Using Butler shortcuts to enter commonly used text

Is there a piece of text that you find yourself typing again and again? Want a keyboard shortcut to enter it? For example, pressing Alt-E to enter your email address anywhere.

The solution I use is Butler. It is an extremely versatile tool.

• With Butler running, go to Configuration
• Right click on Hidden Items
• Smart Item -> Text (in the most recent version, it seems to be Smart Item -> Clipboard -> Plain Text)
• Under Triggers, specify your ‘Hot Key’ keyboard shortcut
• Under Text, specify your frequently entered text e.g. email address

Done! The next time you press Alt-E anywhere, your email address will show up.

Notes:

• You are probably wise to choose a more obscure shortcut the Alt-E to avoid clashes with other apps, but the principle remains.
• I use LastPass to automate filling in entire forms (name, address, email), but the approach I describe here can be used anywhere (in a document, IM window, whatever).

 

Tags: butler, productivity, shortcuts, tools

Setting up a macro in Word to paste unformatted text

As a developer, I frequently need to copy and paste code into Microsoft Word documents, but often want to remove the formatting in the process.

This post explains how to set up a macro, and associate it with a keyboard shortcut, to do the equivalent of Edit -> Paste Special -> Unformatted Text. I have tested it on Word: Mac 2011.

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Tags: keyboard, keyboardshortcuts, microsoft, productivity, shortcuts, word

Live Templates in IntelliJ

As described here, IntelliJ’s live templates let you easily insert predefined code fragments into your source code.
I have posted some of my most used templates below, a link to my complete list of template files on GitHub (as a reference for myself when I setup new IntelliJ environments) and the steps I took to add the IntelliJ settings file to GitHub.
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Tags: git, github, ide, intellij, productivity, shortcuts, tools

Where is the Diagonal key?!

I try to use keyboard shortcuts wherever I can, but struggled recently to find the ‘Diagonal’ key. This post shows how to find it, and any other hidden keys, using Apple’s Keyboard Viewer app.

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Tags: ergonomics, keyboard, keyboardshortcuts, productivity, shortcuts

Invaluable Mac tools

After setting up a couple of macbooks recently, there are a few tools that I just need to install before I can feel at home (although not all are Mac specific).

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Tags: mac, macbook, productivity, shortcuts, tools