Breevy - Text replacer / expander and program / website launcher.

[P.a.t.r.i.c.k.]

Hi guys,

Breevy is a text replacer / expander as well as a program / website launcher. With it you can "type" words and phrases, or launch programs and websites, just by typing the abbreviation you associated with it.

For example, with Breevy, instead of typing out your street address in its entirety, you could create a new abbreviation for it... say, myad. So then whenever you want to type out your address, just type myad in any program and Breevy will replace it for you with your address, automatically. Going by the number of characters in a typical address, that's the difference between typing 35-40+ characters without Breevy, to typing just 4 characters with Breevy (you could even make the abbreviation shorter if you want).

Same goes for anything else... if you can type it, you can abbreviate it with Breevy -- your e-mail address, phone number, forum username(s), e-mail greetings and signatures, online form information, complex words, code snippets, etc.

You can also launch programs, documents, folders, and websites with Breevy -- for example, you can launch Notepad by typing np, launch DonationCoder.com by typing dc, or navigate to your download folder by typing dw.

I tried to make Breevy as fast and bloat-free as possible (quick startup, low CPU usage and low memory consumption, responsive UI, etc) and I've also got a lot of good stuff planned for the near future.

Let me know how you like it.

More information / download at: http://www.16software.com/breevy/

[skwire]

The interface layout is very nicely done.  Logical, concise and no superfluous crap.  Just the way I like them.

[P.a.t.r.i.c.k.]

Thanks dude.

[rjbull]

There's a load of programs that do some of all of what Breevy does: e.g. Phrase Express, Typing Assistant, Comfort Keys, Instant Text, IntelliComplete, Type Pilot/Speed Pilot, and many others, plus roll-your-won with AutoHotKey.  Some of them are free, or free for personal use, others have been offered at DC or BdJ discounts  <hint>.  What do you see as Breevy's special strengths compared to the field?

[P.a.t.r.i.c.k.]

What do you see as Breevy's special strengths compared to the field?

Simplicity, ease of use, and speed.

BTW, Breevy is scheduled to be on BdJ at 57% off on November 29th. I plan to make a post a week or so before that date.

[rjbull]

Simplicity, ease of use, and speed.

Sounds good, as long as it has enough features.  E.g., Instant Text has very good import features, including the ability to analyse a corpus of text and produce a set of abbreviations from it, also to make those abbreviations in different styles, e.g. John Knowles' ABCZ Typing Abbreviation System.  IT is expensive...  no wonder.

Breevy is scheduled to be on BdJ at 57% off on November 29th. I plan to make a post a week or so before that date.

Sounds excellent 

[rjbull]

Breevy is scheduled to be on BdJ at 57% off on November 29th.

I see that went wrong, and has been re-scheduled for 3d. Jan. 2010.

I plan to make a post a week or so before that date.

I didn't see it,  but I don't log on to DC as often as I used to.  I set a reminder at BdJ for the January offer, though.

[kakarukeys]

What do you see as Breevy's special strengths compared to the field?

Simplicity, ease of use, and speed.

BTW, Breevy is scheduled to be on BdJ at 57% off on November 29th. I plan to make a post a week or so before that date.

Nice program. Consider adding some more features, since there is competitive offering out there which is free. And  your blog doesn't load.

[P.a.t.r.i.c.k.]

I see that went wrong, and has been re-scheduled for 3d. Jan. 2010.

Yes, sorry about that... the deal has indeed been re-scheduled for January 3, 2010, as you said.

[P.a.t.r.i.c.k.]

Nice program. Consider adding some more features, since there is competitive offering out there which is free. And  your blog doesn't load.

Thanks. Yes, I'll definitely be adding more features in the near future. If there's something you'd particularly like to see added, let me know and I'll consider adding that first.

Is the blog working for you now? It's worked for me all day today and yesterday. Might've just been a little temporary fluke.

[J-Mac]

Patrick,

Welcome to DC!

I see your program is relatively new; I currently have Direct Access but am now using Phrase Express. Breevy's UI looks a lot like that of Direct Access. I had to stop using Direct Access because there were too many bugs - it became more difficult to use than not. Phrase Express is very comprehensive but can be difficult to get all features working, in my experience. How would you compare Breevy to those two?

Import from other apps? Import Word's Auto-correct dictionary?

How do you fire off a phrase/word? Select your own shortcut? Or locked into one default? Very important one for me: how weel does it handle abbreviations?? (can't, don't, etc.?)

Thanks for the info.

Jim

[P.a.t.r.i.c.k.]

Hi J-Mac, thanks for the welcome.

How would you compare Breevy to those two?

