4 ms·

Productivity Hack: Create a macOS Keyboard Macro for Your Email

19 points by macDre 6y ago

Edd314159 6y ago
Also useful: do the same but for a Zoom meeting URL. For me, `zurl` expands to my personal Zoom meeting that I can give out in a flash. I use it a many times a day.
- macDre 6y ago
  This is a great idea!
ibraheemdev 6y ago
Very cool, but most browsers save your email for form inputs already, no?
- macDre 6y ago
  Yeah they do but it's been surprisingly useful for new logins and other places like adding it to the text of an email or DM.
egypturnash 6y ago
Step 6: start noticing how some apps like to disable normal MacOS input and ignore text expansions, as well as the Character Viewer popup[1]. Notice that Electron apps are especially bad about this. Watch your hatred of Electron apps deepen. 1: cmd-ctrl-space, visit the gear menu and behold the huge number of Unicode ranges you can turn on and off in the 'Customize List' pane
- mikewhy 6y ago
  AFAICT those are supported in Electron: Text expansions and emojis work in GitHub Desktop. Emojis work in VS Code, but it doesn't do text expansion (probably for the best there, YMMV).
  - jibbers 6y ago
    I just tried in Pocket Casts, an electron app, and it does not work.
    - mikewhy 6y ago
      Which app is that? I haven't done much digging, but of the two Pocket Casts electron apps I found, one hasn't been updated since 2017 (before chrome supported this API) and the other doesn't have macOS builds. edit: the second one does support them https://imgur.com/0EFLLmM https://imgur.com/0EFLLmM
      - jibbers 6y ago
        Huh, that's strange. Maybe it has something to do with the OS? I'm on 10.15.
- TMWNN 6y ago
  Firefox, too
mikewhy 6y ago
These are also really helpful in GitLab, where comments on issues and PRs support slash commands.
- macDre 6y ago
  Which shortcuts do you have saved?
valbaca 6y ago
A few more text replacements that I have as well: Johnathan -> Jonathan // or whatever common misspelling you have for your manager or coworker. I don't need it now, but can be a good stop-gap teh -> the // For some reason auto correct doesn't catch this very common mistake adn -> and // same thx -> Thank you! // brevity + professionalism thxa -> Thanks in advance! // it's surprising how effective this phrase is at getting someone to do anything On my iPhone: ducking -> fucking Lol -> lol // that capital L bothers me omw -> On my way! omwh -> on my way home
- macDre 6y ago
  These are awesome! Thanks for sharing
castillar76 6y ago
I've been using Typinator and singing its praises to people for years. I have some abbreviations I only use once in a blue moon, but there are a couple I've gotten miles and miles of use out of. I started by picking a 'shortcut tag'--a single character that prefixes all my shortcuts that aren't typo replacements. This prevents issues like having a shortcut trigger in the middle of writing a command or a piece of code. These days I use ';' and then follow the trigger with a space (e.g. ';dt ' is the full shortcut), as that doesn't come up in normal writing. (Annoyingly, the default substitutions in Mac OS/iOS don't respect these--if you create a trigger named ';dt ', it's going to try and trigger every time you write 'dt', with or without the semicolon and space. Probably because it's tied to the Autocorrect engine, which is very aggressive.) Couple I've found particularly handy: ;dt -> Prints the date as 2021-Mar-19 (very useful for quick-naming backup files!) ;DT -> Prints the date as 19 March, 2021 for more formal writing ;chr -> Prints "Cheers, <name>" as a quick way to sign an email ;fullstack -> Prints the subCA and root CA certificates in PEM format for the CA we usually use ;rarr -> Prints the "→" character, which is handy for nice lists. :) I also take advantage of Typinator's variable system. So I can enter ';ldif ' and it will prompt me for a user's name and UID values, then construct an LDIF file for use in adding them to LDAP. I have a couple boilerplate email responses in there as well that will just blow out the standard response with spots to fill in the user's name, for those "did you turn it off and on again" emails you write 50-odd times a day.
- K7PJP 6y ago
  The other great thing about using Typinator is you can use the typo correction libraries instead of macOS' overly aggressive Autocorrect and get most of the benefit without all the annoyances. I leaned on Typinator heavily to get through my day when I was in a support role. Nowadays, somewhat less so, but I still have a lot of tricks up my sleeve. The ability to paste and match style using a shortcut is pretty useful.
toyg 6y ago
I actually have something like 5 macros for email addresses, since I need 3 personal ones, 1 for work, and 1 for “throwaway” addresses on spammy sites. But I do that in the external keyboard. I used macOS shortcuts for industry-specific terms that were common for me (typing out “Oracle Hyperion EPM HFM Service” several times a day gets boring fast). Nowadays I do something similar on Windows with AutoHotKeys combinations.
iLemming 6y ago
Bond. James Bond. Fred. Al Fred.
pimlottc 6y ago
Text replacement also works in iOS - and they're automatically synced between all your devices. Very nifty!

