TextExpander - Adjusting When a Snippet Expands

For those of you who don’t know, TextExpander is a great utility from Smile Software that allows you to type small pieces of text or snippets as they are known in TextExpander parlance - and expand them into larger sentences. Or paragraphs, pages, weblinks, images - you get the picture!

It’s a highly customisable product and one of the elements you can configure is at what point the snippet that you key in, transforms or expands into the new text. By default, the expansion will take place when you enter the last character of the snippet. So one of my most-used snippets is a date/time stamp that activates when I type xds - so as soon as I press the s key, the expansion occurs. 

If you want to change this behaviour, then open up Preferences in TextExpander either by clicking on the Preferences button in the toolbar, or by pressing Shift and ,. 

In there you have a series of tabs and the option you need is under Expansion

When the checkbox next to Expand abbreviations is checked, click the drop-down and you will see the following options:

Immediately when typed - this is the default behaviour. Key in the last character and the expansion takes place. 

At Delimiter (keep delimiter) - you may want TextExpander to wait until you type in the delimiter before it expands the abbreviation and then, keep the delimiter afterwards. So If I wanted to use my example of xds earlier but keep a comma after it, I can select this and when I press the comma key, that is when the text will expand. I use this often if using space as a delimiter. 

At Delimiter (abandon delimiter) - this is the same as the previous option, but instead of keeping the comma in that example, it will remove it. If you use punctuation rather than white space as a delimiter, this may be the option for you. 

If you want to set your delimiters then there is a button next to the drop-down called Set Delimiters and you can click this to set the characters you would like to use

Review - Sofa 3.0

Productivity is a thing that takes many forms and angles. There is a common misconception that it’s all about getting things done and smashing things off of your to-do list. Not the case. Whilst it’s important of course to work and work efficiently, you need to create the space in yourself to do that. 

Sofa is an awesome iOS application that allows you to create lists of media (and other) resources for you to consume when you slip away from work mode and into that chill zone, we all need. With version 3.0 recently released, it seems to be going from strength to strength and is creating a large following in the Apple community. I don’t need much of an excuse to make a list so this application fits in with the way I function perfectly. 

How Does It Work?

Sofa has a gorgeous front end that houses lists and whilst you can create your own, you will mainly use the default lists that are there. We have books, audiobooks, music, podcasts, video games, board games, TV shows, movies and finally Apps. You add items to these individual lists by tapping the plus button and searching - and if there is a result (which invariably there is), then the item is added. If you cannot find the media title you would like to add, then there is a Custom Add feature that allows you to type in the name instead, thus still allowing you to track. This does come up occasionally - there are some books that haven’t shown up and I’ve found myself torn between using this and Book Track for tracking my reading titles which is, of course, dedicated to that function and always seems to find the titles I need.

If you need more organisation that you can create new lists - I create lists to track books that I have read so I’m not tempted to re-purchase one that I’ve already enjoyed (it’s happened in the past, trust me - I’m that dumb). Taking this premise further, you can organise your lists into groups to ensure that however your brain works, Sofa can list the titles to suit. It doesn’t discriminate, you can add any list to any group and be as flexible as you like.

When you look at the front page of the application, there are several distinct sections. At the top you can search for anything contained within your lists - so as you add more lists and titles, this becomes more of a key feature. Then below that, you have The Pile. This is almost like your Inbox if we’re going to come at things from a productivity standpoint. If you don’t have time to organise an item into a list straight away, it sits in the pile ready for you to tidy up at a time of your choosing. 

Below The Pile, we have Activity. Whenever you click on an item in your Sofa library, you have the option to log this to your Activity Log and then, when you tap Activity, you can see a monthly overview of what media you gave consumed in that time. It usually takes a few minutes of meeting with my friends before the question is asked - “So what have you been watching then?”. A quick check of Sofa and this question is answered and this wows them. They think I’m super-organised when the truth is I just know how to use an app. 

The Shelf is a feature that forms part of Sofa’s new subscription model and I’ll get to the details of that in summary below. The Shelf is a new feature that is similar to The Pile in that it doesn’t need any advanced decision making. It’s almost like a hot list of things that you are going to be looking at next- you’re figuratively putting items on the shelf for consumption later. I generally only have about three items per category on the shelf at any one time and, using the example of Video Games, these are the titles I’m currently actively playing. The Shelf cuts across all lists, so rather than having individual shelves per category, you’ve got one shelf and as soon as you have any downtime you can look at this shelf and ask yourself ‘What do I fancy doing?”

I did say earlier that there is a new subscription model for Sofa which may, understandably, automatically turn some of you away from the application as times are hard for everyone. I’ll cover the extra features that the subscription covers below but I have to say, if you just want to track your media, the free version of the application is more than enough to suit your needs. There is some great functionality that comes with the subscription model but it is in no way a prerequisite to use the app. The cost of the subscription (known as Super Sofa is £3.49 per month, or £31.99 annually and includes the below:

• The Shelf - as described earlier

• Themes - at the time of writing there are 70+ themes available to apply.

• Sticky Notes - you can add simple notes to any item that is on your list which is useful if you need to just make some kind of reference.

• Activity Stats and Filters - this allows you to understand the things you’ve logged to Activity in some more detail. When you tap on the ellipses in the top right-hand corner, you can Show Stats which presents a summary of how many titles have been consumed over a given year.

Enhanced Details - here you can get links to different music services and podcast players for any audio titles you have in your list. To date, there is no ability to link to video services.

Sofa, for me, is one of those rare apps that is a must-have in my arsenal but doesn’t fulfil any of the ‘core’ productivity techniques that may come to mind. It’s all about making sure that when I finally get to enjoy my downtime, I don’t stress myself with trying to find something to watch/play/read, based on remembering recommendations from people. It’s all in the app and helps me avoid that unwanted friction.

