How to Use a Text Expander: 5 Expert Tips

Ahem, let me do my best old-timey prospector impression: “There's gold in the hills of text expanders!” Given how much our working adult lives involve tapping away on our keyboards, it’s amazing so many people still don’t  know how to use a text expander to make their life easier. That’s why we’ve rounded up 5 expert tips to help make “text expansion” your middle name. (But not legally, of course.)

Tip #1: Hunt for the Perfect Text Expander

Choosing the right text expander is like spotting that one ripe avocado in the pile at a supermarket. There's a gazillion out there, each bustling with its unique feature set dressed up at different price points. To make your hunt easier, we've got a list of the prime suspects for you to review:

Top Text Expanders

But, speaking without an ounce of bias (wink!), there’s one text expander that we recommend above all the others: Magical. We won't recite a full sales pitch. Just three little things you probably care about the most: it's free, it works like a dream on both Windows and Mac, and it’s armed with a bunch of nifty features that’ll redefine the way you look at mundane tasks. Perfect for all the data zombies and form-fillers out there.

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Tip #2: Create a system for your text expansion triggers

Stepping into the text expander realm without a system lined up for your triggers is like heading to a math test without a calculator. It ain't gonna end well. Triggers prompt your text expander to leap into action, letting the tool work its magic. 

Unfortunately, if you don't put some sense into your triggers, any word with your trigger phrase could unexpectedly morph into something else. Like if you make a trigger that changes “tty” into “thanks to you,” you might accidentally triggering it anytime you spell a word with “tty” at the end. (Like “batty.”) Embarrassing? Yes. Avoidable? Absolutely.

So, what do the experts in the Magical community suggest? Use shortcuts that are hard to type by accident but easy to remember. One member suggests always starting your text expansion triggers with a seldom-used character, followed by the first few letters of the phrase. (For all "counting" related shortcuts, he uses "^cou," for example.) Others recommend always starting triggers off with a semicolon or two dashes. Whatever you do, just make sure it’s a system easy for you to remember.

Oh, and if you’re worried about keeping these all in your head? Don’t fret—Magical lets you call up the list of all your templates and shortcuts anytime you type “//” into any text box. Super handy!

Tip 3: Set up essential text expansion

Once your trusty text expander is ready, kick-off with the essential text expansions—tokens you use regularly and would love to shortcut. 

1. Your email address: Typing it out feels like writing a book. Why not transform it into a quick flick of a trigger?
2. Acronyms: Casual abbreviations like "btw" now become "by the way" without lifting a finger.
3. Emojis and special characters: Wrangle emojis easily onto your laptop keyboard with quick transformable text.
4. Your most used greetings and sign-offs: Starting and ending emails should be a breeze, and not a typing test.

These are just a few ideas to get your started. Keep in mind anything you type repetitively and look for it as an opportunity to add into your text expander.

Tip 4: Keep a tab on your 'copy and paste' habit

Speaking of repetitive typing, you’ll want to start paying more attention to what you find yourself copying and pasting frequently. These are prime candidates for things you can turn into a template in your text expander.

For instance, a marketer could prime their text expander to send outreach messages, monthly reports, or meeting agendas. Physicians, tired of typing 'appointment', could program their expander to convert 'appt' instead. HTML Developers could program the tool to churn out frequently used code snippets at a moment’s notice.

Tip 5: Tap into the power of placeholders

This last tip is specific to Magical. But it’s going to save you a lot of time and help you get the most out of your text expander experience—they’re called placeholders. These little green bubbles let you personalize your expanded text like a game of Mad Libs. Add placeholders in for where things like a First Name, Company Name, or Ticket Number might go. Then, when you go to expand your text using Magical later, it will automatically pull this information in based on what information you have open.

Ready to get started? Download Magical for free from the Google Chrome Web Store and start getting it set up. Besides the superhuman typing speed of text expansion, you can also teleport data across tabs and breeze through spreadsheets. Like we said—it’s magical!