Comparing Breevy to Direct Access, the layout of the main window is somewhat similar, with some big differences of course, but I will have to say that Breevy uses much less CPU and memory than DA, startup is much faster, and also, the UI is more responsive and not nearly as laggy as DA's is.

There are no existing bugs that I know of at the moment, but if you should happen to come across one please let me know and I'll do my best to fix it as quickly as possible for you.

Comparing Breevy to Phrase Express, I tried to make Breevy as clear and straightforward as possible to use, while still being very functional. I'd like to think Breevy wins in that department.

I included a quick-start guide as well as some helpful examples that hopefully will get you started creating and using abbreviations in just a few minutes. If you ever decide to try Breevy, please let me know if I've failed to make it straightforward enough and I'll work on it.

While being easy, it's also powerful, and most of the important features PE has, Breevy has. As I mentioned previously, as well: Breevy is in active development, so I'm constantly improving it, and if you'd like a feature added to Breevy that you think would be useful, just shoot me an e-mail.

Import from other apps? Import Word's Auto-correct dictionary?

Right now Breevy can import from it's own exported abbreviations, as well as from PC Shorthand. However, I do plan on adding other importers in the near future... MS Word AutoCorrect is at the top of my list. I would like to note that Breevy comes with its own Typo AutoCorrection set with 6500+ abbreviations to correct common spelling errors, that you can import by clicking File -> Import Typo AutoCorrection Set.

How do you fire off a phrase/word? Select your own shortcut? Or locked into one default? Very important one for me: how weel does it handle abbreviations?? (can't, don't, etc.?)

Each abbreviation can be fired in three different ways:

1) Immediately: As soon as you type the abbreviation in an application (such as 'addr') it'll be replaced.

2) After the trigger key is pressed: First you must type the abbreviation, and then the trigger key (Ctrl by default, but this can be changed). If you don't press the trigger key after the abbreviation, the abbreviation won't be replaced. Also, if the trigger key is a visible character (like a Space) it won't be shown on the screen.

3) After a word-ending character is pressed: After you type an abbreviation, you must type a word-ending character, such as a space, period, etc (you can modify what these word-ending characters are as well). So if you had an abbreviation of 'addr', if you typed 'address' it wouldn't be replaced, but if you typed 'addr.' or 'addr ' (period, space, etc) it would be replaced.

You can set the default trigger mode for new abbreviations, and then modify it (as well as the case mode) on a case by case basis for each abbreviation you want to use a different trigger mode for.

[P.a.t.r.i.c.k.]

Oh yeah, I just wanted to let you guys know that the BitsduJour 57%-off sale is live today only, (January 3, 2009)... the deal ends midnight tonight.

[sri]

Missed the deal. Any way to get it at the reduced price now?

[P.a.t.r.i.c.k.]

Hi sri, sorry you missed the deal. Please check your PM folder.

[P.a.t.r.i.c.k.]

Hate to keep posting here so frequently, but J-Mac, I wanted to let you know that I just released Breevy 2.24 today, which adds support for importing MS Word AutoCorrect entries.

[J-Mac]

Hate to keep posting here so frequently, but J-Mac, I wanted to let you know that I just released Breevy 2.24 today, which adds support for importing MS Word AutoCorrect entries.

Thanks Patrick.

To be honest, I haven't even installed Breevy yet - been kinda busy, and since there is no way to import my abbreviations/phrases from other programs it will take a fair amount of time for me to get Breevy up and running. 

So I believe that I downloaded 2.21; I'll make sure to check that I have the latest version before installing it.

Thank you.

Jim

[sri]

Thanks for the PM Patrick.

As someone spoilt by PhraseExpress, I want to request you to add the following to Breevy:

• The ability to set trigger mode (immediate or key press or upon Space/Tab/Enter key presses) and case sensitive property to an entire folder. Once these values are selected for a folder, all the abbreviations under this folder should inherit the same either by default or an option should be provided when the folder is right clicked to apply these properties to all abbreviations.
• When adding a new abbreviation, have the Description field auto populate by the value of 'Replacement Text' (at least the first word, i.e., till a space character is encountered
• Enabling and disabling the program by Ctrl+clicking on system tray icon. I know I can right click and enable/disable. Single click on system tray icon makes it a little easier/faster

What do you think?

[P.a.t.r.i.c.k.]

Those are all great ideas. I was actually planning on implementing all but the last one, but I'll add that last one to my list as well.

Stay tuned...

EDIT: All but the first in your list were implemented in 2.25. Stay tuned for the first one on your list.