Hook Part 1 - What is Hook and Why Do You Need It?

Every now and then I come across an application that just fits how I work. It doesn’t happen too often but when it does, it’s a really special thing. It’s very much like when you go into a clothing store, see something and you don’t even need to try it on - you just know it’s going to be right. 

Well Hook, by the team at CogSci Apps is one such application. It just seems to get me - and a lot of others as well. 

What Is Hook?

Hook is a macOS application that has one primary aim - to keep you focused. In an age where information overload is a genuine thing, it’s hard to keep track of where our files or relevant websites are and this can generate friction when it comes to focused working. Why can we not just search for this material, using a tool like Alfred or Spotlight? Well, of course, we can. As long as we have a general idea of what it is we are searching for. How often do you find yourself carrying out repeated searches because you can’t quite remember how you named the file or the spelling of a website. 

Hook counters this by letting you hook resources together via bi-directional links. So if you have an OmniFocus project that requires you to access certain files or websites, you can use Hook to create links that hook these common resources together. This is known as contextual computing and anything I can use to help me get on board this train, I’m all over because contextual computing is the way forward (Here is a link to a MacSparky article on this very topic). 

One OmniFocus Project - three websites for research through the Hook Interface

Why Is It Great?

When I’m setting up any kind of project, I use Hook to gather together the main resources I need. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a small project, like a personal screencast, or something larger for a corporate client - knowing that I can access any file I need with just a couple of keypresses saves me two main things

• Time - this is important because whenever time disappears into the ether, that’s exactly where it has gone. It’s never going to come back. When you waste money on something, you can take measures to ensure that somehow, you can get it back, whether by selling something or earning it another way. Time, however, is very much not a bi-directional concept. It goes one way, so anything I can do to make the most of the time I have is welcomed

• Attention - every bit as important as time, if not more so. We have 24 hours in a day, every day, never going to change. We certainly do not have 24 hours of full attention. Or 12. If we were to halve that and go for six, we’re getting much nearer the mark. Every time we switch context to try and get to another file or resource, we chip away at a tiny bit of that attention because there is an element of friction involved. By linking to resources from one hotkey enabled interface, this friction is dissolved.

That’s pretty much it. Next week we’re going to look at how to get started with Hook however I did create a video for the team at CogSciApps (that’s how much I love it) so go check it out and see it in action.

I'm Back With You!

What a time. It’s been a whirlwind in all of our lives throughout the last couple of years, not just mine. My previous post on here of any significance is bordering on almost three years old. A constant thread, in the back of my head that I’ve been itching to pull in all that time! 

Life has been one of those things that have gotten in the way of my passion projects, and this site is undoubtedly one. I started it in 2014 (just after I got my first Mac and realised the new world of opportunities out there) and found myself able to update it on a semi-regular basis and made some great friends amongst my readers. 

Then I took a corporate contract, delivering a series of multi-million-pound projects in Central London and that free-time I had started to dwindle. Some of you will know I’m also a regular screencaster at ScreenCastsOnline, and try as I might, that was the only passion project I could find myself able to fulfil without compromise. 

And that’s the thing - when you’re busy, as I’m sure each and every one of you reading this is, it’s more often than not a case of you wanting to work on, and enjoy so many things. However, the danger of this is that you spread yourself so thin to the point that the quality of the items delivered isn’t up to par. I couldn’t afford to do this on the corporate contract, and I didn’t want to have this occur at ScreenCastsOnline or here. So something had to give, and it was this site. 

Times are different now. 

With that contract successfully completed, I’m back in the world that I want to inhabit. 

I”m back coaching with Think Productive in the UK, helping businesses and individuals get to grips with their workloads, calendars and inboxes - and with the pandemic leaving its mark on the business world, we’ve developed new courses on remote/hybrid working. I’ve delivered some virtual workshops already, and it’s such a great job. 

Also, there has been lots more screencasting with ScreenCastsOnline. I’ve got a larger office now, fully kitted with what I need to provide these professional screencasts, covering apps that I may not have otherwise discovered. Using my tech to deliver training to people on how to use tech - is there anything better for me to do? 

I’ve also started building a small portfolio of clients for independent screencasts on using their products. One of the most used applications on macOS currently is called Hook, and I’ve been lucky enough to work with Luc Beaudoin at CogSciApps on creating a series of videos on how to make the most of this application. The team at Apptorium are also a great set of customers, with videos created for two of their apps - Sidenotes and Workspaces, which are also solid additions to my Mac app arsenal. I’m available for more private work, by the way - nudge nudge, hint hint !

And so we come to this site, and I”m excited that I’m finally implementing the relaunch plan to bring the posts that many of you have enjoyed in the past back regularly. Over the coming months, there will be 

• Workflow posts each Monday that will show hints and tips on a specific application or piece of technology.

• Weekly Guideposts, each Wednesday. Starting with Hook, I’ll be deep-diving into applications and services and delivering some in-depth guides on how to get the best of them.

• Review/Why I Use Posts, every Friday. Here, I will either look at a recently released or updated application or look at my toolkit, pull out an app and go into detail as to why I couldn’t work without it.

I’ve also started developing my first video guide that is going to be released mid-late September. I’m super excited and scared about this in equal measure. 

The monthly newsletter is in production, and I’ll be inviting sign-ups for this in the coming weeks - this will include offer codes for any products I release as well. 

So lots of movement, lots of change, and I’m hoping for lots of cool stuff to look forward to as I close off 2021 in a better way than I started. 

I hope - but who knows what’s around the corner, right?