How to use a text expander as editors

Want to try a text expander but need ideas to get you started? Check out these examples for editors.

Many editors say how text expanders save time and make work so much easier, but I never knew where to start. Now, after a few years of using one and gradually building my library of snippets, I can’t work without it!

If you’ve been wanting to try a text expander but are stuck for ideas—or you want to see how else you might use it—I hope these examples will help.

What is a text expander?

Text expanders are apps that let you type a few keys (that you define) and replace them with longer text (again, that you define). It saves you a lot of repetitive typing or cutting and pasting.

They’re different from Word autocorrect, for example, in that the same key combos work in any app, whether it’s Word, a browser, notepad, file manager, or a time tracker app.

Some text expanders also let you launch apps, folders, websites, and scripts.

Examples of ways to use text expanders

These are what I have in my text expander.

Common editing feedback

Type of text	Examples
Often-used comments and queries	These could be sentence snippets like: Please check Not in references? It's ambiguous what … or more detailed explanations: Good link text can stand on its own without the surrounding context. This will help people, including those using screen readers, navigate and understand the page. For more on good link text
Editing Codes	The Editing Codes from Open Strategy Partners are “a collection of short, semantic editing marks to use when editing a piece of written content … The codes are based on specific writing guidelines. Use them to communicate the rationale behind a suggested change.” They can be especially useful (in my opinion) for larger projects, regular clients, and projects where the same few issues pop up repeatedly. An example code: <ANTE> Be clear about what "this, "that", "they" refer to. I picked the codes that I need the most and adapted the wording so it sounded more like me.
Standard editing mark-up	Not to be confused with the Open Strategy Partners’ Editing Codes above, you could also set up codes/tags like <A>, <ul>, <box>, etc., if your publisher requires them.
Common email responses	Phrases, sentences, whole email templates that you use to reply to inquiries or use when sending contracts and invoices, returning files, etc. For example, a set of standard closing phrases, like Thank you. Have a great weekend! Let me know if I can provide any further support.

Bits of commonly used text

Beyond editing, you can use the text expander for all kinds of text that you may need as an independent editor or proofreader.

(If you’re a translator, maybe you could build a list of terms in the original language and the translation so you don’t need to look it up each time 🤔 I might try that!)

Type of text	Examples from my text expander
Long words, titles, and names	intl → international ,abb → abbreviation ,plang → plain language ,ciep → Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP)
Autocorrect (the words I *always* mistype…)	damange → damage resaerch → research cheres → cheers
Dates, in various formats	,dd gives me the options I like to have: 2025.09.01 2025-09-01 20250901 01 September 2025 Monday, 01 September 2025
Email addresses	– My work and personal emails – Domain names like @plainlanguagenetwork.org
URLs, disclaimers, and standard text	– My website and social media URLs – URLs I occasionally share, like for my newsletter sign-up page and newsletter archives on Raindrop – Disclaimers and standard text for my social media blurbs – Email signatures, my brief bio
Snippets of code	– CSS class names for my website and hex codes for my brand colors – Social media hashtags, like #AmEditing and #PlainLanguage – Word wildcard codes, like ([0-9]{4}) to catch 4-digit numbers
Common name format for folders and projects	I have a system for naming my projects and folders (which I can never fully remember!), so I put the standard formats in the text expander.

Shortcuts

My text expander (FastKeys) also lets me launch files, websites, folders, and apps.

Type	Examples
Often-used websites	Oxford Dictionaries, my website admin page, Chrome profiles
Files and folders	My work records spreadsheet, project folders, Downloads folder, recent files
Apps	Teams, LINE, calculator
Run code	I have some batch files (written by generative AI) to run basic tasks on my files, such as appending bits of text to a file name.

FastKeys also has a menu feature (makes a customized menu pop up) and mouse gestures can be used as triggers as well. I don’t use these features, but it shows that text expanders can do more than simply expand plain text.

How do I pick my keyboard shortcut?

Picking the keyboard shortcut (a combination of keys) may be the hardest part of setting up text expanders—or at least, it is for me. I often use the comma as the initial key; I’ve heard others use x to trigger the expander. You could also put a symbol at the end of the key combo, like sig\.

Try it a few times to check if the combo is easy enough for your fingers. For example, I don’t use x and s right after the other and avoid number keys (I’m more likely to miss them).

How do I remember all my shortcuts? (I don’t)

Beyond a couple of favorites, you’re probably not going to remember all the keystrokes you’ve assigned. I certainly don’t! So what can you do? Here are some ideas.

• Write your most-needed shortcuts on a sticky note and put it somewhere visible.
• Keep a hard copy of a longer list within reach (I wrote mine in pencil so I can easily update the list when I change the shortcuts).
• Assign one key combo to a list of options, if your app allows. (I do this for project names and all my social media URLs, for example.)
• Use your app’s find function. In FastKeys, alt+space pulls up a searchable menu of all my key assignments.
• If you’re super organized, create a system for your shortcuts. FastKeys demonstrates in its YouTube video 5 tips to remember phrases.

Where should I start?

If you’re not sure where to start, observe when you’re working:

• What text do you type repeatedly?
• What are bits of text that you have to look up regularly to type/copy (like URLs, proper names)?

Jot those down, if you can. Put aside time to set up a few in your text expander. Start using those shortcuts. Add more when you’re ready. Test and adjust to see what works best for you.

A few popular text expander apps

Here are some text expanders that I’ve heard editors recommend (not affiliate links). The list is not exhaustive.

• FastKeys: This is what I use and love. It has a good price point: you can use the trial version indefinitely, and you pay once for the license—it’s not a subscription. Works great. Windows only.
• TextExpander
• PhraseExpress
• AutoHotKeys: Powerful but apparently with a steeper learning curve than the others. Windows only.

Do try one out! It will change your working life 🌟

How do you use your text expander? Any recommendations? Please share in a comment!

Cover image by we-o_rd35p6-i0qxf4chmi from Pixabay.