Teacher Tools and Tips: TextExpander
Do you ever get tired of typing the same sentence or phrase over and over and over
again in your assignments or grading critiques? How many hours have you spent
typing things like “Your posts are due on the discussion board by 11:59 pm CST on
_____”, “I would like to see you go into more depth in your discussion of _____”, or
even simply “Please let me know if you have any additional questions”? TextExpander
can allow you to automate your commonly used text with just a few keystrokes.
What is TextExpander?
TextExpander is a text expansion application. It allows you to create a shortcut (a
“snippet”) for frequently used words or phrases, create customized email responses, or
even auto-fill forms.
TextExpander is available at https://smilesoftware.com/textexpander. There’s a 30-day
free trial, and it is available for purchase at a discounted price of $31.47 for educators in
their Education Store.
What can I use it for?
Basic shortcuts. Create quick shortcuts to add commonly used phrases or sentences to
your documents. TextExpander will also suggest new snippets when you type
something frequently enough.
Create quick email replies. Find yourself replying to multiple email queries with virtually
identical responses? Create a shortcut for it!
Autocorrect common misspellings. Frustrated when a webpage (ahem, Blackboard)
doesn’t autocorrect your mistyped words? TextExpander allows you to create an group
of words that will be automatically corrected.
Create a “fill in the blank” form. With this function, you can create and send customized
email responses to your students.