What is a Typing Expander?

A typing expander is software that allows you to create shortcuts for words and/or phrases you find yourself typing often. They're extremely easy to use, and can save you a ton of time. All you have to do is set up your shortcuts once and you're good to go.

If you work in any industry that requires you to be by a computer all day and typing, I'd highly recommend you look into a typing expander, especially if you're a slow typist. Even though I type 120 words per minute, now that I've been using a typing expander, I couldn't imagine not having one. I own and operate a transcription company, and it cuts down the amount of time I spend typing a file tremendously. Time is money, right?

You can set up your typing expander to type out entire sentences or phrases. For example, one of my clients is a law firm and I type their hearings. It's awesome that I never have to type "Do you solemnly swear the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?" again. I set up a short cut entitled "swearin" for that!

I also set up some shortcuts I use when replying to emails. If you're a business owner and find yourself typing the same replies over and over to inquiries, you'll find a typing expander extremely useful. It's also a great way to "not forget" a reply you used that you liked.

Typing expanders aren't only just good for sentences and phrases. I also set up common words I find myself using frequently. I simply type "bc" and my typing expander automatically turns it into "because." If I want to type "thank you," I just type "ty."

Of course, it does require some time initially to set up all your shortcuts, but you only have to do it once. You just have to be careful what you're picking for your shortcut. I wanted a shortcut for "medical records," so I put into my expander that every time I typed "mr," I wanted it to type "medical records." Well, when I went to type "Mr. Smith," my typing expander turned it into "Medical records. Smith." Of course, that's not what I wanted.

I use FastFox Typing Expander, which is put out by NCH Software. This typing expander will also bold and put things in italics automatically for me as well. I find this extremely useful for labeling speakers when I'm transcribing since I put the names in bold. So if I want to type Lainie:, I could set up a shortcut so all I have to do is type L: and it does the rest for me. It will also type out the current day's date. Time saver! I've estimated I've cut down the time it takes me to type an audio file by at least 20%.