19 points by macDre 6y ago

Also useful: do the same but for a Zoom meeting URL. For me, `zurl` expands to my personal Zoom meeting that I can give out in a flash. I use it a many times a day.

macDre 6y ago
This is a great idea!

ibraheemdev 6y ago

Very cool, but most browsers save your email for form inputs already, no?

macDre 6y ago
Yeah they do but it's been surprisingly useful for new logins and other places like adding it to the text of an email or DM.

egypturnash 6y ago

Step 6: start noticing how some apps like to disable normal MacOS input and ignore text expansions, as well as the Character Viewer popup[1]. Notice that Electron apps are especially bad about this. Watch your hatred of Electron apps deepen. 1: cmd-ctrl-space, visit the gear menu and behold the huge number of Unicode ranges you can turn on and off in the 'Customize List' pane

mikewhy 6y ago
AFAICT those are supported in Electron: Text expansions and emojis work in GitHub Desktop. Emojis work in VS Code, but it doesn't do text expansion (probably for the best there, YMMV).
- jibbers 6y ago
  I just tried in Pocket Casts, an electron app, and it does not work.
  - mikewhy 6y ago
    Which app is that? I haven't done much digging, but of the two Pocket Casts electron apps I found, one hasn't been updated since 2017 (before chrome supported this API) and the other doesn't have macOS builds. edit: the second one does support them https://imgur.com/0EFLLmM https://imgur.com/0EFLLmM
    - jibbers 6y ago
      Huh, that's strange. Maybe it has something to do with the OS? I'm on 10.15.
TMWNN 6y ago
Firefox, too

mikewhy 6y ago

These are also really helpful in GitLab, where comments on issues and PRs support slash commands.

macDre 6y ago
Which shortcuts do you have saved?

valbaca 6y ago

A few more text replacements that I have as well: Johnathan -> Jonathan // or whatever common misspelling you have for your manager or coworker. I don't need it now, but can be a good stop-gap teh -> the // For some reason auto correct doesn't catch this very common mistake adn -> and // same thx -> Thank you! // brevity + professionalism thxa -> Thanks in advance! // it's surprising how effective this phrase is at getting someone to do anything On my iPhone: ducking -> fucking Lol -> lol // that capital L bothers me omw -> On my way! omwh -> on my way home

macDre 6y ago
These are awesome! Thanks for sharing

castillar76 6y ago

I've been using Typinator and singing its praises to people for years. I have some abbreviations I only use once in a blue moon, but there are a couple I've gotten miles and miles of use out of. I started by picking a 'shortcut tag'--a single character that prefixes all my shortcuts that aren't typo replacements. This prevents issues like having a shortcut trigger in the middle of writing a command or a piece of code. These days I use ';' and then follow the trigger with a space (e.g. ';dt ' is the full shortcut), as that doesn't come up in normal writing. (Annoyingly, the default substitutions in Mac OS/iOS don't respect these--if you create a trigger named ';dt ', it's going to try and trigger every time you write 'dt', with or without the semicolon and space. Probably because it's tied to the Autocorrect engine, which is very aggressive.) Couple I've found particularly handy: ;dt -> Prints the date as 2021-Mar-19 (very useful for quick-naming backup files!) ;DT -> Prints the date as 19 March, 2021 for more formal writing ;chr -> Prints "Cheers, <name>" as a quick way to sign an email ;fullstack -> Prints the subCA and root CA certificates in PEM format for the CA we usually use ;rarr -> Prints the "→" character, which is handy for nice lists. :) I also take advantage of Typinator's variable system. So I can enter ';ldif ' and it will prompt me for a user's name and UID values, then construct an LDIF file for use in adding them to LDAP. I have a couple boilerplate email responses in there as well that will just blow out the standard response with spots to fill in the user's name, for those "did you turn it off and on again" emails you write 50-odd times a day.

K7PJP 6y ago
The other great thing about using Typinator is you can use the typo correction libraries instead of macOS' overly aggressive Autocorrect and get most of the benefit without all the annoyances. I leaned on Typinator heavily to get through my day when I was in a support role. Nowadays, somewhat less so, but I still have a lot of tricks up my sleeve. The ability to paste and match style using a shortcut is pretty useful.

toyg 6y ago

I actually have something like 5 macros for email addresses, since I need 3 personal ones, 1 for work, and 1 for “throwaway” addresses on spammy sites. But I do that in the external keyboard. I used macOS shortcuts for industry-specific terms that were common for me (typing out “Oracle Hyperion EPM HFM Service” several times a day gets boring fast). Nowadays I do something similar on Windows with AutoHotKeys combinations.

iLemming 6y ago

Bond. James Bond. Fred. Al Fred.

pimlottc 6y ago

Text replacement also works in iOS - and they're automatically synced between all your devices. Very nifty!