Text Replacement / expander

[joshthehappy]

A simple text replacement tool, my examples are from macOS and iOS, it is also a feature in Android.

Basically this feature: Text Replacements

On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Keyboard, then click Text.

Another example: Third one down "Set up text replacement"

It's very handy if you have things you need to type regularly, and just typing one word and having my system fill in a whole sentence saves a lot of time and effort at work instead of keeping a copy past text file. I have many web addresses I send to customers and many full sentences for my notes at work that used repeatedly and this kind of feature is surprisingly missing from Windows.

Sorry to open a new issue for this, but my last one was closed already.

[niels9001]

This would be super neat feature to have. Especially for the many abbreviations we use within our company :-)!

[saahmedm]

hi, this is a good idea @joshthehappy, not sure it fits into the current Keyboard Manager scope so tagged as new PowerToy but also as an enhancement because I could see it expanding KBM's capabilities

[joshthehappy]

hi, this is a good idea @joshthehappy, not sure it fits into the current Keyboard Manager scope so tagged as new PowerToy but also as an enhancement because I could see it expanding KBM's capabilities

Thank you very much for considering this option I have wanted this for a long time, and know it will be used daily by many people if implemented.

[Jay-o-Way]

This is like the auto-replace function in Office programs. Maybe we (or at least developers) can take a look at that functionality to get a head start. Maybe @crutkas has connections with the Office team?

[crutkas]

@Jay-o-Way office controls the input stack for their app where we would have to be e2e for all apps and be able to delete text and replace it.

this could be really hard to accomplish since someone could tab off and back on and i don't know if PowerToys could get the existing text. Example i type /sh, tab to diff app, then type, then tab back and type ug.

[laicasaane]

We should be able to build several replacement sets and easily switch between them (like changing keyboard layout by Win+Space). As I usually work on multiple contexts which require different sets of keywords.

And it would be more powerful if combined with auto-completion feature proposed here #6610

[enricogior]

Removed the KBM label since this has nothing to do with the KBM remapping of keys and shortcuts.

[e-xf]

Are there any plans for this feature in future releases? I think it would be a great addition to PowerToys

[Jay-o-Way]

AutoHotkey could do this without breaking a sweat!

[Rikagio]

Yes I already placed my thumbs up - Im new to GitHub and don't totally get all posts, so, just checking: this is not yet implemented or in plans of, right?

[illgitthat]

The latest version of powertoys (0.79.0) makes this feature much closer to reality. @enricogior do you still see this as a separate feature or could this be an enhancement to Keyboard Shortcut Manager

Edit: Example for text replacement from a "chord". If the chord was expanded to allow flexible text input this could accomplish many other use cases.

[DavidMichaelangelo]

Chiming in here :) I see it as a separate feature. True text replacement should work like it does on iPhone -- where once a specific keyword is typed it is immediately replaced with the replacement phrase -- no keyboard shortcut required.

[illgitthat]

Chiming in here :) I see it as a separate feature. True text replacement should work like it does on iPhone -- where once a specific keyword is typed it is immediately replaced with the replacement phrase -- no keyboard shortcut required.

I should rephrase. I agree that the feature request doesn't really fit directly with "Keyboard Manager" because it could be confusing to add it in there. What I meant was that it looks like the existing shortcut remap feature is a close solution from a technical perspective to what is being requested here.

[DavidMichaelangelo]

@illgitthat I get what you're saying now. Fingers crossed they see it that way too and develop it!

[cavanaug]

FWIW, I think the desire for this functionality is becoming more and more obvious given all the duplicate issues being opened requesting it. :-)

[TunaErtemalp]

From my dup'd #32541: "...The best I found was BeefText and it works great. It has some very complex features, too. But it is now in maintenance mode. Maybe you can approach the author to see what he thinks about getting included in PowerToys." Now that he decided to not do further active development on it, he might be happy to hand it over to a team to get used by a greater audience...

[Nevy216]

Thanks @tuna. Also AutoHotkeys is excellent for the keyboard replacement stuff. I've used AutoHotkeys for 15 years. The problem is that it's not good for corporate machines and wouldn't pass most corporate restriction SW rules. Anyway, check in with the AutoHotkey community and ask them to help out PowerToys. https://www.autohotkey.com/

[craiglobo1]

+1 hopefully this can come out soon

[seguri]

I'm new here and after reading all the comments, I'm still trying to understand why this feature hasn't been implemented. Is it a lack of developers?