TextExpander for Mac

Version 6.5 is out now.

A major concern for all subscription models, aside from often requiring a constant internet connection, is that unless the subscription is for a service such as internet or faxing, etc, You must continually maintain the subscription to access your own data and all the work you have put into it. That means that a subscription that involves user data requires you to keep the subscription for life in order to be able to retrieve your own data. This is a great model for developers but poor for users. And what happens if the developer goes out of business or decides not to support the product any more? It becomes highly likely you will lose all access to your own data along with all the time and effort you put into it while the developer walks away with your money!

I fully understand the negative comments regarding TextExpander, but it really irks me that the reviews are negative about the subscription pricing model rather than the functionality of the app. Take away the subscription price and I'll bet many of the bad reviews would be 5 stars. It would be nice if folks reviewed the app...not the business model and let the users decide for themselves whether the pricing was right for them. I have used TextExpander since 2008 and every so often I try one of its competitors. A couple of these other apps are very good, especially TypeIt4Me followed by Typinator (I even own the latter). But when it comes to overall features and functionality of TextExpander (both on Mac and iOS), it simply has too many great things the others simply don't offer. I use a text expansion app dozens of times a day, so for the price of $20/yr, the subscription is well worth it for me (that's about $1.66/mo). NOTE: anyone who has owned a previous version of TextExpander, regardless of how old it is, can receive this 50% discounted price, and the discount is good forever.. The only other app I have a subscription for is 1Password for Families, and it's even more used than TextExpander. I couldn't live without either of these two apps. If you "honestly" compare all the features of both the Mac and iOS version of TextExpander with the other top contenders, I think you'll find it's more than worth the price. Over the years I have made MANY app purchase decisions by reading the thoughtful reviews and comments here on MacUpdate and I only offer my two cent's worth about TextExpander in hopes potential customers will read a review about the app itself....not the pricing model.

Now a cloud-based subscription plan, No thanks. The usual significant security/privacy implications moving to cloud-based data storage. Will try AText as a replacement. Thanks for the heads-up.

I have been using Text Expander since it became a subscription service. I was asked to learn it in order to help out a law office. Since then, not only has my employer found TE incredibly useful in saving time and reliably creating full documents on the fly, but I have used it over and over again to send out form letters, music booking requests, expandable forms and many other purposes. Before I get into details, let me say that when ever I have needed help with a specific function, my concerns have been addressed and updates were issued to fix formatting problems I was having. In my case, bulleted lists were not formatting easily in going between MS Word 2010 on the Mac and Text Expander. Working with the responsive customer support (shout out to Jeff) I was able to resolve my issues. I am still working with Jeff on a regular basis to help improve the software to suit my needs. I have never had as positive a customer service experience. My problems usually having to do with idiosyncracies in expanding within Word and keeping formatting intact. I have no doubt these problems will be addressed before too long. However, I would like to extoll some of the ways I have used Text Expander and found it useful in real application. Let me first talk about the legal documents. In creating legal documents while on site at a court house, my employer must be able to create an introductory letter, arraignment documents, and must have contingency documents for all situations. There is often no time to go in to a document and go through selection - deletion - replacement for all data in the documents. Using fill in fields, we have been able to completely automate document production and we always have had a reliable server that provides the snippets we need to create fast and efficient Word Forms. I have utilized most of the features of Text Expander, but the fill-in fields are the best part of it for this purpose. Client names, dates, charges, court names, and many other variables can be tailored for exactly what we need. For other purposes, remembering city (court) names is easily accomplished by creating an easy system for typing a few letters and getting snippets for simple emails sent after a phone call, tailored to the location of the client. For booking music, I have used Text Expander in a similar way. If I get an email inquiry from an artist, I send a simple TE snippet outlining the rules and specifics regarding the venue. In soliciting a venue, I can similarly use fill in fields for locations, dates, band incarnations and optional data that helps me save loads of time. While this only touches on the utility of Text Expander, I cannot praise it highly enough. My employer even said he would wear the Text Expander T-shirt if he had one. This product is worth the subscription.