15-Minute Reviews :: Jitbit AutoText v2.35.0
Hello all and welcome to another 15-Minute Review! Today’s application is Jitbit AutoText version 2.35.0 by JitBit Software – An application for quick word substitution to aid in repetitive actions.
Software Description
As Giveaway of the Day states:
“Type the same phrase over and over with less keystrokes. Jitbit AutoText assigns abbrevations to phrases, and types a phrase when you type an abbrevation. For example type ‘ffr’ and the program will type ‘Feel free to contact us if you have any further questions’ for you. Save your time on typing, yet remaining polite, helpful and responsive with your friends and customers!
AutoText will work in all word processors and text editors such as Microsoft Word and even online solutions like Google Docs. AutoText will work with any Internet browser including IE, Firefox or Opera.”
Quick Pros
- Easy to setup and use
- Organized into folders and sub-folders
- Macros trigger fast and run quick
- Keyboard shortcut to enable/disable substitutions
Quick Cons
- Lack of drag-and-drop functionality
- Tab order in Edit Keyword box backwards
- No ability to enable/disable folders
- Missing other desired functionality
Expansion
Jitbit AutoText is a very simple concept for applications; You enter a specific text string in any window, and AutoText will immediately replace the text with what the substitution phrase is. The interface itself is fairly simple. When you open the application’s main window for the first time, you are greeted with a two-pane layout with four buttons below. The left pane is a tree-like structure of folders in which you can put your shortcuts into. The right pane is where you will see the current folder’s shortcuts in and manage them there. While shortcuts can be moved from folder to folder, you do have to use the Keywords menu or the right-click menu to do so; There is no drag and drop functionality. Below these two panes are four buttons; Enable keyboard monitor, Disable keyboard monitor, Hide to system tray (Which the minimize button on the window does the same trick) and Exit.
Managing entries, besides the lack of drag and drop functionality, is actually pretty simple. I found myself using the right-click pop-up menu to manage most of the entries but you can use the Keywords menu as well. Adding or editing an entry is very easy; One text box, one memo-style box, OK and Cancel; Not much to it at all. Something that did bug me a bit though was the tab order of the elements in the Edit Keyword box; The tab order for the boxes is Keyword – OK – Cancel – Phrase to type this makes quick entry via tab a little more difficult. As well, the Phrase to type box does not directly take tabs as the first text item either unless it is cut and paste in; It will however take it when there is other text in the field.
The speed and actual use of this application is very quick and did not interrupt my workflow. It is visibly barely noticable the process of converting the keyword into the phrase, with only a very short timespan for the text to appear. It is still theoretically possible to beat the application to substitution and end up with garbled text at the start, but so short you most likely will not even have this issue.
It is great that there is a keyboard shortcut to be able to enable/disable the keyboard monitoring while minimized to System Tray (Control-Shift-F12). However, functionality to be able to enable and disable certain folders from being triggered should be incorporated. This may be very handy for those who may switch companies they are replying for but still want the same keywords so they are nor trying to remember combinations. This may also be handy for a programmer who changes languages or even goes between writing and programming.
As well, the Wait for separator key should be an option for each keyword/phrase combination, as opposed to an application-wide function. There is a lack of a lot of substitution functions for inside the phrases or any macroing functionality (such as a dialog box for insertion of a text item inside a phrase), limiting this to a raw text substitution application.
Final Verdict
While it is not as powerful as other applications I’ve tried in the past, it does have simplicity, ease-of-use and speed on its side. For free, if you do a lot of repetitive typing in an assortment of applications and would like a central way to create text shortcuts, this may be the application for you to try. As for paying $19.95, while it isn’t a bad price for what is offered at all, I would hope to see further functionality before purchasing this application.
Posted by BladedThoth on Friday, December 14, 2007
