TextExpander Now Expands Team Productivity to Windows

Today, we’re thrilled to release TextExpander to the world. TextExpander is a productivity multiplier, a knowledge base from which you, as an individual, or you and your team, communicate quickly and accurately across your devices.

When we first looked at launching an app for Windows we thought it was just that, the launch of an app for Windows to go with our apps for Mac, iPad and iPhone. But, the more we spoke with our customers and saw how they were using TextExpander, the more we thought about it, the more we came to realize it’s bigger than that.

Today, we launch TextExpander for Windows 1.0, and today, we open up TextExpander to the computing world.

If you’re not yet familiar with TextExpander, in short, it eliminates the need to type things over and over. Using a quick search or abbreviation, you instantly insert snippets of text from your repository of boilerplate, emails and other content.

With desktop apps for both Windows and Mac, backed by our seamless sharing service, people in multi-platform environments can achieve fast and consistent communication. This is really exciting for us.

From me to you, here is a microcosm of a few ways I use TextExpander:

Product names. I never type TextExpander. Just “Tx” and it expands to “TextExpander.” I type TextExpander so many times in a day that it’s one of my most-used snippets.

Email signatures. My email signature has my personal content PLUS a shared marketing message which is updated instantly when edited by Maia, who handles Marketing and PR for Smile. This means she doesn’t have to hunt me down, or anyone else on the team, every time there’s an update.

Reference requests. I have a form letter I use to follow up on references, and I can customize it each time I use it, according to the situation. It has “Mad-Libs” style fill-in-the-blank areas for the person’s name, the position they’re applying for, and popups for gendered or gender non-specific pronouns. Rather than re-writing the request each time I need it, I have it as a snippet. Sometimes I’ll notice something I could improve in the template snippet, and while it’s still top of mind, I use the Edit Last Expanded Snippet action to get it done.

Public groups. I subscribe to many of the ready-made snippets in our Public Groups. I’ve also contributed the Brand Names group, which saves me from typing “FaceBook” instead of “Facebook,” and tons of other brand-related errors. We’re really excited to see and use new public groups contributed by our users, such as Danny Santoro’s WordPress group and David Sparks‘ Foreign Thanks group.

Search. When I need to send instructions on how to make a screen shot, I type “screen”, then I hit my keyboard shortcut for inline search, and up pops a list of all the matching snippets. It’s incredibly easy to find info I know we’ve got in TextExpander but for which I don’t remember the abbreviation.

From our busy team to your busy team, here’s how we’re using TextExpander for Teams:

Statistics. I can see statistics for the Smile team, and I know that we save around one day per month per team member on average. We save even more time in months with major product releases. It’s like having extra people on the team, on the days you really need them. Smile is not alone. Many teams save 6 hours or more per user per month, whether small, medium, or large teams.

Improved communication. We constantly improve our snippets. We assign whomever knows a topic best to write and update those snippets. Our content is written by the best available writer for that content.

Improved accuracy. Anyone with edit permission can fix inaccurate or outdated info. Updated snippets are available to the whole team immediately. We’ve found having well-written, accurate responses improve customer satisfaction.

You can see how other customers are using TextExpander for Teams.

The response running up to this launch has made us both humbled and proud. We’re so excited to achieve our world release of TextExpander, complete with TextExpander for Windows 1.0. We look forward to your feedback, and we plan to keep pushing TextExpander forward.

Greg Scown Founder, Smile

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