Over the course of 2021 and 2022, I really got into Mac OS automation. I had text snippets expanding a few keystrokes into complex file names, hotkeys to take and upload screenshots, my mouse customized to within an inch of its life to copy and paste at my whim, and a button that would change the LED lights outside my office to signal to my family whether or not they could come in. It made me feel like a god; or at least the god of my computer.
Alas! Now I’m on a Windows machine with a standard office keyboard and three button mouse. I wouldn’t know where to start with automation on this platform. I haven’t even been able to find a worthwhile clipboard manager.
When I came across a TextExpander article on the best practices for creating new snippets and automations I was intrigued. Maybe this was my gateway back into automation.
I was disappointed. Not that any information in the article was poor, per se. Just that I didn’t think it was a great jumping-off point for a beginner. It also wasn’t applicable outside of the TextExpander product itself. It was more a documentation on how to use that particular app, and not how to best use keyboard snippets.
I’ll try to dive in next week with my “beginner’s” rundown of how to best implement some keyboard snippets into your workflows and better understand how to spot the potential for automations in your work.
