http://www.asutype.com/

WHAT'S IT DO?

As-U-Type is a real-time spell checked and text expander that works with all Windows programs. It detects and corrects spelling errors, memorizes mistakes for later review, expands any short sequence of text into a long text string, and provides boilerplate text with expandable and customizable dictionaries.


DOES IT DO WHAT IT PROMISES?

Reviewer 1. This simple program works as described.

Reviewer 2. Yes.

Reviewer 3. Well, pretty much, but it seems to get in the way in odd ways as well.


WAS IT EASY TO INSTALL?

Reviewer 1. Installation was simple and presented no problems on my Windows XP Pro system. The help file is easily accessible and uncomplicated.

Reviewer 2. Yes.

Reviewer 3. Yes, very straightforward.


GOOD POINTS?

Reviewer 1. One of the best features is the "text shortcuts". This is especially convenient where log ins to Web sites are required. The "Automatic Spell Checking" feature is much better than ones I've used in Word. As I'm typing, it pops up a text box with suggested corrections (interactive mode) and there is an option to do this unattended (automatically). A click on the Enter key makes the correction if there is only one choice; or, if there are several possibilities, choose the number of the correct one and double-click on it.

Reviewer 2. It works with all programs, not just Microsoft. It worked in Mozilla email and Web site forms, and it is transparent as it corrects typing as you go along.

Reviewer 3. For programs that do not offer a spell-checking option, it is great, albeit a bit intrusive on the work-in-progress. Many Websites offer a feedback form rather than an email link and I've never found one that offered a spell check with it (is that not possible with any of the HTML variants?) I used to open MS Word and type my message there, then cut and paste it into the browser. That was very cumbersome but I was able to hide my miserable typing/spelling skills. As-U-Type allows me to type directly into the window and not appear to be the mediocre speller than I am.


WEAK POINTS?

Reviewer 1. The only glitch I found was the identification of the letter "I". The program beeps, indicating an error. I have added "I" to the dictionary and to the corrections list which worked one time, but it recurs the next time I type the letter.

Reviewer 2. Once I forgot As-U-Type was on and tried to type "gid", a file extension, in Google, and I kept seeing it changed to "did". When I realized this was caused by As-U-Type, I clicked once on its logo in the system tray to turn it off and proceed with the search. I wish there was a quick and easy way by right-clicking rather than a keyboard shortcut to tell it that it's an acceptable word and leave it alone, rather than having to temporarily turn it off and back on.

Reviewer 3. Adding words to the dictionary is a pain. It involves stopping what you're doing and calling up the program, going to the dictionary, typing the word, then pressing the "add" button. In various MS products, you need only right-click on the underlined word and selecting "add" - that is much easier and much less intrusive. After all, the point is getting your typing done, not programming the tool that is supposed to be helping you do that. I mentioned this to the authors and they suggested a 'work-around' feature in the tool. I'm including the entire message from them.:

"There is a hot key that can help you to do that a bit easier. Please click the "Options | Keyboard Shortcuts" from the main window and check the "Add an entry into a spelling dictionary" item in the "Other keyboard shortcuts" list. Then set a hot key for the action, for example Ctrl+Shift+A, and click "OK" to close all dialog boxes.

"From now on, if you want to add a word into As-U-Type's dictionary, just select the word, copy it into the clipboard and press the above hot key. The Spelling Dictionary dialog box will be brought up and you can click "OK" button to add the word into it.

"This hot key may not do exactly the job in the one-click manner as you suggested but it may help cut off several mouse clicks when adding a word to the software."

Another thing that I've found annoying, I'm reporting as a bug but it is worth mentioning here. In the above paragraph I originally typed the word 'select' then later I though 'selecting' was better grammatically so I added the 'ing'; the tool told me that 'ing' was a spelling error and left just those letters underlined in red. There was no understanding that there was a complete word involved. This was the response from the same source from As-U-Type:

"Yes, you're right. Unfortunately that is a limitation of As-U-Type. The software works by continuously watching your typing and keeping all entered characters in a string called "input string". All spell check and corrections are made based on this input string. It can keep track of your typing and update the input string correctly if you type continuously, and if you go back by the backspace key.

"If you go back by any arrow key or by your mouse, the software has no way to guess where your caret should be and therefore it has to reset its input string. For example, pressing the left arrow key may put your caret back one character in an application but one word in the others (the behavior is not standardized and therefore is totally dependant on the designers of the particular application).

