TidBITS AutoCorrect Dictionary Enhances Typinator

I'm interested in comparisons between Typinator, TypeIt4Me, and TextExpander.

I'd like to hear why people favor one over another.

Thanks.

- nello

>But I also use TextExpander not Typinator but it
>will import Typinator preferences. Obviously I
>could download Typinator and do the work but can
>someone who has already imported it please post
>it somewhere. I haven't read the Typinator manual
>to see where the file might be.

I haven't attempted to import into TextExpander, but we put the
dictionary in the public domain, and I've just told Greg Scown at
SmileOnMyMac that they're welcome to bundle it too. So hopefully it
will appear elsewhere as well.

cheers... -Adam

On 8/24/07, Nello Lucchesi <nellooctobergroup.com> wrote:
> I'm interested in comparisons between Typinator, TypeIt4Me, and TextExpander.

I'm a fan of TextExpander myself. There's a couple things I like about it:

It can use both an internal dictionary and an external file. I keep
that file synced between multiple computers (work/home) but keep other
things in the local dictionary so when I type "sig" at work it puts in
my work email signature and "sig" at home is my personal signature.

It has programmable entries (I think the others might too) so you can
insert the clipboard contents into your snippet and even set the
cursor where you want it to go. Very nice.

You can make your entries case sensitive, case insensitive, or copy
the case of the original. I like that a lot.

--
--Nik (nikinik.net)

On 8/24/07 4:27 AM, "Nello Lucchesi" <nelloOctoberGroup.com> wrote:

> I'm interested in comparisons between Typinator, TypeIt4Me, and TextExpander.

You should also consider SpellCatcherX. For those that are cross platform, I
believe that SpellCatcherX is the only one that's available for both
platforms.

I recently did a blog article on using these applications that you might
want to check out. To me, one of the most important is speed. I want the
auto completions to flow with my typing. You'll need to test on your system
to see which one is right for you.

Insert text automatically into a message (Part One)

<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/2007/07/insert_text_automatically_into.html>

--
Diane Ross

On 8/24/2007 4:27 AM, "Nello Lucchesi" wrote:
> I'm interested in comparisons between Typinator, TypeIt4Me, and TextExpander.
>
> I'd like to hear why people favor one over another.

Typinator is next on my list to try. Between TypeIt4Me and TextExpander,
TextExpander is easier to configure, but TypeIt4Me has more features.

One useful feature TypeIt4Me has that the other two don't is the ability to
include tabs and returns in expansions, so it can fill in multiple-field
forms or dialogs. Another nice feature, found in TypeIt4Me and TextExpander,
lets you automatically reposition the cursor after expansion. (I use this,
for example, to paste a URL from the Clipboard as an HTML reference, with
the cursor automatically positioned between > and </a>.) One thing I don't
like about TypeIt4Me is that it doesn't show clipping labels/names in its
menu -- only shortcuts and/or the actual clipping content.

Rob Griffiths is going to be reviewing Typinator for us (Macworld) soon.
He's promised to also write up a comparison of the three, since he will have
officially reviewed all three.

TypeIt4Me's feature list has a fairly objective breakdown of the
feature differences between TypeIt4Me, Typinator and TextExpander.

<http://ettoresoftware.com/TypeIt4MeFeatures.html>


-- Nik

Here's some impressions of other utilities I've used for auto-completion:

SpellCatcher X: It's glossary features are just fine and work.
However, the whole application is expensive, and with the automatic
spell checking service in all Cocoa (and many Carbon) applications,
the spelling features are less and less useful. I'd much rather have
underlined text than hear "Curious!" every time I type a proper noun.

CopyPaste + yType: yType is the completion feature, and it suffers
from being slooooooow. It takes so long to fill in a snippet that I
actually have to type SLOWER in order to make it work. That pretty
much defeats the whole purpose. While I has a nice semi-graphical way
of displaying snippets (nice for those of us with lots of snippets or
poor memories) it's falls short in basic performance.


