I only came across this thread today. I noticed myself some time ago that TextExpander has done very little since the changeover to the subscription model. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against subscriptions. But this is their biggest disadvantage, the constant inflow of money can lead to a certain inertia.
If I were only a Mac user I would probably have another software by now, but the integration of TextExpander into many important iOS productivity apps doesn’t make switching easy. I sincerely hope that they will surprise us with a great feature update in the very near future…
I also dropped TE for the inbuilt Apple one, mainly because I use it all the time throughout iOS, not just in the apps supported by TE, and opening the TE keyboard is a horrible workflow.
I don’t use any other platform so that’s not an issue for me.
I like the idea of suggestions, but I find them rather overambitious: “You typed here several times, would you like to create a snippet?” Still waiting for “I” and “a”.
FYI Jeff Gamet, who was a managing editor (?) for many years at The Mac Observer, recently became an evangelist for Smile Software, maker of TextExpander. Today he reappeared on one of TMO’s podcasts to discuss the app, as well as related things like his transition from TMO, etc.
I wholeheartedly agree with your views, @rlamarch. I couldn’t afford it if all my most-used apps turned to subscription either.
I will happily pay for an update that gives me something new and improved that I actually NEED. I also like to choose the timing of buying updates so that I don’t break the bank.
My transition from the subscription version of TextExpander to Alfred on the Mac and built in snippets hit a snag. I was missing the auto-generated snippets of today’s date on iOS too much. But MPU user @rlamarch posted that he is still using the legacy purchased version of TextExpander (version 5). Since I used that prior to switching over the subscription version, I thought I would give the old version a try. I’ve been using it now for about two weeks, and it’s working just fine. The subscription version seemed to log me out pretty frequently, just when I needed TE, which was frustrating. The legacy version doesn’t have that “feature” which is a plus. As far as I can tell, all the TE-supported iOS apps still work just fine. The TE keyboard on iOS isn’t as advanced (no second page of frequently used snippets), but I rarely used that anyway (and I only use the TE keyboard when I absolutely have to). I still have all my snippets in iOS’s native text replacement replacement tool which I think is the best of both worlds. My TE subscription renewal date was this month, so I have canceled that and will keep using version 5 until it breaks, or when TE ups their game with the subscription version. Not holding my breath on that… THank you Rich (@rlamarch) for the idea.
I’m still using TE 5. I haven’t seen anything in TE 6 which is a must-have for me yet. When that happens (or when TE 5 breaks due to an OS update) I’ll probably upgrade, but for now V5 is fine for me.
You are right Wolfie. You can’t aggregate stray seconds. I think, as a matter of fact that TE has cost me time over all, learning to use it, messing with it and trying ‘new’ ways of organizing snippets and so on. Blwyddyn Newydd dda i chi hefyd!
So, currently Bundlehunt has a deal on Textexpander. One year for $8. As an MPU listener, I know they have been sponsoring MPU for a long time, so I am curious to try it out. Fortunately, they have a 30 day trial before I put in hard cash.
I was surprise to see that I needed the Textexpander keyboard for it to work in iOS. I don’t like third party keyboard so this is a deal breaker for me.
Fortunately, Drafts seems to have some integration with Textexpander which does not require third party keyboard.
This caused me to question - do I really need TextExpander? iOS have a native Text Replacement built into it. Granted, TextExpander has more features but for personal use, I don’t have a special need.
I use the native text expansion, and Alfred on MacOS (to allow more advanced snippets). I much prefer having text expansion in apps like Safari on iOS without having to change keyboards, which I find a terrible workflow. Everything that I did in TE was possible in Alfred, including inserting variables into snippets.
Hi @Brisbane , Can you pl. explain how you extend Hazel for TE or Typinator use cases ? I use TypeIt4Me for my text expansions. I have been trying to explore hazel for some of my other use cases. I would like to understand how i can leverage Hazel further. TIA.
I am using an app called Shortcut Abbreviation Keyboard (not Shortcuts) on my iPad. It allows you to set up alternative keyboards, including ones with date or time stamps.
Yes, if more devs were like @agiletortoise the iOS world would be a different place. Thankfully, Omnifocus and Fantastical and a few other apps also support TE natively so external keyboards work great and there is no need to use the TE Keyboard (which doesnt work on external keyboards anyway)
Unfortunately, a lot of devs are just trying to push a lowest common denominator app out the door and do not want to deal with the TE SDK. Laziness prevails.
I have to say I dropped it, it has some features that, in fairness, I never use. Everything I did, including dates, I use Keyboard Maestro for. The developer Peter Lewis actually says it isn’t a substitute for Textexpander. However I think that depends on how many expansions you have. I have maybe 50 and I get no problems, I think it does use more juice as it were than the dedicated apps though. It is my main use of Keyboard Maestro in fact and I have palletes which incorporate expansions and other things which I find useful to have in the same place.
