TIL of espanso, a cross-platform text expander

If you’re on a Mac, you may be familiar with TextExpander. It’s a small program that allows you to type a shortcut and then automatically replace it with content you previously defined.

You can use it to insert the current date, your address, an email response, or simply expand common abbreviations.

When I was using a Mac for work, I never invested in TextExpander, as I’m using Linux in my personal life. But today I learned there is a similar program called espanso. It’s open source and cross-platform, and worked great on a first try.

If you use multiple computers, like I do, you can synchronise your config and custom abbreviations the way you sync your dotfiles, for example using Git or Dropbox.

✍️