Save text you type often to reuse later

What you need: Autotext; All Windows versions (XP to 10) Time required: 25 minutes

There are a number of free programs that let you save items of text you have to type frequently (such as your address or phone number) so you can paste them whenever you need them. Autotext is one of our favourites because it offers some unique ‘autocomplete’ features. Once you’ve saved your text, you simply type its first three letters, and the program will display the entire ire entry, which you can insert with one click, saving you time and effort.

STEP 1

To download Autotext, go to www.snipca. com/28218, scroll down a little and click the red ‘Autotext.zip’ link on the left. Open the downloaded file – if you use Windows XP, 7 or 8.1, you’ll need a file-compression program for this (we recommend Peazip - www.peazip.org). Windows 10 users can simply double-click the downloaded file, click the ‘Extract all’ button, click Extract, then open the Autotext file 1 to load the program. If you see Windows Defender’s Smartscreen warning 2 , click the ‘More info’ link, then click ‘Run anyway’ 3 to open the program (it’s completely safe).

STEP 2

The program’s icon sits in your PC’S system tray 1 . If you can’t see it there, click the ‘Show hidden icons’ button 2 , then click and drag the icon to your system tray. Click the icon to open a pop-up menu with various options. Autotext has two main sections. The first provides access to the text items you’ve saved (such as your address, phone number and so on) to reuse in any program 3 . The other section automatically saves everything you copy to the clipboard 4 so you can paste it whenever you want.

STEP 3

First we’ll show you how to save text to the program. Open the folder that contains the program’s setup file (you’ll find this in your Downloads folder) 1 . Next, create a new Notepad file containing all the pieces of text you want to save. To do this, right-click any blank area inside this folder, move your cursor to New 2 , then click Text Document 3 .

STEP 4

Give your Notepad file a name (we called ours Personal 1 ). Double-click to open this file, then type all the details you want to save, using a separate line for each item 2 . When you’ve finished, close the Notepad file 3 , then click Save 4 to confirm your changes. You can repeat this step to create other Notepad files (for your passport details or driving licence, say). Next you need to add these Notepad files to Autotext, so click the icon in your system tray to open it, then click Settings.

STEP 5

Click inside the Datafile 2 field 1 and enter the name of the first Notepad file you created in Step 4, followed by .txt (the file extension for Notepad files). If you created any other Notepad files, click inside the Datafile fields below and repeat the process to add them. Next, tick ‘Start automatically at Windows startup’ 2 , change the Mode dropdown menu to A 3 , set the number of characters to 3 4 and ensure the field below is blank 5 . Finally, click in the ‘Show popup menu’ field and press the keyboard shortcut you want to use to launch Autotext, 6 , then click OK to confirm your changes.

STEP 6

Now whenever you want to insert any of the lines you saved in your Notepad files in Step 4, click inside the relevant field in the program or website and press the keyboard shortcut you created (in Step 5) to open Autotext. Select the Notepad file containing the text you want to add (‘Personal.txt’, for example), then type the first three letters of the line you want 1 . You’ll see a pop-up menu displaying the entire line 2 . Press 1 3 to paste that line into your text field.

STEP 7

The program also has a built-it clipboard manager that saves any text you copy. To see it, open Autotext in your system tray 1 , then click ‘Edit: Clipboard’ 2 . Every piece of text you have copied appears on a separate line 3 . Select the text you want to use, then copy and paste it. Click the ‘Help - About’ button 4 to find out about the program’s other features. ●