"That's why if you detect a mistake and go back by your arrow key or by mouse, As-U-Type cannot detect the addition typing as a part of exited word, unless you delete the word and retype it completely. I'm sorry about it, but this limitation is common for almost all global keyboard utilities including As-U-Type.

"Knowing this limitation may help prevent false alarms when editing existed words."

I didn't find this answer very satisfying myself, I think that the software should simply use common word delimiters (space, hyphen, slash, etc.) to constantly monitor word boundaries and told them so in a reply. I haven't heard back from that comment (as of the time this report was submitted for posting to the review site)


OTHER COMMENTS?

Reviewer 1: As-U-Type is the first alternative spell checker I have found that works with the Calypso/Courier email program automatically

Reviewer 2: I could install and run it without reading instructions, although reading instructions is recommended for figuring out the options.

Reviewer 3: As-U-Type needs to integrate a 'right-click' menu for several of its functions. Adding words to the dictionary and clearing underlines are two of the obvious ones. A utility like this needs to 'live' in the background and smoothly do its job without breaking a person's chain of thought by forcing attention on it. The obvious example of what I mean is how MS Word performs its spell checking. It allows a user to type and get his work out unobstructed, but leaves tracks (underlines) that you can go back over at your convenience and correct. This tool forces a person to deal with their misspellings "on the spot" and I personally find that very distracting, making the primary job that much harder.

Version 2.2 was made available to our reviewers near the end of the evaluation period. They did not have time to test and provide detailed comments regarding its performance; however, Reviewer 3 commented: This version is worse than the last. At least with the last, as intrusive as it was, when it popped up with a mistake and a suggestion, all you had to do was choose the right correction. Now, I can't get it to make the correction at all! I try pressing the number of the selection, scrolling up and down the list, and pressing return - nothing gets the corrected word into the document.

AsUType.Com responded:

Unfortunately your reviewer's opinion …is the only negative opinion from more than 800 "official" opinions we received so far from our beta testers and a few end-users who bothered sending their feedback …. As-U-Type has several options … when (correcting) … a mistake: either

* fully automatically (the software guesses at a fix and correct the mistake automatically); or * interactively (the software stops .. typing, shows some choices and lets … (the user) … choose or not choose one), or * manually (the software red underlines the mistake to let … (the user) … spot it and correct it himself/herself).

Each mode has its own advantages and disadvantages. Obviously, the interactive correction mode is the most intrusive and s/he should choose either the automatic mode or the manual mode then, if s/he doesn't want to be interrupted while typing.

I would like also to take this chance to point out that, unlike all built-in spell checkers that come along with several applications (they work only in the very application they come with), As-U-Type is a generic spell checker that works with *all* applications. And because of its generic nature, it has both advantages and disadvantages as well, comparing with the built-in counterparts.

A few advantages are:

* It works everywhere including where the built-in spell checkers can't access, such as in dialog boxes, data entry forms etc. And, of course, it works in all applications that doesn't have spell checker capability such as NotePad, WordPad, Internet Browsers etc.

* It works in the same way, same interface everywhere. If you add a new word to it, just add it in a single place via a single interface and it will become valid system-wide. (On the other hand, you have to add the same word several times to different built-in spell checkers in each application you work with).

A few disadvantages are:

* It cannot support all features that are supported by the built-in spellcheckers. For example, a right click suggestion: when you spot a mistake, you right click at the mistake to see all suggestions and choose or not choose one to correct the mistake. It sounds easy for the built-in spell checkers, but impossible (at least until now) for all generic spell checkers, because the generic spell checkers have no idea which word on the screen you point your mouse to (it comes from another application not developed by the same author of the generic spell checkers.).

As many other generic spell checkers, As-U-Type has some "natural" limitations. But it's working towards perfection and in this genre of generic spell checkers, As-U-Type is the only software which provides so many features that the others don't have, e.g. global mistakes underlining, automatic correction, even the interactive correction, mistake logging and recognition of commonly made mistakes, etc.


WILL YOU CONTINUE USING IT?

Reviewer 1: Most definitely.

Reviewer 2: Occasionally. I think I type too many words that aren't dictionary words.

Reviewer 3: I will most likely call it up in special circumstances (comment windows in web pages, for example) that have no spell check options, but will not add it to my startup folder, at least not until it become much less intrusive and easier to enhance. It is nice to have around, but needs to mature a little to be ready for "prime-time."

Download a free evaluation version of As-You-Type

Back