ShortKeys 2 on the WinTools Web site

What's it do?

ShortKeys is a utility that allows you to set up replacement text or paragraphs for any given number of user-defined keystrokes. ShortKeys monitors the keyboard activity on a global nature and anytime a user defined keystroke combination is typed in, it will be replaced with the replacement text.



Does it do what it promises?

Reviewer 1. Yes, the program is well-described on the Web site.

Reviewer 2. Yes.

Reviewer 3. Absolutely.



Was it easy to install?

Reviewer 1. Yes. The authors have considered the variety of situations that people are in. For example, not only can it be configured to install on a single machine, but also on a network from the server. I like to choose where I install software, and where the data files are to be located. ShortKeys allowed me to do both, without a hitch.

Reviewer 2. Yes.

Reviewer 3. No problems were encountered during the installation.



Good points?

Reviewer 1. As in the setup procedure, the authors have built a considerable amount of flexibility into the program. For example, you can create as many ShortKey files as you wish, each one containing a different set of macros. A teacher, for example, could create one file for mathematics, another for history, and a third for staff meeting minutes. Many other options are built into the program that expand its usefulness and power. There are various ways that the user can trigger a replacement text, and even a number of interesting options within a particular set. There is a Spell Checker (with both British and American spellings), Find Features, Date and Time insertion, Capitalization choices, Import and Export, to name a few.

Reviewer 2. As a newsletter editor and writer, I get overwhelmed with emails responding to questions and surveys. I make it a point to respond to each one and ShortKeys saved me from carpal tunnel and spending more time than I have on responding. I love this program as it works with everything. From time to time, I get the same questions asked and ShortKeys eased my patience as I didn't have to repeatedly type the same answers.

Reviewer 3. The ability to set up multiple keys and thus multiple text replacement entries. The text can be sent directly to the document or to the clipboard instead. Since it is monitored globally, it can be used in any application. Keys can have assigned suffixes to provide different forms of words; for example, typing "lv" can bring up the word "love", while typing "lvb" can bring up the word "lovable". Ability to spell check the replacement text inside of ShortKeys.



Weak points?

Reviewer 1. Once a user knows how to use ShortKeys, he would not want the Editor to remain visible. So, the program obligingly sends itself into the System tray as soon as you click the mouse anywhere outside of the ShortKeys Editor Window. This is an excellent feature; however, the same thing happens when you are using the ShortKeys Tutorial, Quick Start Guide, and/or the Help. This could be very frustrating to a new user who wants to be able to look at the Editor and the Help. There should be an obvious way to access a "stay-on-top" function, e.g., in the right-click menu. Otherwise, until you stumble across the "Do Not Hide" in the "Activation" preference later on, you have to repeatedly keep going down to the System Tray to bring up the Editor.

Reviewer 2. It took me a few uses before I realized that I could use a prefix when I wanted ShortKeys to get to work. If I made a ShortKey called "arc" and typed "archive" or "Marc", ShortKeys dutifully responded and printed the content I have for "arc". Turning on a prefix key tells ShortKey that it doesn't take action unless I enter the selected prefix key (I use the semi-colon), so nothing happened unless I typed ";arc". Since I rarely use semi-colons followed by words, it worked great. At first, I thought it should have a trigger where I could click its system tray icon once to turn it on/off (instead of a right-click), but that is slower than using a prefix key. I use a lot of shortcuts on the keyboard and often have the CTRL key pressed, and then press the up arrow to go up. Instead, that would bring up the ShortKeys menu. You can get around this by changing the preference.

Reviewer 3. None that I encountered during my testing.



Other comments.

Reviewer 1. I decided to test this program more out of curiosity than out of a badly-felt need. But as I explored ShortKeys' nooks and crannies, it began to become much more interesting. There is a Quick-Start Help file, but it is a better idea to run through the Tutorial when you are starting to use the program. It only takes a few minutes, but you will find yourself creating a number of useful short keys that you would have taken longer to discover otherwise. There are surprising little extras incorporated into ShortKeys which suggest that the developers listened to their clients and incorporated their suggestions into the program. There is a free "Lite" version as well as this inexpensive, fun, and very useful utility.

Reviewer 2. If you have a trial version of ShortKeys, uninstall it before installing the registered version so you don't have two directories. Also, be sure to save your shortcut someplace safe so you can import it into ShortKeys.

Reviewer 3. I liked this application a lot. In my daily work, I am tasked with writing documentation, and I have used ShortKeys quite effectively there. Several recent documents I had to write used the same installation steps for a piece of software. In the past, I would have to write that step in the first document; then, when composing the second I would open the original and copy/paste the relevant steps into the new document. With ShortKeys, I was able to write it once, and then simply type its key in each document where the step was used, and it was inserted automatically. This will be a wonderful timesaver for me.



Will you continue to use it?

Reviewer 1. Yes, definitely.

Reviewer 2. Yes.

Reviewer 3. Absolutely.

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