Basic AutoTyper Use

About AutoTyper

AutoTyper can replace what you are typing with something else according to preset rules. Common uses are to instantly insert form letters, to add accents to common words, to correct spelling, and to insert common patterns into programs and formatted text.

When AutoTyper is first installed it includes several built-in abbreviations. For example, $date expands to the current date, and $time expands to the current time. Open up a word processor or editor such as TextEdit to test it out. When you type $date[space] it should be replaced with the current date.

Another way to insert an expansion into your document is to choose it from the menu. If you have Automaton enabled in the dock or in the status bar, you can choose AutoTyper expansions from the AutoTyper menu.

Adapting to the Context

Traditionally, typing expanding programs can only expand things as you type. If you switch applications, or click somewhere else and then click back, they lose the context. AutoTyper is different. When you click somewhere in a document, or move around with the arrow keys, AutoTyper will set its state as if you had just typed what is at the cursor position. This can be used to make corrections to existing documents.

Preventing Expansion ◀ ▶

The special key combination left arrow followed by right arrow, will prevent expansion on the next key press. If you know an expansion is about to take place, but want to prevent it, left then right arrow will do the trick.

Opening the AutoTyper Window

You can store your AutoTyper configurations in one or more config files. The default installation creates one for you. You can open it from Preferences. Open Preferences, and double click the AutoTyper file in the Configs section.

Groups

Partly for convenience, and partly so you can set common attributes, abbreviations are grouped into Groups. When first installed there is a Demo group. To add a new group, click on the plus ["+"] below the list of groups.

Adding a new abbreviation

There are two ways to create an abbreviation. Here we will describe how to create an abbreviation in the AutoTyper window, but you can also create one from another application by hitting a hotkey. This is described in the Hotkeys section.

How to create an abbreviation

Open the AutoTyper window. You can do this by double clicking the autotyper file in the Preferences window
Select the Group you wish to add the abbreviation to, or else create a new group by clicking the plus ["+"] under the groups list.
Click on the plus ["+"] under the Abbreviation table. Enter the abbreviation you wish to use. For example, in this demo we will enter $alpha as our abbreviation.
Click on the large text box and enter the text you wish to replace the text. In this case we are going to switch to Greek font and enter αλφα.
Switch to your text editor or wordprocessor to test it out. Now whenever you enter $alpha, it will be replaced with αλφα.

Choosing an abbreviation

It's important to choose an abbreviation that you aren't likely to enter in normal typing. You can if you wish use symbols in your abbreviations to make them less likely to conflict with normal typing. However be careful, because any symbol you use in your abbreviations will no longer be considered to be a delimiter. So for example, let's say we had an abbreviation with a minus symbol ["-"] in it. In this case minus is no longer a delimiter and therefore -$alpha will no longer be expanded to -αλφα.

Rich Text and Graphics

You can cut and paste rich and graphics into to the expansion field. Provided the application you are typing into accepts rich text and/or graphics, it can paste these into your documents as well.

Possible uses for this are:

Smilies. Have your own collection of favorite smiley graphics pasted into your emails or documents when you use the text equivilent.
Signatures. Scan your own signature as a graphic and then paste it into AutoTyper. Then you can "sign" all your letters.
Logos. Have template letters in AutoTyper complete with corporate logo. Or just have the logo in AutoTyper so you can insert it anywhere at will.
Clip Art. Easily brighten up your correspondance with your favorite clip art.

Note that Rich text will change the font in the target document. Select Plain text if you do not want this to happen.

Image Type

There are two ways of using images: either with the Rich Text and images expansion type, or with the Image expansion type. Rich text has the benefit that you can intermingle text with multiple images. However, in some applications this will always change the default font, which can be undesirable. The pure image type has no text associated with it and will never change the font.

Label

You can if you wish give an abbreviation a label, which will be used in the menu for AutoTyper. You can use this to give a complex expansion a meaningful name.