-- Nik

On 8/26/07 3:39 AM, "Dan Frakes" <frakesmac.com> wrote:

> Another nice feature, found in TypeIt4Me and TextExpander,
> lets you automatically reposition the cursor after expansion.

SpellCatcherX has this ability also.

One thing that sets TypeIt4Me apart is it's ability to launch AppleScripts.
You can assign an abbreviation that makes sense rather than yet another
difficult to remember key combos.

--
Diane

On 8/27/07 2:33 AM, "Nik Friedman TeBockhorst" <nikinik.net> wrote:

> I'd much rather have
> underlined text than hear "Curious!" every time I type a proper noun.

You can change that to another sound or no sound. "Curious!" is a strange
choice for a default sound IMHO. Try Pop or Tink.

> CopyPaste + yType: yType is the completion feature, and it suffers
> from being slooooooow.

I didn't care for CopyPaste completion feature either. Just don't like the
interface, but I do love the multiple clipboards.

What's so great is there are at least 5 Mac auto completion application that
we can test and choose the one that fits our personal needs.

--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>

Hi John (and other TextExpander users):

We just posted a version of the TidBITS AutoCorrect Dictionary formatted for TextExpander on our site: <http://www.smileonmymac.com/textexpander/snippets.html>

If you use TypeIt4Me, you can use this file, as TextExpander and TypeIt4Me can import each other's snippet files.

Thanks again to Adam and Micah for creating this great resource.

-- Jean from SmileOnMyMac

Hi guys,

I've just listened to this thread for a while, but now I'd like
to add my two cents. Although I'll try to keep my statements
as unbiased as possible, please be aware, I am speaking for Ergonis,
the manufacturer of Typinator. ;-))

Please find excerpts of previous postings below with my comments
inserted:

> I'm a fan of TextExpander myself. There's a couple things I like
> about it:
> It can use both an internal dictionary and an external file.

You can have several sets with Typinator, this is even more
flexible than _ONE_ internal dictionary plus _ONE_ external file.
E.g., if you are already using these TextExpander's two locations
for existing snippets, where would you then put the Autocorrections?
You would have to put different things into the one container file.
Typinator can maintain an arbitrary number of sets. You can
assign different Application settings to sets and you can
can reorder sets to assign priorities.

> I keep that file synced between multiple computers (work/home) but
> keep other
> things in the local dictionary so when I type "sig" at work it puts in
> my work email signature and "sig" at home is my personal signature.

You can synchronize Typinator sets as well (these are just files in the
Application Support folder). Again, even a bit more flexible,
since you may have an arbitrary number sets and decide
which ones to sync and which ones you don't sync.
BTW, you can sync Typinator's data files even while
Typinator is running and it will realize the changes immediately.

> It has programmable entries (I think the others might too) so you can
> insert the clipboard contents into your snippet and even set the
> cursor where you want it to go. Very nice.

Typinator offers this feature as well.

> You can make your entries case sensitive, case insensitive, or copy
> the case of the original. I like that a lot.

Typinator offers this feature as well.

> TypeIt4Me's feature list has a fairly objective breakdown of the
> feature differences between TypeIt4Me, Typinator and TextExpander.

Unfortunately this list is not accurate since it compares to
Typinator 1.6.

The comparison at SmileOnMyMac's web site is more accurate:
   http://www.smileonmymac.com/textexpander/compare.html

But I would recommend not to decide based on list of features.
Instead I encourage you to make use of the big benefit of
Shareware - Try before you Buy.

I can only second Diane's statement.

> What's so great is there are at least 5 Mac auto completion
> application that
> we can test and choose the one that fits our personal needs.

I therefore encourage you to download Typinator and give it a try.

Last but not least:
Typinator is definitely significantly cheaper than the other two apps.

Let me add some common information about our products:
The following is not only true for Typinator but also for our
other products PopChar and KeyCue, just to give you a feeling
what you can expect when trying out Typinator:

When we design the functionality and user interface of our products,
it is not our primary goal to outplay any competitors
by the number of features. Instead we try to limit the number
of features to those, we think that most users would really need.
Our main goal is to keep the product as slick and easy-to-use
as possible (hey - we are Mac users after all ;-) ).
The other goal is efficiency and stability.
Typinator's internal engine has been designed to work
with thousands of abbreviations and still expand instantly -
test this against the other tools with a huge set of abbreviations.

