A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

Text expander Smartype compatibility - starstruck

Posted: Jan 09, 2011

I love Smartype, but a real fear is that at some point I will have to upgrade from XP--and Smartype is not compatible with the new versions of Windows. Does anyone know if there's any way to accommodate the Smartype shortcuts with a new platform/expander?

Instant Text can import your Smartype entries and you won't skip a beat. - n/m

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x

Shorthand does and I think Instant Text does too - ICManiac

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I just checked my Shorthand conversion function and it will not directly convert Smartype, but I know it is easy to do from the Smartype file because I did it some years ago. I continue to use my Smartype on my XP machine and use Shorthand on my Vista machine. They both have identical abbreviations.

Here is how to do it (this doesn't work for the large SmartBlocks, you have to do those manually with cut/paste):

Save a copy of your Smartype abbreviation files as a .txt file. Open it in NotePad. Use find and replace to force all the converted doubled or tripled spaces between entries to become a hard return. This way, they all line up on the left margin. Save the file. Open Shorthand and select Run File Converter and chose the file you just saved. All you abbreviations are now available in Shorthand.

I also saved the regular Smartype file as a text file so I can do search and find when I want to verify the spelling of a word. Ex: I can enter 'plasty' at the beginning of the Rs and will find all words with 'plasty' when I need to verify what a doctor is saying. Very useful for ESL and fast dictators.

Hopefully someone will post about other text expanders.

I feel incredibly relieved - starstruck

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Seriously, I have actually dreamed that I had a new computer and it wouldn't function with Smartype (yeah, my life is that dull), so this information has been really a lifesaver!! If it weren't for using a text expander there is no way I would be able to do this and make any money. Yay for the text expanders and YAY for those tech-savvy MTs who are willing to share with the rest of us!

I think I had that dream too! - ICManiac

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Another MT helped me with the conversion when I needed the help, so I'm glad to help. You can download Shorthand for free to give it a try before you buy it. If you start to do the conversion and have any questions, post on this board and I will email you.

The Instant Text Importer - Marianne

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makes it easy to continue to use your Smartype list: vcb file and Blocks. No need to worry! There is always a solution. Click on the link below to see the Instant Text Importer. You just click on the Smartype file button, select your vcb file and follow the dialog. With a few clicks you convert your list into an Instant Text glossary so you can use all your shortcuts.
You can download the trial version of Instant Text 7 Pro and see for yourself how it works.

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