrome/Chromium-based browsers as well as natively on Windows.
Top features
- Create forms with input fields for inserting custom data into snippets
- Use dynamic formulas to calculate values instantly
- Simulate clicks or key presses to automate repeatable workflows
- Create shared snippets with colleagues that get updated automatically when edits are made, to maintain consistency
- Active community forum to discuss the most productive ways to use Text Blaze and profit from its key functions and features.
Available for
Chrome/Chromium, Edge (extensions)
4. Magical
Magical is a free text expander that claims to “Make tasks disappear. Like magic.”
The plug-and-play user experience does away with integrations and APIs to keep things extremely simple for everyone.
Top features
- Populate sheets, messages, and forms without switching between tabs and copy-pasting data
- Expand shortcuts into full-fledged texts across over 10,000 apps on the web
- Search shortcuts seamlessly with tags or type // to activate a dropdown for shortcut discovery
- Create and lookup your shortcuts anywhere on the web with the Magical Panel
- Get curated shortcut templates with magic packs
- Create unlimited shortcuts with unlimited character count per shortcut
Available for
Google Chrome (extension)
5. PhraseExpress
PhraseExpress is one of the pricier alternatives. And for good reason.
It automates your repetitive tasks using powerful macros. Its Macro Recorder “records your actions like a tape recorder for infinite playback.”
And it comes with a document generator that can create an entire document from scratch using a custom selection of your templates.
Top features
- Store snippets locally and share them with others over the cloud or using network-shared folders between multiple Windows and Mac computers
- Organize snippets in a tree structure rather than flat groups
- Flexibility to assign the same shortcut for multiple snippets and choose the best fit from a smart dropdown menu
- Autocomplete snippets instead of memorizing cryptic abbreviations
- Snippets that adapt to the gender of the recipient
- Multi-language support lets you translate snippets into other languages. The same phrase library can be switched to another language instantly.
Available for
Windows, macOS, iOS
6. Espanso
Espanso is a free and open-source text expander tool that offers all the basic functionalities you expect from an autotext app.
The tool uses a code-based method to create shortcuts which might take some getting used to.
Top features
- Custom forms to include dynamic inputs such as dates
- Ability to run scripts from a snippet
- “Endless extensibility” via Packages: Packages are collections of snippets put together by the Espanso community for writing non-standard text including language accents, mathematical symbols, scientific notations, emojis, and more.
- Cross-platform support for Mac, Windows, and Linux: You only need one main config file to sync the same shortcuts everywhere.
Available for
Windows, macOS, Linux
7. TypeIt4Me
The first ever text expander developed for Mac, TypeIt4Me has been around for over three decades now.
The upside? It works natively on all Mac apps that require typing.
The downside? It works only on Mac and iOS.
P.S. You need the TypeIt4Me Touch notepad app for using TypeIt4Me on your iPhone and iPad.
Top features
- Create a snippet from selected text
- Instantly fix spelling mistakes by adding commonly misspelled words to your abbreviations list
- Autocue placeholders, aka “fill-in fields” for inserting variable inputs into snippets
- Define hot keys for quick access to TypeIt4Me functions
- Restrict snippets and snippet sets to specific apps
- Ditch memorizing abbreviations and rely on point-and-click insertion of snippets from the menu bar
Available for
macOS and iOS
OSlash makes you more effective
OSlash’s text expander can help you automate canned responses, boost productivity, improve customer interactions, and populate your messages in one click.
Above all, OSlash Snippets helps you get back the 30+ hours you waste each month with repetitive typing.
Try the best text expansion tool for free
Ready to discover a world where you can always say the right thing in seconds? Sign up now.
