Life is too short to type out the same stuff, over and over again, on your smartphone’s cramp-inducing keyboard.
Thankfully,
both Android and iOS have hidden tools that turn a short phrase into a
big chunk of text: your most-used expressions, addresses and phone
numbers. Enable them in a few easy steps…then find something to do with
all your new free time.
On Your iPhone
Head into Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement.
Already preloaded, you’ll see the “omw” shortcut. Type “omw” anywhere
and it will automatically expand to “On my way!”
You can create
your own by tapping the “+” in the upper right corner. In the “Phrase”
field, type the chunk of text you’d like a shortcut for—your work
address, for instance.
Then in the “Shortcut” field below, type the snippet you want to trigger the phrase. For instance, “workad.” Hit save.
Add
as many as you’d like. They are great for phone numbers, email
addresses and common sayings. Just remember to pick a shortcut you’d
never actually use in a sentence. “Rnl” is a better shortcut than, say,
“Run” for the phrase “Running late!”
The phrases aren’t case
sensitive, so the tool will automatically capitalize at the beginning of
sentences, and will follow your lead if you capitalize the shortcut.
Also, it can work even if you use keyboards besides Apple’s default one.
Note:
Apple syncs these to the Cloud with iCloud so the shortcuts will work
across your synced iOS devices and Macs. The data are encrypted on
Apple’s servers; however, if this still worries you, refrain from
creating shortcuts for highly personal information.
On Your Android Phone
On Android, the location of the setting can vary by keyboard, OS version and phone.
Generally,
it can be found in the Android Settings menu. Select Language and input
> Personal dictionary. Tap the “+” in the top right corner and in
the first field type the chunk of text you want a shortcut for. In the
“Shortcut” field, type your trigger phrase. (If you don’t see these
settings, download the Google Keyboard app.) When you type your trigger,
the longer chunk of text will appear above the keyboard to insert.
On Samsung
phones, Samsung’s own keyboard has a similar feature under
Settings> Language and input > Samsung keyboard > Text
shortcuts. Select “Add” in the upper right corner.
If you enabled
data backup on your Android device, Google says it stores the info
encrypted on its servers. Samsung, however, says its phrases are stored
only on the phone.
Write to Joanna Stern at joanna.stern@wsj.com
