Best Text Expander software for Windows

[mouser]

Is it just me, or is some of this thread starting to read like an ad?

Seems to me that if there is a thread about "what's the best tool for.. ?" then the author of one of these tools should feel comfortable explaining why they think theirs is best    Something that might seem like an "advertisement" if posted out of context seems very appropriate on such a thread.

[barney]

Something that might seem like an "advertisement" if posted out of context seems very appropriate on such a thread.

-mouser (March 18, 2011, 11:44 PM)

Yep, yer right ... but that doesn't make it seem less like advertising  .  Nothing wrong with that, and nothing wrong with developer(s) comments as to what the software can do, especially in contrast to other mentioned software.  After all, it was developed to fill a perceived need, although some of us need help with that perception.

For instance, I personally was unaware of much of the capability explained because I'd never had a need for that capability.  I'm now better informed, and know where to look should such a need arise.  Methinks the advertising element arises from:

• I need to do this
• The software can do it
• I need to do that
• The software can do it
• I need to do something else
• The software can do it.

The back-and-forth of such an exchange can look more like advertising, without that truly being the intent, than elucidation.  That doesn't mean anyone wants the interchange to stop, but we do tend to tag things with our own labels  .

[mouser]

As a software developer this is an issue that i've had some experience with.. I remember when i first started DC trying to post on a couple of forums about my software and being told to stop "spamming".  And yet if someone else posted about my software it was "thank you for letting us know about some nice new software."   Although I would never do it, it made me realize why so many companies hire people to post about their software and pretend they are just normal users.

So one of the principles we've tried to follow on DC is to say that authors and companies are welcome to post about their software here, as long as they do so in the appropriate place and state their affiliations clearly.

It's also why i think it's important that we welcome companies to post about their software when we have a discussion like "what's the best tool for xxx" or when there is a thread about their software, or in the "announce your software" section.  If it's a place where we would welcome a normal user to tell us why they would use program X, then it should be ok for a company person or the author to tell us why they would, without having to pretend they are not associated with the company.

The only thing we require is disclosure and that they post as humans, rather than copying+pasting some block of text from an advert.

[40hz]

Is it just me, or is some of this thread starting to read like an ad?

Seems to me that if there is a thread about "what's the best tool for.. ?" then the author of one of these tools should feel comfortable explaining why they think theirs is best    Something that might seem like an "advertisement" if posted out of context seems very appropriate on such a thread.

-mouser (March 18, 2011, 11:44 PM)

I did not mean to imply they were spamming. (Note the presence of the wink-bixie  at the end of my original comment.) 

I'll try to make my attempts at joking around a little more obvious next time.

[mouser]

40hz you didn't say anything inappropriate -- i just thought it might be a good opportunity for me to advocate for why i think people should feel comfortable posting on these kinds of threads recommending their own products, since i know some might be unsure whether they should do so.

[bmms]

I do not hide my identity as coming from PhraseExpress. Of course, I answer questions about our software if they arise.

For this purpose I have configured Google Alerts that notifies me if our product name is mentioned on any social media platform. It is because, you are important to us.

I am particularly eager to clarify things if any user (regardless if authentic or fake) praises a feature of a competitor that even originally came from us.

I hope that you at least don't believe that we stage users who apparently seem to have registered here for the sole purpose to bring up a competitor name?

In this context, you have to be aware, that competitors have set Google Alerts for our product as well. ;-)

[mahesh2k]

I gave Auspex a quick try but it seems to be way too buggy and early to be really useful at the present stage, compared to all the well established programs that already exist for years.

I appreciate your enthusiam to hunt bugs as an entertaining hobby but right now I have things to do and no time for fiddling.

I am now evaluating Phrase Express and it seems to be an awesome program. It seems to be very well designed, established and I just scratched its surface.

It's free for home use. You might want to check it out.

-Mattphoes (March 13, 2011, 06:40 PM)

Oh i get it now, who's OP here. 

[steeladept]

I do not hide my identity as coming from PhraseExpress. Of course, I answer questions about our software if they arise.

For this purpose I have configured Google Alerts that notifies me if our product name is mentioned on any social media platform. It is because, you are important to us.

I am particularly eager to clarify things if any user (regardless if authentic or fake) praises a feature of a competitor that even originally came from us.

