Review: TypeIt4Me 4.7
Product Information
Written by: Riccardo Ettore
E-Mail: rettore@aol.com
Web: http://members.aol.com/rettore/AboutTypeIt4Me.html
Shareware Fee: $25
As if my life were not already busy enough, I work after hours for a site where I host a few chats each week. One thing I have noticed during these chats is that there is quite a lot of text I have to type repetitively.
First, there are the room greets. Everyone who enters the chat asks what’s going on in the room, so I have to type that as well. There are also some questions I ask to liven up the discussion.
And, you know what? It’s a pain in the butt to type these same things over and over. Of course, I could just cut and paste from the Note Pad. But having to remember to open Note Pad, sort through the open windows on the desktop, and cut and paste the boilerplate text to the screen can be tedious. And, if you have ever been part of a fast and furious chat, you know you don’t have that kind of time before several intervening lines of chat are posted.
Well, those troublesome days are now over, thanks to Riccardo Ettore’s nifty control panel, TypeIt4Me.
Basically, this control panel acts as your own personal typist. In order to set up TypeIt4Me, you must create a data file, then you can enter the text for each shortcut. Text can be added automatically by being imported directly off the clipboard, or you can create a new entry in TypeIt4Me’s Edit menu.
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You also have to assign an identity when you create the new shortcut. When typed, this identity phrase automatically activates the particular shortcut you have selected, typing it into whichever application is currently active (e-mail, word processor, database, etc.). You may also activate this shortcut by selecting it from TypeIt4Me’s pull down menu.
What type of jobs can you use TypeIt4Me to accomplish? If you write letters, you can put a standard concluding paragraph and signature to save yourself the drudgery of typing the information on each and every letter. Do you have standard replies to e-mail your office receives? You can keep that boilerplate text ready to go. Running chats? Have those room greets easily accessible and get them to the screen quickly and accurately every time. You can even use the utility as a spell checker. If you frequently misspell a word in your typing haste—such as ‘teh’—you can use that as an identity linked to the word ‘the.’ I’m sure you can find many more uses for this utility.
![[t3 graphic]](images/t3.gif)
Text effects, such as boldface, underlining, and italics, can be added through keyed command strings. You can even have TypeIt4Me navigate through a spreadsheet by entering up, down, left or right commands. You may want to brush up on the user’s manual, however, to be sure you are entering these commands properly.
A word of caution about the utility: You should be careful how you select the identities of your shortcuts. It’s best not to choose a common word to describe them, such as ‘signature.’ Otherwise, every time you type that word, the text you have assigned to the identity will be typed for you. Granted, you can either disable the feature (which would take away some of TypeIt4Me’s functionality), or you can click on the mouse button to stop the shortcut from being typed out. However, it’s still best to name the shortcut with something you are less likely to type, such as ‘my signature.’
Also, you have to be sure you know where you are when you activate TypeIt4Me, as it will replace whatever text is currently selected. So, don’t be surprised if you see an icon renamed if it is selected in the Finder when you have TypeIt4Me start typing something.
Mr. Ettore, from someone who didn’t take touch typing in high school and who occasionally reverts to the Biblical method of typing (seek and ye shall find), my fingers thank you!
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Copyright © 1998 Tom Iovino, tiovino@atpm.com. Reviewing in ATPM is open to anyone. If you’re interested, write to us at reviews@atpm.com.
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