(Archived) Note text macros or abbreviations

[MJG 16]

I was wondering, but have not been able to find a way to add "auto correct" entries in the Evernote spellcheck dictionary or otherwise create shorthand for common text entry ... 

 

For example, I journal all my phone activity throughout the day and would LOVE to be able to type "/p2" in the body of the note and have "Phone Call To: " inserted.  Or "/pf" to get "Phone Call From: ".  Or some such system.  In Word you can make this happen by creating autocorrect entries in the spell check dictionary.   Other programs allow keystroke macros.  Is there anything like that in Evernote, or does this fall into the "requested feature" category?

 

 

[gazumped 11,666]

That would be a requested feature - no autocorrect / autofill here.  You can add third party apps like AHK and various text-fillers though.

[Dawn Patrol 0]

In Mac OS X: "System Preferences/Keyboard/Text" you can create as many of those shorthand things as you want. They work in Evernote and Contacts and presumably everywhere else.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

In Mac OS X: "System Preferences/Keyboard/Text" you can create as many of those shorthand things as you want. They work in Evernote and Contacts and presumably everywhere else.

This thread is in the Windows section.

[MJG 16]

That is useful, Dawn. Thank you.

But it does highlight something I have always found mystifying and myopic about an otherwise innovative and highly adaptive company and product.

Evernote is designed and operates as the one place to organize and access all your data, information and content. I can (and do) use it precisely because it is always there and always current, whether I am at my desktop at work (Windows), my desktop at home (Mac OSX), or anywhere in between (which might be my Mac OSX laptop, my iOS phone or tablet, or via web access on a public computer/workstation.

Yet they treat product development as if the OSX, Windows, web, iOS as if they were entirely unrelated products. As if anyone who uses the Windows version ONLY uses windows and nothing else.

That means even very basic features, like macros (insert date and/or time, for example), basic formatting (like font selection, and attributes, like font size or bold or italic) and a long list of others work differently or their availability varies depending on platform.

Am I the only user who lives his life in a multi-platform world? It is great to have instant and easy access to my one, comprehensive central organizing and content management database. Evernote achieves that and it is no small accomplishment. But it would be nice if I didn't constantly have to stop and think "Now, how do you insert a horizontal line, or indent or copy a note link ... Or can I even do it on this piece of hardware?"

[gazumped 11,666]

Evernote necessarily have specialist developers working on each different client,  and unless someone can tell me things have changed,  we were told ages ago that each team had a brief to make Evernote perform as well as possible on their respective platforms.  Given the differences in operating systems, processors and screen sizes this has meant that Evernote versions have diverged - though when one team has a good idea it usually filters through to the rest in due course.  There's an ongoing process of development and harmonisation,  but its an evolution over a period - the clients won't be brought into line any time soon...

[jefito 5,589]

You could look at a third-party solution; I think that AutoHotkey can do what you're looking for, and also PhraseExpander.

[MJG 16]

Evernote necessarily have specialist developers working on each different client,  and unless someone can tell me things have changed,  we were told ages ago that each team had a brief to make Evernote perform as well as possible on their respective platforms.  Given the differences in operating systems, processors and screen sizes this has meant that Evernote versions have diverged - though when one team has a good idea it usually filters through to the rest in due course.  There's an ongoing process of development and harmonisation,  but its an evolution over a period - the clients won't be brought into line any time soon...

Yes, that is what I have heard as well. But I just don't buy it. The kind of consistency across platforms I am talking about is not at a deep, basic level implicating the efficiency of the code. There is nothing about the basic design and architecture of the operating systems that demands that you use a control key plus H to insert a horizontal line in Windows, but control key plus the plus and minus keys in OSX. That is just laziness, failure to communicate and a lack of any consideration for how users in the real world might actually use the product.

And it is surprisingly parochial and myopic for a company and product whose whole value proposition is "access your stuff from anywhere" to eschew even a basic attempt to achieve consistency for the user, accessing his/her stuff from anywhere.

[MJG 16]

You could look at a third-party solution; I think that AutoHotkey can do what you're looking for, and also PhraseExpander.

Thank you, Jeff. That is a solution. But it is still a "local to each device" solution.

[jefito 5,589]

Of course I understand that. You can wait around for Evernote to implement what you want (remember, your original request is marked as a Windows topic; looking back, I can see that gazumped recommended AutoHotKey already; I missed it the first time) or you can work around what you see as a deficiency on a device-by-device basis. I'm not going to shill for Evernote's development philosophy; I know why they do it, and I understand the upsides and downsides, but it's their choice, and maybe in this current cycle they'll address the parity issue more comprehensively (I'd be OK with that). Ultimately, though, recognizing a situation for what it is is the the first step towards making a decision to use it. Given my use case (90% Windows, the rest -- light usage -- Android or web), parity isn't as big a deal to me, and Evernote works well in most cases. I get it that that's not the case for everyone.