Stop typing your address, email and “running late” text over and over. Five free shortcuts give you back an hour every week.
Your phone, Mac and Gmail can type whole sentences when you enter a few letters. Here’s how to set up the free shortcuts in minutes, plus the five every busy person should make today.
🤯 WOW! You’ll type your home address dozens of times this year, plus your email, your “running late” text and the same polite replies. Your phone, your computer and Gmail can all type those for you when you enter a few letters. It’s free, it’s already built in and almost nobody uses it.
The Short Version: Set up text shortcuts once on your phone, computer and Gmail, then make five that save you time every day. Steps below.
📖 Read time: 2 minutes
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How many times have you typed your home address this year? Your email? “Running 10 minutes late”?
McKinsey found office workers spend about 28% of the workweek reading and answering email. A big chunk of that is typing the same things over and over.
Here’s the fix. Teach your phone and computer tiny shortcuts. Type a few letters, and the whole address or phrase appears. (It feels like magic. It’s a setting.)
⌨️ Set it up once
iPhone and iPad
- Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement.
- Tap the plus sign. Under Phrase, type your full address. Under Shortcut, type something like “addr.”
- Bonus: It syncs to your Mac through iCloud.
Mac
- Open System Settings > Keyboard > Text Replacements and click the plus sign.
Android
- In Gboard, tap the gear icon > Dictionary > Personal dictionary, pick your language and tap the plus sign.
Gmail
- Go to Settings > See all settings > Advanced and turn on Templates.
- Write an email you send all the time, then tap the three dots > Templates > Save draft as template. Next time, it’s two clicks.
Want it everywhere, including Windows and Chrome? TextExpander launched a free plan. You get five shortcuts that sync across Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad and Chrome. No credit card.
✍️ Five shortcuts to make today
These are just my type. Start every shortcut with a letter you rarely type, like z, so it never fires by accident.
- zaddr: Your full mailing address
- zem: Your email address
- zlate: “Running about 10 minutes late. So sorry, see you soon!”
- zno: “Thanks so much for thinking of me. I can’t take this on right now, but I hope it goes great.”
- zty: “Thank you! I really appreciate it.”
That “zno” shortcut is the secret weapon. Saying no is hard. Typing three letters isn’t.
FYI, never save passwords, account numbers or your Social Security number as a shortcut. That’s what a password manager is for.
Set up five tonight. By Friday, you’ll wonder why you ever typed your address by hand.
I hate typing mistakes. It’s in my blood. I’m type O negative.
🗣️ Text/post this stat: Office workers spend about 28% of the workweek on email. Text shortcuts on your phone and Gmail can type your address, email and “running late” notifications for you. GetKim.com
📩 Send this to someone who still types their full address into every online form.
