Save time typing with text-substitution app Texter
June 15, 2009
BY BILL FERRIS
I must have wasted at least an hour of my life typing email signatures and other oft-repeated text (an hour seems like a lot of time when you know it was spent typing, “Sincerely, Bill Ferris” over and over). Signatures, addresses, and standard responses to frequently asked questions eat up a lot of time over the long haul. Take those precious minutes back with Texter.
Texter was developed by Lifehacker editor Adam Pash as a way to automatically fill in the phrases you use most frequently after you type in just a few keystrokes. This free download lets you easily set up hotstrings that trigger the phrase you need, whether you’re typing in MS Word, Twitter, or writing an email. For example, instead of typing your address, you could set up the hotstring:
addr
which would tell Texter to spit out:
Bill Ferris
123 Fakey Street
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
It’s easier to understand when you see it in action.
As mentioned above, Texter is ideal for email signatures, boilerplate text, or anything else you find yourself typing time and again. For teachers, Texter would come in really handy for some aspects of student feedback. For example, rather than writing, “Little Johnny continues to improve his critical thinking skills” a dozen times, set up a hotstring to fill it in for you. You can set up a hotstring in less than 30 seconds, then reclaim countless minutes spent typing repetitive information.
