Type acp, get the whole paragraph.

Key Expander is a small menu bar app for the Mac. You save a piece of text under a short trigger, and from then on typing that trigger anywhere replaces it with the text you saved.

Type acp then a space

This box behaves the way Key Expander makes every box behave.

This is a demonstration on this page. The Mac app does the same thing in every app you type in.

The Key Expander window on macOS, in dark appearance, on its Test Field tab. Hint text reads 'Type ty then Space here to test your snippets', and under it 'This test area works before granting any permission'. The field holds the words 'approve, commit, and push' with the caret resting after them, and the status line at the foot of the window reads 'Last expansion: 11 sec ago'. — The same thing, in the app. This is Key Expander's own test field a moment after a trigger expanded, and the line at the foot of the window reads: last expansion, 11 seconds ago.

Try it here, in this page.

Not ready to download yet

Key Expander is in development. Leave your email and we will tell you the day it is ready to download.

Occasional updates about Key Expander, and nothing else. One click to unsubscribe, at any time. We explain exactly what we store, and why, in our privacy statement.

The app is in development. There is nothing to download today.

Four keystrokes instead of forty

acp

Thanks for getting in touch. I have picked this up and will come back to you by the end of the day with an answer or with a date for one.

The reply you write twice a day, typed once.

you@example.com

Your own address, spelled correctly every time, including in the boxes that will not autofill.

addr

Flat 2, 14 Rue des Tanneurs, 1000 Brussels, Belgium

The postal address you look up rather than remember.

It works in the apps you already type in: Mail, Slack, the browser, the terminal, the box on somebody else's website. There is nothing to learn beyond picking a trigger and pasting the text.

A trigger on the left, what it becomes on the right.

What it looks like

The Key Expander window on macOS, in dark appearance. A sidebar lists All Snippets, 15 of them, grouped into Everyday, My Shortcuts and Work. The snippet named Approve and Ship is selected, and the editor beside it shows its trigger, acp, its expansion text, "approve, commit, and push", the group it belongs to and a checkbox marking it enabled. — Every snippet you have saved, in one list. The open one shows its trigger, acp, and the text it stands for.

The rest of the time it stays in the menu bar. It tells you it is running, how many snippets are active, and lets you switch expansion off for an hour when you would rather it kept out of the way.

The Key Expander menu bar dropdown on macOS. Expansion: On is ticked, then a Pause for 1 Hour command, then the status lines Ready and Snippets: 15 active, then Open Key Expander and Quit. — The menu, open. Expansion on, fifteen snippets active, and one click to pause for an hour.

The window where you write your snippets, and the menu it lives in.

It stays on your Mac

Key Expander keeps your snippets in a file on your own machine. There is no account to create, nothing is uploaded, and the app works with the network switched off.

It never stores passwords, never keeps a copy of your clipboard, and never records what you type beyond the moment it needs to spot a trigger. Syncing between two Macs is planned, and when it arrives it will be something you choose to turn on rather than something that is already on.

Questions before it ships? Send us a message.

It works with the network switched off.