Typed String Typing Speed - Faster?

#1

Hello... I've never posted here and I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, but I'm wondering if it's possible to speed up the typing speed of the typed trigger string option? I had emailed Peter about it a while back and he said there wasn't a way to make it faster. Is there any chance this has changed since 2017? Lol
Insert text by pasting isn't always ideal, and although I do use it in some cases, I can't use it by default, unfortunately. I also incorporate spacing into my snippets to try to avert the issue, but I still end up with a lot of snippets expanded in the middle of the next word I'm trying to type or spaces in the middle of words bec ause I hit space too fast <-- like that, etc. My typing speed averages around 110-120 wpm, 140 if I'm bookin' it.
It's just so frustrating and it's my only issue with KM.

Thanks!

P.S. No, I don't want to type slower LOL

Text Expansion with RegEx [Example]
#2

AFAIK, there is no way to speed up KM typing.
If you have a lot of these snippets, you may want to try a dedicated text expander tool like Typinator.

I don't type at your speeds, but Typinator seems very fast to me. I believe there is a free trial, so you could test it.

#3

Oooooohhhhhhhhh... this is AWESOME thanks for the tip!

From my preliminary testing, it looks as though it works as quickly as KM's insert by pasting option, but it doesn't use the clipboard (unless the expanded text contains an apostrophe?). But I reckon I'll have a bit of a harder time out-typing these haha, thanks!

(Heh, I hope mentioning other products on here isn't taboo, but I work for a transcription company so text expanders and shortcuts are ... life. Still not giving up KM though, nobody panic haha. I don't remember how to use my computer without it)

Thanks again!

#4

I believe Typinator, being a text expansion-only focussed app has some applications where it applies either AppleScript or Accessibility APIs to handle the expansion. In my testing, I have yet to find any way to use these across a wide range of applications, to either the Typinator folks are cleverer at this that me (definitely possible) or they special case certain apps (also possible).

Either way Typinator and Keyboard Maestro work well together so it makes perfect sense to use both as appropriate.

#5

Thanks for the replies! So, update, but after testing Typinator for a few days, turns out... it doesn't work so well in any internet browser, which is where I do a large portion of my typing. It resorts to using the paste-from-clipboard style of expansion... and it's bad. Notably slower than KM, and it, like... inserts a "1" when erasing your typed string before replacing it with the expansion... and then there's a lag between the expansion and your next typed character, which, obviously, is counterproductive to what I'm trying to accomplish haha. So, all that to say, I've decided to stick with KM's insert by pasting (I have an awesome clipboard app so I can just periodically clear anything there that I don't want).

BUT now I'm trying to figure out how to configure all my text expansions so that I don't need a separate macro for each word to include a space, comma, period, question mark after the typed string so that I don't wind up with words in the middle of words. I'm trying to figure out how to use the TriggerValue thing but... I don't get it. Suggestions so that I can have just one macro per word instead of this?

image

#6

That is very surprising that Typinator would be slower than KM. I'd suggest that you submit a support ticket with Typinator to ask them about this.

that's easy. Just use a RegEx for the typed string trigger, something like this:

TRIGGER:
anb[ \.,?]

MACRO:   Text Expansion with RegEx [Example]

~~~ VER: 1.0    2019-05-15 ~~~

DOWNLOAD:

Text Expansion with RegEx [Example].kmmacros (2.3 KB)
Note: This Macro was uploaded in a DISABLED state. You must enable before it can be triggered.

image

#7

Thank you! I don't know about "easy" lololol I would have NEVER figured that out by myself. The only con to this approach is that I no longer have the option of only expanding after a word break, but I counteract that by just putting a space in front of the trigger and result text, which works out ok.

As for Typinator, I'm trying very hard to reduce the amount of apps I use (hoping this 2010 Macbook might not crash so often if I have less running hehe), and although it does mean a bit more set-up time, I do like how much more customisable KM is as far as controlling when and how my snippets work, etc. Plus I love the ability to turn folders on and off via hotkey or the global palette. I have multiple folders I go back and forth between (same trigger, different actions) so the ability to switch on and off quickly and easily is a big plus.

Thanks again,
Kim

#8

You can use “\b” at the start to match at a word boundary.

#9

This is genius! That worked, thanks!

Edit: So, while I'm asking, is there also a way to simulate the 'case affects actions' feature? Mmm? Currently I've just made a separate macro, for example, "fdb" versus "Fdb" for feedback.

#10

In the past, when I brought up typing speed, it was suggested I use pasting instead.

I did that and it worked fine - except for a few cases where pasting wouldn’t work. X3270, which is a XQuartz app, is the most notable one. (XQuartz is X11. That might make it tricky.)

But see if pasting can work for you.

#11

Yes, you have the trigger string in the TriggerValue token so you can look at it and see if it starts with f or F and deal with it appropriately. Whether that is easier that doing two macros or not is up to you.

#12

This macro handles both of those requests:

Macro: Text Expansion with RegEx [Example]

Questions?

#13

Thanks for the tip! Yeah, I do use the pasting method, but it isn't always ideal and sometimes it just flat-out will not work (I'm a transcriptionist, and on our online platform, any pasted text will be pasted in 'highlighted', so if I'm typing, I'll just overwrite everything. Not the desired effect haha.)

Very good point lol

Oh, I always have questions haha. I need to download the macro and give it a whirl first.

Thank you for the thoughtful replies!