Text expander and clipboard enhancer tools

Posted by Dr Andus
Oct 21, 2013 at 09:22 PM

jimspoon wrote:
>just looked at the webpage, $55.95 is pretty steep!

Then you’re in for a surprise, because the SmartComplete feature I was talking about is only available in the PRO version, which is USD139. 95 ;)

>Your description gave me an idea; perhaps it has already been
>implemented by somebody.
>A utility could monitor text that is input, and record commonly used
>phrases into a database. (No need to manually create a database of
>autotexts and abbreviations).

The AutoHotkey script I linked to before has such a “learning” feature and it’s free (I haven’t tried it). But obviously it would be much more of a DIY experience:
http://www.autohotkey.com/board/topic/49517-typingaid-v219d-word-autocompletion-utility/

As for why these text expansion software are so expensive? One reason might be that they’re mainly targeting medical doctors and business organisations who can afford them.

In the case of PhraseExpander, I’d say it’s in the premium segment of the market (and from what I’ve seen so far, probably the best), so it would be difficult for it to price itself lower than its main competitor, PhraseExpress. And as for the others, none of them seem to have the SmartComplete-type functionality, which is the only thing that really interests me.

I’d say these kind of tools are for people who are not touch-typists (or who suffer from RSI) and who type a lot of repetitive and long phrases all day long, use complicated terminology that are easy to misspell (medication, chemicals, strings of computer commands etc.). It’s probably the same people who also buy Dragon NaturallySpeaking (which is also not cheap).

But another way to look at it is that if this kind of text expansion software works for you, it would be *the* software that you use the most (besides your OS), because it literally monitors your every keystroke.