assign strings (words) to keys?

[nalugu]

it is possible that I suffer from some kind of temporary conceptual block - but - is it possible to assign a string of characters to a single key (combination of keys), and how is that done? I need, say, to have a keystroke "alt-cmd-m", to produce the whole string, say, "mutual exclusive unintentionally occurring logical bruhaha".
Searched the forums, but "assign string to key" did not give any results.
Is this to be done in mellel or in OSX itself?
should be an easy thing,no, like in Word?
help?

[rpcameron]

This is not supported directly through Mellel. However, there are several tools that can do this for you:

• TypeIt4Me – $27, 30 day trial
• Typinator – €19.99
• TextExpander – $29.95
• SpellCatcher X – Lite version $29.95, Full version $39.95, 14 day trial

I believe that all applications are fully compatible with Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6). Typinator and TextExpander both offer trial versions as well, but the periods are not indicated on their web site. I hope this helps.

OS X does support some form of system-wide text auto-complete in 10.6, but I do not believe it is compatible with Mellel. (I haven't tested this yet, as I do not use this type of feature. Perhaps someone running Snow Leopard can chime in with their experience. I just ran a quick test of it, and it does not seem to work because of Mellel's text control.)

[miles11]

I second Spell CatcherX. It not only has the text expansion capability but includes loads of other features useful to writers.

Copy Paste Pro has multiple clipboards and with it you can create "clip archives" that hold anything you want to save for later use. You can name the archives and assign keyboard shortcuts to each saved item. There is a demo of both programs available, just use the search at versiontracker.com and they'll come up.


I also have an old license for TypeIt4Me but it was basically a one-trick-pony so I dumped it long ago.

[nalugu]

Thanks a lot, rpcameron and miles11.
So it seems I've been led astray by years of using Word on a PC - I just supposed that this is a basic system feature.
I've looked into the applications you proposed. I've installed a test version of typeIt4Me, and, right, it does the job! Now, would be interesting to see if the new functionality of Snow Leopard is of any use here. I'm running 10.6 already, but did not find this feature yet (maybe looking in the wrong place). I'll save this for a later try, and use one of the utilities for the time being. Thanks once more for providing elucidation on the subject!

[rpcameron]

Now, would be interesting to see if the new functionality of Snow Leopard is of any use here. I'm running 10.6 already, but did not find this feature yet (maybe looking in the wrong place).

Under 10.6 the settings are in System Preferences > Language & Text > Text > Symbol and Text Substitution. However, I did already look into this, and the OS X system–wide "Symbol and Text Substitution" will not work with Mellel.

(The reason for this is a bit technical, but roughly it is because Mellel implements its own text system and does not rely on OS X to render its text and fonts. While this means that you do not get the text substitution introduced in 10.6, or the dictionary panel introduced with 10.5, you do get far superior OpenType support and font rendering.)

[nalugu]

OK. I found the feature in preferences now. Even if it doesn't work with mellel, it's useful to know that it exists. Can come in handy one day.