Typinator 7 – Review

 

Typinator 7
Developer: Ergonis Software
Download: $ 25.00

Typinator expands abbreviations you create into text. As an example, say you often close your messages like this:

   Thanks,
   —Joe

   Joe Smith
   joe@myyewarrell.com
   123 555-1212

You can enter this text into Typinator and create a simple keystroke abbreviation for it. From then on, each time you finish a note, just type the shortcut and this closing will appear. How many times each day do you type your email address, contact information, home address, or other repetitive material? The convenience of storing pre-made text increases your productivity by saving time spent tediously typing the same text over and over again.

Apple includes a text substitution feature in macOS but it’s limited. Typinator includes formatting, graphics placement such as a signature or logo, current date and time insertion, and much more.

Ergonis is an Austrian company that debuted the original Typinator more than ten years ago. Type-expansion programs like this have a wide following. A competitor, TextExpander, recently adopted a subscription model. Using it now costs $40.00 per year. One advantage is that you are always using the latest version. Typinator is available as a one-time purchase of $25.00 and includes a way to migrate your existing TextExpander snippets into its database. Cheeky, but they’re making it easy for those who don’t like or want a subscription-based service.

In addition to simple expansions, Typinator can auto-correct words that you frequently mis-type. Do you often type “definately” when you mean to type “definitely”? Enter the correct spelling and Typinator will correct it from now on. This is doubly handy for lengthy company names or foreign phrases with accented characters.

For business work, you can create boilerplate responses such as shipping notices, acknowledgements, or customer service replies. These can have fill-in blanks so that all you have to do is enter that information and the rest is already done. Your shortcuts can even insert today’s date automatically. I’m not a developer, but if you are, Typinator can handle templates with code blocks and fragments, expanded HTML code, and shorthand for Unix commands.

Typinator 7 includes 40 new features. Among them are many powerful new input fields. You can include pop-ups with pre-defined contents, checkboxes, and more. You can include formatting instructions such as Bold, Italic, or accented characters. Typinator knows how to calculate dates and times and make inline numeric calculations. You can easily insert photos, logos, and other graphic elements.

If you’re curious and would like to test out Typinator 7, you can download and use it indefinitely in TextEdit. Purchasing will open it up for use with all of your other applications. Typinator 7 requires macOS 10.6 or newer and is fully compatible with macOS Sierra (10.12)

I’ve used text expansion for years and have experience with the macOS version,  TypeIt4Me, and TextExpander. My current go-to choice is Typinator for its flexibility and its reasonable, no-subscription price.

MyMac Review rating is 9 out of 10.