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Recommend less known macro apps and text expanders

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kunkel321:
Texter is a freebie from the Lifehacker people.
http://lifehacker.com/238306/lifehacker-code-texter-windows?tag=softwaretexter

There's also Shortkeys
http://www.shortkeys.com/
from the people who make MacroExpress.

There's also, coincidentally, one at http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/fastpaste-263/ today, though it doesn't seem to be getting good reviews.  
EDIT:  I guess fastpaste doesn't really fit this category...
 

My humble advice is to use AutoHotKey, if you have the skills to code.   If not, shell out the $60 for MacroExpressPro. It's quite powerful and has a responsive support forum.

cyberdiva:
I have used and loved ActiveWords for years.  It has both text expander and macro capabilities.  More specifically, it can do text substitution/expansion, launch programs, open documents and folders, send email [I've never used it for this], and navigate to websites.  Moreover, it has a simple but moderately powerful scripting language  that makes it possible to do more complex tasks.

There's a free version that I've never tried.  The commercial version costs $49.95.  You can install it on all your computers for that price.  I've tried several similar programs and continue to prefer ActiveWords.  

tranglos:
My humble advice is to use AutoHotKey, if you have the skills to code.   If not, shell out the $60 for MacroExpressPro. It's quite powerful and has a responsive support forum.
-kunkel321 (January 20, 2012, 05:41 PM)
--- End quote ---

I've been using AutoHotkey for a long time - for window management, app launching and text expansion. It's just that  *am* a sucker for a convenient UI. I have quite a lot of expansions defined for email, for my translation work and for coding. AHK does not make it easy to organize them, and every so often I catch myself deciding not to add a new expansion simply because it will make the script even bigger and harder to manage than is already is.

Or, if I wanted to change the prefix character for example, I'd have to modify every entry in the AHK script, while a UI-based application might store a prefix in one place and apply it to all expansions (or better, all expansions in a particular category).

Other than that, AHK is the best utility so far. All the commercial apps impose some short-sighted limitations. Just to give an example, in ActiveWords you can choose a trigger key for some of its functions, but it can only be a function key F1 to F12; you don't even get to choose modifiers. Something like that disqualifies a program immediately (to me), and each and every one of them has these kinds of limitations somewhere. Either you MUST use a prefix character (useless for typo correction) or you cannot use one, or the only way to activate a feature is to press CAPS LOCK (I actually use caps lock e.g. when translating END USER LICENCSE AGREEMENTS for example, since they are often in all caps, who knows why!), etc. Or they can launch apps, but are not smart enough to activate an app if it is already running, which is critical to me (e.g. press Win+Z to launch Firefox, but if it's already running, activate it instead.)

Big or small, all commercial apps have these little traps. AHK is the only one that does not. So I want to put that functionality in a nice, polished UI, and without all the complex scripting that AHK does (because that's beyond my immediate need and coding skills, not because there's anything wrong with it).

cyberdiva:
You're probably right, tranglos, that ActiveWords limits the trigger key to the function keys.  I'm not sure, since I never found a need to use something else as the trigger.  I did need to change function keys at one point, and that was no problem.  As far as typos go, ActiveWords corrects them without any trigger key (unless for some reason you want a trigger key even for a given typo, which is also possible).  If I type "becuase," ActiveWords will automatically change that to "because" without my hitting a function key.

One thing I appreciate about ActiveWords is that its scripting is simple yet quite powerful.  For people comfortable with more sophisticated languages and who have more complicated needs, AHK may be a better choice.  I don't know, since I've never tried it.  

kunkel321:
I know what you mean, Tranglos, about being a sucker for a good UI.  I've tried lots of times to self-teach myself AHK, but end up getting frustrated and going back to MacroExpress, because there's no code needed.  (Though you do still need to understand the logic behind more complex macros, and you have to become a quasi-expert if you want to manipulate the registry, work with .ini files, and that sort of thing.)  The different possible activations are pretty versatile.   I think maybe you can have a space character as a suffix activation, which makes it like an autocorrector.  But I think you'd have to create each item as a separate macro which would be prohibitively time-consuming. The sister product, ShortKeys, actually lets you import the .acl library from office (e.g. C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\1033\MSO.ACL), which is nice.  UNFORTUNATELY, I found that ShorkKeys conflicted with the built-in autocorrect of Word, so I don't recommend it.  (fyi Here is a comparison chart of the apps: http://macros.com/compareproducts.htm).

Lastly, regarding autocorrects, have you tried the AHK script that this Jim fellow made http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/Hotstrings.htm#AutoCorrect ?
It's pretty sweet and has a gizmo for quickly adding new items.  I think you could probably also use it as a text-expander(?)  You'd just have to be careful to not have any real words replaced.  (For example use "myaddy " to activate your address, but don't use, "add ")

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