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              TipBITS: Bring macOS Text Replacements Back to Life

   Adam Engst

   Although [1]TextExpanderis an excellent choice for those who require
   numerous text replacements, especially complex ones, Apple's built-in
   text replacement system is all that many people need for a handful of
   replacements. It also syncs across all your devices using iCloud Drive,
   allowing you to use the same expansions on your[2]iPhone,[3]iPad,
   and[4]Mac.

   I regularly use eml and ace@ to expand to my email address'the former
   is easier to type on the iPhone without switching keyboards, while the
   latter catches my fast reflex typing on the Mac. Similarly, 607-
   expands to my phone number and 50hick to my postal address. Although I
   prefer using Control-period to invoke a Keyboard Maestro macro to type
   'cheers'¦ -Adam' on my Mac, the sig and Sig (to manage automatic
   capitalization) text replacements take over that task on the iPhone.
   I've also started using Slack-style replacements like expanding :roll
   to ð for the several emoji I employ regularly.

   You can imagine my frustration when those text replacements fail to
   work in a specific Mac app, as happened recently. Since they expanded
   properly in nearly all apps, it took me some time to realize they
   weren't working in one app and even longer to stop typing the expansion
   manually and start troubleshooting. Once I finally did, everything
   looked correct in System Settings > Keyboard > Text Replacements'there
   is no exclusion list'and I was able to eliminate Keyboard Maestro from
   the equation.

   The solution turned out to be remarkably simple. However, the fact that
   it took me more than a few minutes to discover suggests that others may
   be equally forgetful. I hadn't recalled that every app that supports
   text replacements should have an Edit > Substitutions > Text
   Replacements menu item. Like other toggle menu items in macOS, it
   switches between checked (active) and unchecked (inactive) states.
   Since toggle items visibly change only with the presence or absence of
   a checkmark, it's easy to overlook when this setting has been
   deactivated. Choose it to add the checkmark, and text replacements will
   start working again. If text replacements aren't working despite that
   menu item being checked, toggling the menu item off and back on might
   help.

   How did Edit > Substitutions > Text Replacements get turned off? That's
   what I can't figure out. Since I had forgotten the menu item even
   existed, there's no way I could have accidentally turned it off
   manually. Nor have I found a keyboard shortcut that would toggle it
   after an accidental keypress. Others have experienced this, too, and
   even though several have suggested that[5]toggling the option in
   Notescaused it to[6]start working in other apps, I couldn't reproduce
   any connection between Notes and any other apps. It remains a mystery,
   but one with a trivially easy fix.

References

   Visible links
   1. https://textexpander.com/
   2. https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/use-text-replacements-iph6d01d862/ios
   3. https://support.apple.com/guide/ipad/use-text-replacements-ipad997d96b7/18.0/ipados/18.0
   4. https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/replace-text-punctuation-documents-mac-mh35735/mac
   5. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255359649?sortBy=rank
   6. https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/rgtsyc/text_replacement_issue/

   Hidden links:
   7. https://tidbits.com/uploads/2025/02/Text-Replacements-menu.png

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