I can only recommend downloading and testing the alternatives
to find out which one works best for you and don't get fooled
by long lists of features.

In case of any questions feel free to contact our customer service
at typinatorergonis.com.

Kind regards

Christoph Reichenberger
CEO, Ergonis Software

I tried TextExpander and found that it is incompatible with CopyPaste. For details, see my post:

http://scriptsoftware.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2643

My thanks to Adam, Micah and Jean for the ability to use the Auto Correct Dictionary in my copy of TypeIt4Me .

I'd like the ability to create an expansion not by a fixed abbreviation, but by any abbreviation as long as the characters occurred in the same order as in the expansion. This would be similar to the approach is used in Launchbar. Anyone prepared to take this on?

Kind regards

Tony Howard

Just wanted to let you all know that I posted an update to the TextExpander version of AutoCorrect Dictionary. A commenter on our blog pointed out a couple of words that caused difficulties in TextExpander. <http://smileonmymac.net/blog/2007/08/28/textexpander-tidbits-autocorrect-dictionary/#comments>

I've removed them and posted an update on our site. <http://www.smileonmymac.com/textexpander/snippets.html>

--Jean from SmileOnMyMac

I figured I'd resurrect this old thread since TextExpander 2 just got
released. It addresses a lot of the failings it had compared to other
glossary tools, including per-application snippets (either on an
include or an exclude basis) and multiple snippet files (which can
sync to .Mac or be served over the web or otherwise shared).

The coolest feature it's added is AppleScript snippets. These let you
run an AppleScript to create a new snippet, so it could even pull in
data from other applications or perform complex modifications on the
clipboard. You can also run other command-line scripts via a "do shell
script" command. Pretty nifty.

Best of all, it's a free update for registered users of version 1.

So you may want to check it out if any of the above failings were
keeping you from using the application.

-- Nik

nikinik.net | http://inik.net/ | http://notions.inik.net/

On 17-Oct-2007, at 06:26, Nik Friedman TeBockhorst wrote:
> I figured I'd resurrect this old thread since TextExpander 2 just
> got released.

I tried one of these on a friend's machine and found it seriously
flawed. First off, it could not deal with my most common and needed
tyop fix: 'tot he' to 'to the' because it could not handle any
expansion that contained a space.

Also, even though I am not a fast typist, I often ended up with
things like 'wehre where' instead of just 'where', or sometimes even
the correction imbedded within the typoed word. and it did not
include a mechanism to disable it in specific apps, so despite the
fact it NEVER worked in World of Warcraft, it always insisted on
trying to correct, so tehthe and adnand where very common.

That said, I can't remember if she had Typinator or TextExpander
installed; I know it wasn't TypeIt4Me, as I used that for a while
when it was first out for OS X and found that it didn't fit my needs
('tot he' is the absolute necessary test as it is quite possibly my
most frequent typo and it slips by so often).

TypeIt4Me did have the advantage that it never missed a correction it
should make.

At 3:37 AM -0700 10/18/07, Google Kreme wrote:
>I tried one of these on a friend's machine and found it seriously
>flawed. First off, it could not deal with my most common and needed
>tyop fix: 'tot he' to 'to the' because it could not handle any
>expansion that contained a space.
>
>That said, I can't remember if she had Typinator or TextExpander
>installed; I know it wasn't TypeIt4Me, as I used that for a while
>when it was first out for OS X and found that it didn't fit my needs
>('tot he' is the absolute necessary test as it is quite possibly my
>most frequent typo and it slips by so often).

I haven't tested in TextExpander, but Typinator can handle "tot he"
to "to the" just fine.

cheers... -Adam

--
Adam C. Engst, TidBITS Publisher <http://www.tidbits.com/adam/>

This incompatibility is fixed with TextExpander 2.0.3.