Textpander Help


Index

General

Introduction

• What is Textpander?

Thanks!

• Components

• Localizations

• Beta Testers

User Guide

Editing Snippets

• Overview

• Snippet Formats

• Special Content: Date, Time, etc.

• Choosing an Abbreviation

• Importing Snippets

Using Textpander

• Just Start Typing...

Questions & Answers

• Emergency

• Safety Issues

• Other

The Latest & Greatest

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Questions & Answers

Emergency

Q: I have entered an abbreviation. Why is it not replaced by the corresponding snippet?

A: Let me ask you a few questions...

• 

Could Textpander be waiting for a delimiter character? The Expand automatically when... setting in the Preferences section of Textpander's preference pane will tell you. (Click here to learn more about this setting.)

• 

Did you move your mouse while typing the abbreviation? Textpander empties its cache as soon as you move your mouse.

• 

Does the snippets list in Textpander's preference pane display the abbreviation in question in front of a red background? If so, then there's something wrong with it.

• 

Are you trying to use Textpander from within System Preferences? To ensure trouble-free abbreviation editing, Textpander ignores your keystrokes while System Preferences is the frontmost applications.

• 

Is access for assistive devices enabled? (See below for information on access for assistive devices.)

• 

Is Textpander enabled? Check the "Enable Textpander" switch in the upper left corner of Textpander's preference pane. If Textpander appears to have crashed, I would be very interested in having a look at its crash log, which is located at "/Users/your user directory/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/textpanderdaemon.crash.log".

If you still cannot get Textpander to work, then please contact me via e-mail at mail@petermaurer.de.


Q: Textpander keeps overwriting snippets (at least partially) when I enter two abbreviations consecutively. What can I do?

A: Follow these steps:

1. 

Go to Textpander's preference pane and disable Textpander.

2. 

Quit System Preferences.

3. 

Open Textpander's settings file at "/Users/(your user account)/Library/Application Support/Textpander/Settings.textpander". You'll be confronted with a standard XML file.

4. 

Search for the first <dict> tag.

5. 

Enter the following two lines just below that <dict> tag:

	<key>Always Select By Character</key>
	<true/>

6. 

Compare the first lines of your settings file with the following lines. They should be the same:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>Always Select By Character</key>
	<true/>
...

7. 

Save Textpander's settings file.

8. 

Go to Textpander's preferences pane and enable Textpander.

Background info: I didn't make this the default behavior because selecting the whole word is much faster. The longer your abbreviations are, the more you'll notice the difference.


Q: Using Textpander crashes the application I'm currently working in. What can I do?

A: Try switching the Restore pasteboard after inserting snippets setting off in the Preferences section of Textpander's preference pane. And please tell me about it.

Safety Issues

Q: Is Textpander a keylogger? / Is Textpander a safety risk? / Are you spying on me?

A: While Textpander does indeed log keystrokes, these keystrokes are never saved or sent anywhere. Moreover, Textpander empties its cache whenever you type a white-space character. Thus, Textpander hardly ever remembers more than 20 characters of what you have been typing lately.

Using Textpander does not compromise your privacy.


Q: How does using Textpander affect my system's stability?

A: Not at all. In contrast to competing products, Textpander is just another application that runs in the background and listens (see above) to what you type. Textpander is simply not capable of taking down your system.

Other

Q: Why does Textpander force me to enable access for assistive devices?

A: For safety reasons (see above), Mac OS X does not allow third-party applications (such as Textpander) to log keystrokes — unless access for assistive devices is turned on.


Q: How do I enable access for assistive devices?

A: Go to the System Preferences and activate the "Unversal Access" preference pane — the one with the white homunculus in front of a blue background. Once you're there, check the checkbox at the very bottom of that pane.


Q: If I configure Textpander to Expand automatically when... a delimiter character has been typed after an abbreviation, which characters are delimiter characters?

A: Delimiter characters are [Space], [Tab], and [Return].


Q: If I configure Textpander to Expand automatically when... a delimiter character has been typed after an abbreviation, how can I determine what happens to the delimiter character that triggers the expansion?

A: You can do so by choosing between the Expand automatically when... a delimiter character has been typed after an abbreviation (keep delimiter) and Expand automatically when... a delimiter character has been typed after an abbreviation (abandon delimiter) expansion modes in the Preferences section of Textpander's preference pane. To override this setting for a specific snippet, add a "Keep delimiter" specifier ("%+", without the surrounding quotation marks) or an "Abandon delimiter" specifier ("%-") to the very end of your snippet.


Q: How can I backup my snippets?

A: There are two basic ways of doing so...

• 

Automatic

Add Textpander's "Application Support" folder (located at "/Users/your user directory/Library/Application Support/Textpander") to your favorite backup software's list of items to backup.

• 

Manual

Tell Textpander to Save a copy... by selecting the corresponding menu item from the pin-wheel pop-up menu just below your snippets list in Textpander's preference pane.


Q: How can I uninstall Textpander?

A: Follow these steps:

1. 

Go to Textpander's preference pane and disable Textpander.

2. 

Quit System Preferences.

3. 

Remove Textpander by deleting "Textpander.prefPane" from one of the following folders (depends on where you installed Textpander):

• 

/Library/PreferencePanes/

• 

/Users/your user directory/Library/PreferencePanes/


Q: Textpander? Huh?

A: Text( Ex)pander.