Archive for September, 2009

TextExpander iPhone tip: Snippets To Go

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009

More than one TextExpander user has commented how they cannot bear to work on a Mac without TextExpander anymore. If you don’t have access to your snippets, the work pace seems to slow down. You miss the little TextExpander “pop”.

I went on a trip this weekend without my Mac. My sister brought hers, though, and it was only a matter of time before I asked to borrow it. As I sat down to compose an email, I realized that I didn’t have my TextExpander snippets on her Mac.

But I did have them on my iPhone in TextExpander touch.

It’s easy to transfer snippets from your Mac to your iPhone. But it’s just as easy to transfer snippets from your iPhone to your Mac–or a friend’s Mac, as long as it’s running TextExpander 2.7 or later. (Your friend can easily download the free demo!) Here’s how:

1) Under Groups, select the snippet group you want to send.

2) Tap the Action button in the bottom left.

TEtouch1.png

3) Tap “Send via Local Network.”

TEtouch2.png

4) You’ll see a list of available Macs and iPhones on the network. Tap the name of the Mac you want to send your snippet group to. That Mac will display an alert asking for confirmation.

TEtouch3.png

Click “Add” and your snippets will be added to TextExpander on that Mac, and you can use them.

Good manners would dictate that you delete the group from your friend’s Mac when you are done.

TextExpander touch is still $1.99 in the App Store. This special introductory price ends September 9!

Using Texter (Windows) with TextExpander touch

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Texter is a free text expansion application for Windows developed by the folks at Lifehacker. You can use Texter bundles with TextExpander touch on the iPhone. Here’s how:

1. Download and install Texter 0.6a, which has support for exporting bundles in TextExpander format.

2. Launch Texter, select your bundle tab, and choose Export to TextExpander File from the Bundle menu.

3. Log in to your Dropbox account, or get a Dropbox account. You can also upload the .textexpander file to your Web server. In Step 12, use the full URL to the file on your server.

4. On Dropbox, open the Public folder of your My Dropbox folder.

5. Click Upload files:

upload_files.png

6. Click Choose files…

7. Select your .textexpander file from step 2 and press Start Upload.

8. When your upload is complete, hover over the uploaded file and click the arrow at the far right:

down_arrow.png

9. Choose Copy Public Link and leave that visible.

10. On your iPhone (or iPod touch), launch TextExpander.

11. Choose Groups, press +, and press Add via URL.

12. Enter the URL shown from step #9.

Finished! You now have your Texter bundle as a TextExpander group on your iPhone!