Welcome back to the Learns You Good productivity series! I’m Pat Harrington, and if you joined us for Part 1, you saw the “magic” of expanding a massive block of text with just a few keystrokes.
Today, we are moving beyond the basics. One of the biggest complaints about automation is that it can feel “robotic” or cold. In this post, we’re going to fix that by turning your static snippets into Smart Templates that are interactive, personalized, and even do your math for you.+4
The Problem with “Hi There”
In our last session, we built an email snippet that started with a generic “Hi there”. While it saves time, it lacks that personal touch. Today, we’re using Fill-in Fields to make your snippets ask you for the recipient’s name before the email is created.+3
By using a Single Line Field, you can type your abbreviation (like ;thanks), a box pops up, you type “George,” and instantly your email is personalized.
Dynamic Options: The Popup Menu
As a trainer, I don’t just do one type of session—I do productivity, software, and even improv comedy training. Instead of having three different snippets, I’ve created one “Super Snippet” using a Popup Menu.+2
Now, when I trigger my follow-up email, I simply select the type of training from a dropdown menu, and TextExpander handles the rest. It’s one snippet that works for my entire business.+2
Date Math: Let the Computer Do the Counting
One of my favorite “Pat Facts” about TextExpander is its ability to do Date Math. I like to tell my students I’ll follow up with them exactly three days after a training.+1
Instead of me looking at a calendar and typing the date manually, I use a math formula inside the snippet that says “Today + 3 Days”. Whether it’s a Sunday or a Tuesday, TextExpander calculates the correct day of the week for me automatically.+2
Pro Tip: The Ultimate File Naming System
If you deal with a lot of digital files, you know the pain of naming them “Version 1,” “Version 2,” etc. I use a custom Date/Time Stamp snippet (triggered by ;dt) that creates a unique, military-time filename including my initials.+1
Because it includes seconds, every single file name is unique and perfectly organized by date. It might look like a string of random numbers to others, but to a productivity ninja, it’s organizational gold.+3
Why I Choose TextExpander
There was some chatter on Facebook about the cost of TextExpander (which is about $3.33/month or $40/year). While there are other apps out there that do text replacement, this is my go-to because it is incredibly feature-rich and reliable. When you find a tool that saves you hours every month, it’s an investment that pays for itself.+3
🔗 Level up your workflow at: https://patrickharrington.net 🔗 Try it yourself: https://textexpander.com
What’s Next? Stay tuned for Part 3, where we’re going to get into some really cool stuff regarding digital journalingand how to use TextExpander to track your daily goals and reflections.
