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Built-in Text Expansion in OS X Lion

The Mac has text expansion built into the operating system. Programs like TextExpander and its alternatives are nice, but not strictly necessary.

To enable text expansion, go to:

System Preferences
- Language & Text
- Text

There you will find a list of shortcuts and the text they expand into.

The text in the left column will be replaced with the text in the right column when you follow it with something that signals the end of a word.

If you have ,i set up to mean google.com/search?tbm=isch&q= (Google image search), you can activate the shortcut by typing ,i(space) or ,i. for example.

Note: text expansion does not work in Terminal.

Although this technique is useful anywhere you find yourself typing repetitively, it is particularly useful for adding customized searches to Safari.

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