How to Auto-Complete Sentences, Text in Windows With PhraseExpress

At one end you have repetitive stress injury as an occupational hazard for computer workers. On the other you have the sheer boredom of typing out the same blocks of text in document after document. PhraseExpress is the complete auto-complete solution. But PhraseExpress is not just a text replacement tool.. in fact, with a powerful lineup of features, it is more.

But here we will stick to the basics and will look at how we can auto-complete sentences and text in any Windows application with PhraseExpress.

Manually Enter a Phrase

Select the text/image you want to reuse in any open Windows application.

1. Click the PhraseExpress system tray icon and select Create new phrase. You can also use the keyboard shortcut – CTRL-ALT-C.

2. The ‘Enter additional information…’ dialog box allows you to configure how PhraseExpress will execute the new word.

3. The Autotext field is important because you can shorten a long phrase by typing in an auto-text. Whenever you type the autotext, PhraseExpress will automatically replace it with the complete phrase.

The Text Prediction feature

You can not only manually select your commonly used words, phrases, and salutations in PhraseExpress but also let it do the job for you with the Text Prediction feature. PhraseExpress monitors your normal work and recognizes repeatedly entered sentences. After a time, PhraseExpress gives you the option to auto-complete the oft used phrases.

Your saved auto-complete snippets can be HTML-, RTF- and Microsoft Word text formatted (and also include .JPG, .PNG. .BMP und .TIFF bitmap images).

Using PhraseExpress in an Application

There are multiple ways to auto-complete sentences using PhraseExpress. Let’s start with the manual option.

Place the cursor in the target application where you would like to paste the text phrase. Click on the PhraseExpress system tray icon and select the right phrase from the pop-up menu. The phrase is inserted into the document when you release the mouse button.

You can also press the shortcut Hot Key you might have defined for the phrase. You can also quickly use the phrases stored in the last used folder (as in the screen above).

Letter sequences or Autotext entries can be set to automatically insert the right phrase at the right place. Autotext entries are just right for abbreviations and acronyms.

Customizable Features

PhraseExpress gives you complete control over its behavior. A few tools include an Advanced Mode for power-users with a few more options. By default, the simple mode is activated. Program behavior can be set from Tools > Settings.

The ‘How To’ on using PhraseExpress as a text replacement tool actually doesn’t end here. The feature list is long and it just goes to show that PhraseExpress is a powerful productivity multiplier.

With the productivity boost, you will hopefully be glad that the tiny but very useful PhraseExpress v8.0 remains free for personal use.