AAUG Reviews

by Chris Tofteberg ,AAUG Member

Sometimes the seemingly simplest of applications can make the most difference in your life. Usually they are applications that automate some process that you either do repetitively or need to use two or more applications to complete. TypeIt4Me is one of those applications.

TypeIt4Me automates text entering using abbreviations that invoke whatever application you’re using to type the entire word or phrase for you. Think of it like Microsoft Word’s Autocomplete on steroids. TypeIt4Me is not actually an application, it installs as a preference pane in System Preferences. This is convenient because it doesn’t need to launch like an application and it can work in multiple applications.

In the preference pane, you add abbreviations and their associated clippings (this is what TypeIt4Me calls the complete word or phrase you want it to autocomplete) for use in your text entering in other applications. There are a host of trigger keys that can trigger TypeIt4Me to complete a clipping. They work quite well although I found that using certain keys as a trigger in some applications could cause the application to perform not only the text expansion but also the command, like tab or return. This was a minor issue. You just need to define the trigger key that works best for your workflow.

TypeIt4Me is incredibly customizable. You can have your clippings function only in certain applications or globally. You can even select text in an application and click the TypeIt4Me icon on the Menu Bar to add a clipping, thus avoiding the need to add it in System Preferences. You can also pause TypeIt4Me if you want it to temporarily stop expanding text. TypeIt4Me also has an AutoCorrect feature that works globally as well. You can set up hotkeys to activate features of TypeIt4Me like adding a clipping, pause/resume, and more. There seems to be no end to how you can customize TypeIt4Me.

I tried pretty darn hard to confuse TypeIt4Me by using applications that don’t have text editing or entry as their prime function. I tried Word, Mail, Skitch, Numbers, TextEdit, Google Earth, even the loop search box in GarageBand. Each of them produced the word or phrase I wanted from my abbreviation.

TypeIt4Me itself is an impressive and useful tool, but I need to add that the user guide, for such a simple application, was among the most thorough I’ve seen. Other software companies should be so good with their user guides.

If you have certain words or phrases that you repetitively use, you’ll love TypeIt4Me. And even if you only occasionally enter repeated words or phrases, you’ll still find it useful. Heck, I found “TypeIt4Me” to be a pain to type for this review so I created a clipping to automate it. It’s almost like cheating.