I hope that you at least don't believe that we stage users who apparently seem to have registered here for the sole purpose to bring up a competitor name?

In this context, you have to be aware, that competitors have set Google Alerts for our product as well. ;-)

-BartelsMedia (March 19, 2011, 08:24 AM)

I appreciate the sensitivity to the statements above and believe me when I state I do not believe ANYONE here believed you did try to hide your identity. You have been here off and on for quite some time and have been quite helpful anytime anyone has questions or problems.  DC is a particularly helpful place to get results on any software because so many different people here use so much different software in so many different ways.  It only helps improve the site when developers, marketers, or others directly related to the software and it's development join the site and contribute as well.

I don't know mouser personally, but I do know how he reacts to many issues that arise on the site and I have never, never, seen him accuse anyone of anything abusive.  The most I have seen posted is a firm but polite request about affiliation or request to steer clear of specific topics as appropriate given the terms of participation.  Given that, and what I read from him above, I can only say I have no doubt he was stating that to the readers in general to remind them of the policies of this forum and why it is okay - actually preferred - that you participate here in the way you are. 

I just hope that is how you took it and if not, then I hope this explains how it reads (at least one way it reads) to a third party.

[elvisbrown]

I'm a coder and my typing is pathetic to be honest....I use Phrase Express for simple typing corrections like chnage to change and I have many inbuily typing defects all of which get corrected on the fly as I type badly. Brilliant.

But where it exceeds all the others that I tried is that I can type in "slabentry" without the quotes and have all this code automagically appear:

Dim session As New NotesSession
Dim db As NotesDatabase
Set db = session.CurrentDatabase
Dim view As NotesView
Set view = db.getView("XXXXXXXX")
view.AutoUpdate = False
Dim vc As NotesViewEntryCollection
Set vc = view.AllEntries
Dim entry As NotesViewEntry
Dim doc As NotesDocument
Set entry = vc.GetFirstEntry()
While not entry is nothing
Set doc = entry.Document
<some code here please>
Set entry = vc.GetNextEntry(entry)
Wend

and this just one of many bits of pre-configured keywords I have put in.....it makes the boilerplate bits of coding immediate without annoying typos and errors.

When first installed it can seem a bit overdone and daunting but you can delete out all the crap stuff that is in there by default.

Highly recommended. BTW I've not been nagged about commercial use.

[HankFriedman]

I installed Phrase Express but could not figure out how to customize it to autocorrect my spelling errors.

It has built-in correction dictionaries but didn't make it obvious at all how to build one's own.

I uninstalled it right away.

[HankFriedman]

By the way, the Yadabyte Subtext program seemed simple and fine, until I rebooted and it lost all of my newly entered abbreviations and corrections

[rjbull]

I installed Phrase Express but could not figure out how to customize it to autocorrect my spelling errors.
It has built-in correction dictionaries but didn't make it obvious at all how to build one's own.

-HankFriedman (May 14, 2011, 10:14 AM)

They'd probably point you to a video on their Web site.   They have quite a lot, though they don't make them obviously visible from the front page.  The support person, who posts here as BartelsMedia, has posted links to them.  You could also ask in their forums - but don't dare compare with another product, or even suggest any other product exists.  Typing Assistant that I currently use makes it easy to get at auto-correction.  It looks like it can do bulk imports too, though I've not tried that.  But, it's payware for all uses, though modestly priced.

[bmms]

I installed Phrase Express but could not figure out how to customize it to autocorrect my spelling errors.

-HankFriedman (May 14, 2011, 10:14 AM)

With PhraseExpress, you actually don't need to manually create custom AutoCorrect entries at all. PhraseExpress automatically detects frequently individual misspellings automatically for you and store them without any manual interaction.

Adding your own AutoCorrect entry is as easy as creating a regular new phrase: Enter the correct spelling as a phrase and enter the misspelling as an Autotext. Step-by-step video tutorial: http://screencast.com/t/haRhziIi

PhraseExpress can also import Microsoft Word AutoCorrect entries for use in any program.

You can even import AutoCorrect list from web pages like http://wikitravel.or..._common_misspellings with the batch import feature.

All that free-of-charge for personal use.

Hope, this helps.