So you type a lot for a living? Want to get more done in the same amount of time?
You could (and probably should) practice your typing, but there‘s an easier way to get some quick returns.
Using AutoCorrect as a text expansion tool will help you get faster now with more limited effort.
Thanks for your interest
This content is part of a paid plan.
Keyboard shorthand?
Text expansion is kind of like modern shorthand but easier to implement than improving your raw typing speed.
Just tap your fingers on fewer keys. How hard can that be?
There are a few idiosyncrasies, like overcoming years of typing muscle memory, but text expansion tools also relieve some tedium when typing common text. I’ve used it in emails at work and in my writing with character names and such.
Solutions
The exact text expansion solution depends on your platform and preferences. I use Microsoft Word mostly, so I leverage AutoCorrect to do more than correct spelling errors. It’s fast, intuitive, and “free” if you already use Word.
If you use other apps like Google Docs or just spend a lot of time in Gmail or a note-taking app, my other favorite text expansion apps are TextExpander (multi-platform) and TextBlaze (Windows or browser-based), but there are others. Both mentioned are paid apps but worth it if you type a lot.
With AutoCorrect, we’re not talking about expanding large blocks of text since it’s limited to 255 characters. Word provides AutoText for larger text blocks.
AutoCorrect can include formatted text which is useful at time, but it does add tad more work to create an entry.
What I do?
If you start actually thinking about what AutoCorrect entries to add, you may feel a bit confused about where to start. Not that the basic idea is difficult, but what text expansions do you start using?
Basically, just start writing at the keyboard. When you hit a snippet of repetitive text you want to abbreviate, create it right then (see next heading). One entry at a time. As you practice using them, they’ll eventually flow from your fingers as naturally as the full text they’re replacing.
I originally just started adding them through the regular AutoCorrect dialog, but as my list grew, I transitioned to a more automated approached (more on that later in a separate post).
Your abbreviations are completely up to your preference, of course, and you can even create them temporarily. Here is a constructed example for my work in progress at the time:
As you get used to using your own text expansions, you’ll probably even find yourself feeling a little restricted when you can’t use them somewhere else like on a web form.
Adding AutoCorrect entries
The long way to add AutoCorrect entries through the menu is Word → Settings … → AutoCorrect on a Mac.
In Windows, use File → Options → Proofing and select the AutoCorrect Options … button.
On a Mac, the AutoCorrect dialog looks like, but the dialog is almost identical in Word on Windows.
In Windows, they will apply across any Office application that supports them which can be a little annoying in Excel, for example, but you can turn it off in other apps if you wish.
As you build your own little AutoCorrect dictionary, you’ll probably want to access the AutoCorrect dialog faster. You can add an AutoCorrect button to your quick launch menu bar (see videos for how to do this in Mac or Windows) or add a keyboard shortcut to the standard Word command (see videos for Mac or Windows).
I assigned AutoCorrect tool to Command+Control+Option+Shift+A, but I actually also assigned it to the Quick Access bar (see video for more details of how to customize the Quick Access launch bar on a Mac or on Windows).
I later ended up creating some Word tables to make the organization easier and more efficient, but it involved writing several macros to streamline the process. That’s outside the scope of this post, of course.
Practice
With all that said, you do have to practice your abbreviations.
You’ve basically got to overcome the years of typing muscle memory, but it’s not the tedious kind of practice required to improve your typing speed to 90+ words per minute. If you mess up, just get the abbreviation on the next iteration. I sometimes actually delete the word and retype the abbreviation to try to reprogram my fingers.
Give it a try. I think you’ll be happy with the results based on a limited amount of up front effort.
Limitations of AutoCorrect and text expansion in general
I mentioned some idiosyncrasies of text expansion on a computer. There are shared by essentially all text expansion apps by nature of having to work through a keyboard.
Gregg and similar handwritten shorthand systems are almost complete written languages. You can basically write down anything.
Unfortunately, text expansions on a computer aren’t quite as powerful. You can’t create every variation of a word as easily, but you can create some regular patterns that will help you take advantage of text expansions more often as well as making them easier to remember and use.
See below for some more detailed examples.
AutoCorrect has some other limitations compared to other dedicated apps, but it makes up for some of them by being very fast in Word
AutoCorrect doesn’t have any scripting features since it's presented as a spell correction tool, and AutoCorrect can’t nest snippets like some other text expansion apps.
Still, AutoCorrect is my preferred text expansion tool because it’s lightning fast and effectively free since I already use Microsoft Word.
Text expansion tips and tricks
You can improve your own little text expansion dictionary using some patterns. Here are some ideas I've developed over time. I'd love to hear any ideas you have using the contact form at the bottom or top of the page.
Obvious
Sometimes an obvious abbreviation presents itself. Not much to say there.
ty → thank you
em → email
idk → I don't know
Variations on the basic idea include using the first letters of syllables:
kb → keyboard
wo → without
Temporary text expansions
Given the limited number of reasonable key combinations, I sometimes create text expansions for just my work in progress.
For example, in my current science fiction novel my two main characters are Monica and Harry. I created their names as abbreviations:
mh → Monica and Harry
mo → Monica
h → Harry
They characters lived on a tropical island for a while where there was a central rock formation which they called a monument for lack of a better word, so I further added.
il → island
mon → monument
When I'm writing in the wild west genre, I add snippets like:
bh → boardinghouse
bw → boardwalk
I used more abbreviations, but I'm just trying to give you some ideas.
These are often temporary for me since bw is also backward in my abbreviation scheme, but I write boardwalk enough when writing western fiction that I want the shorthand while I'm working on a novel in that genre.
Common words
Of course, words we consider common will vary, but this will get you started thinking.
For longer words or phrases, I often use the first few letters with some suffixes to allow me some control over various tenses for verbs or plurality for nouns (see examples below).
Noun patterns
For some common nouns, I’ll define the singular and plural forms like:
sc → shortcut
scs → shortcuts
It doesn’t have to save every possible character if is consistent with the main abbreviation and is easy to remember.
Verb forms
I’ve also created some common compound verbs or phrases along with associated extensions.
ht → have to
gt → going to
cdhv → could have
Contractions
Typing contractions feels clunky to me, so I avoid most of them like so:
dt → don’t
hvt → haven’t
Prepositions and prepositional phrases
bt → between
ooh → on the other hand
fb → followed by
Pronouns
eo → each other
Others
Basically, I target anything I type frequently and/or that has an easy text expansion abbreviation.
bw → backward
misc → miscellaneous
td → today
Personal misspellings
I also target anything I often misspell or find annoying to type, but while I'm fixing it, I might as well make it shorter.
cf → camouflage
btf → beautiful
mnvr → maneuver
Single letter text expansions
One letter text expansions are hard to do in general, but some work. I’ve set up:
w → with
b → about
n → and
y → you
and a few others that aren’t already a valid one-letter word. For example, I’ve set up
t → the
But I had to create a whole set of contraction text expansions otherwise things like
“don’t” would expand into “don’the” based on the way AutoCorrect detects the end of a word.
This doesn’t bother me much since I already wanted to create the abbreviations for most common contractions. Just be aware of the limitations if you try to over optimize your snippets.