[mwang]

There's a load of programs that do some of all of what Breevy does: e.g. Phrase Express, Typing Assistant, Comfort Keys, Instant Text, IntelliComplete, Type Pilot/Speed Pilot, and many others, plus roll-your-won with AutoHotKey.  Some of them are free, or free for personal use, others have been offered at DC or BdJ discounts  <hint>.  What do you see as Breevy's special strengths compared to the field?

Though I haven't used them all, I did try a few, namely PhraseExpress (7.0.153), Typing Assistant (5.0), Direct Access (1.x) and Macro Express Pro (4.1.5.1). And I've just started using Breevy (2.50) today. One thing immediately stands out: Breevy is the only one that works (most of the time) when an East-Asian text IME is on.

An IME (short for Input Method Extension) works much the same way as a text expander: it intercepts keyboard inputs and convert them into East Asian text (Chinese, Japanese or Korean). And to mimic regular typing experience, all IMEs use the space key as the "break" to separate one word (character) from the next. As a result, most text expanders run into troubles when an IME is on (i.e., when the user is typing Asian text), for they are competing with each other to interpret the same keyboard inputs.

With Breevy I can opt to use a "trigger key" at the end of an abbreviation to trigger the replacement, so it won't mess with regular Chinese or Japanese typing (never tried Korean here), at least with the IMEs I use. The critical part is, when I do hit the "trigger key" (Ctrl in my case) to trigger a replacement, Breevy cleans up the keyboard buffer properly afterward so the IME in use isn't confused.

Other programs I've tried (PhraseExpress e.g.) also have this feature, but none of them works reliably when an IME is on (i.e., hitting the trigger key didn't always get me the replacement), and none of them cleans up the buffer properly afterward.

Suppose I define "em" as an abbreviation for my email address, e.g., while "em" (plus space) in one IME I use gives me "江" (which is a Chinese word meaning "river"). Now when I type em and then hit the trigger key, others either

1. couldn't deliver the replacement, or

2. leave the inputs in the buffer after the replacement so when I hit the space with the intention to add a space after my email address, the IME outputs "江", or

3. through some mysterious keyboard sequences turn off my IME so I have to turn it back on to continue typing Chinese.

Breevy is the only one that does it right. Bravo!

[rjbull]

[...] Typing Assistant (5.0) [...] And to mimic regular typing experience, all IMEs use the space key as the "break" to separate one word (character) from the next. As a result, most text expanders run into troubles when an IME is on

I'm surprised Typing Assistant doesn't work.  I don't know where the author's based, but his name looks Chinese to me.  So, I'd have expected TA to do the right thing, especially as you can configure Auto-Complete by various keys other than space.  I generally use the digit in the popup list, but maybe that doesn't work in your situation.  I'll e-mail the author.

[sri]

I used to use PhraseExpress. But have been using Breevy since January this year.

While PhraseExpress is more powerful, I like the simplicity and attractive GUI of Breevy.

[mwang]

I'm surprised Typing Assistant doesn't work.  I don't know where the author's based, but his name looks Chinese to me.  So, I'd have expected TA to do the right thing, especially as you can configure Auto-Complete by various keys other than space.  I generally use the digit in the popup list, but maybe that doesn't work in your situation.  I'll e-mail the author.

That's interesting. I didn't know that. I have to admit I tried Typing Assistant a while ago (v5.0, not the current v5.2). I have used PhraseExpress the longest, since it's freeware (for personal use). The others I tried are shareware, so the trials weren't as extensive. I might have missed something. Thanks for taking the initiative. Hope there's good news so I'll have another choice.

[rjbull]

I had an e-mail from the author saying that Typing Assistant works with IME and has been doing so for ages.  I'll ask him to comment in person.

[mwang]

OK, I tried their newest version (v.5.2) just now, and in no time I was reminded of yet another IME-related compatibility issue often seen in text expanders that I forgot to mention:

When I hit the trigger key, Typing Assistant would issue a series of backspace to remove the abbreviation. And yet when typing with an IME on, the key strokes wouldn't generate output to the application immediately; they are held in a buffer. Instead of wiping out the abbreviation, as a result, Typing Assistant ends up deleting text that should be kept.

I don't blame Typing Assistant for not seeing the IME. After all, it's difficult to know if another program is running--enabled, to be exact, since IMEs are in general loaded at startup. All text expanders I've tried work only when there's no IME on, not just Typing Assistant.

That makes Breevy amazing, however, for somehow it works with my IMEs.

Another small issue with Typing Assistant as a text expander is the lack of flexibility. E.g., you can't organize text replacement pairs into groups, making them harder to manage.

Thanks for contacting the author, however. It's appreciated. And I hope he does come and comment in person.