Word & Vocabulary Expanders
Vocabulary Expanders – games, word knowledge, abbreviations, correction, and other word resources: This is a list of software programs and add-ons for the PC that will expand short forms (abbreviations) into long forms (words, phrases, paragraphs, etc.). Some of them do a lot more – in particular Instant Text, Shorthand for Windows/SpeedType and Smartype! Prices given are approximate. The platform is Windows unless otherwise indicated.
Sample: Here are some examples of how abbreviations are/or can be used for the word expander applications. In many cases, you can use macros (such as Word or WordPerfect macros) or special applications to setup your own representative abbreviations (as indicated on the left), and the programmed features or macros would then insert the full phrase or sentence (as indicated on the right).
sanc = sponge and needle counts
sancwc = sponge and needle counts were correct
sancwcx = sponge and needle counts were correct times 3
sancwr = sponge and needle counts were reported
sancwrc = sponge and needle counts were reported correct
sancwrcx = sponge and needle counts were reported correct times 3
A great deal of information is available at the various MT boards (MT daily, etc.) and from external applications or add-ons. Here are a few we’ve heard about:
AUTOCORRECT: Built into Word.
Comment: Not designed to be an expander but can be used as one. According to Microsoft Support, “Since the AutoCorrect feature uses the 64K local memory heap allocated to Word, inserting large numbers of AutoCorrect entries may result in an ‘Out of memory’ error message.” Each AC entry uses a minimum of 4 bytes. A figure of 7000 AC entries is cited as “large” and could cause the error message.
QUICKCORRECT: Built into WordPerfect.
Comment: Not designed to be an expander but can be used as one. With large number of entries, some users say it tends to “disappear”.
As noted above, both Word and WordPerfect also have macro capabilities that will allow you to assign commonly or frequently used words or phrases to a macro (usually to an ALT-Key combination). To utilize the macro features, please refer to the documentation/help files that come with your word processing application.