Type expander utilities compared.

I spent a lot of time evaluating type expander applications. I meticulously went through six or eight, most of which were marginal. Here's my shootout result, in case you don't want to reinvent the wheel.

It finally came down to Typinator and TextExpander. I paid for both, and would recommend only the latter if I’d researched even more. (One major squawk: Typinator wants you to pay a separate fee for every single household Mac you have.)

I find the interface of TextExpander much more pleasing, and its capabilities superior. Here’s a feature comparison:

http://www.smileonmymac.com/TextExpander/compare.html

But since I paid for both of them, I have them both active. So how do I keep them from conflicting with each other? (This is a problem if you’re not careful.)

Basically, I let Typinator do auto-corrections of spelling, using their libraries.

But I use TextExpander for critical, graphical, and most of my custom expansions.

Apple has a system-wide spell checker, but less comprehensive and transparent than Microsoft’s. (A countervailing benefit is that it works almost everywhere, including web page forms, not just in MS apps.)

Not surprisingly, I like it better when these words can be auto-corrected. Unfortunately, Typinator auto-corrects only when you misspell a word in one of the ways it expects. (If this sounds somewhat irrational, it is; and it limits its usability.)

As my separation of powers, besides using TextExpander for most of my custom expansions, I was absolutely blown away when they added libraries for diacritical marks.

(I’m one of those purists who want words like naïve or bête noire marked correctly. I can never remember keyboard commands to insert diacriticals, even when I remember what they’re supposed to be.

I assign different sounds to each of the applications so I know where the correction is coming from. But that’s probably far more anal-retentive than most people would be.

One of these utilities will become a "must-have" once you get used to it.