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Question about expanders -

Posted: May 13, 2011

I have been doing transcription for about 5 years now. I have never used an expander yet, but I am just wondering about them. I think that if I were to use an expander, I would be way too paranoid about it and it would end up taking longer double checking than if I were to just type the whole sentence or paragraph out myself.

My question is this: What kind of expanders do you use and does it really cut down on the time for each report? Are there any easy little tricks that you use that could start to help me get used to using expanders?

Thanks!

I use Instant Text - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
Expanders are absolutely worth the investment. With IT7, you can expand an entire phrase, paragraph, template and more using just a few keystrokes. You can create bolded headings, launch websites or documents, create Pick Lists, etc. I'm not sure about other expanders but with IT7, you can download a 30-day trial from their website. Just click on Try Now and follow the prompts.

Question about expanders - threedogs

[ In Reply To ..]
Instant Text is the best! Have tried many expanders over the years, and this is the very best. There are so very many things you can do with it to speed up your work! It works with all programs I have used over the last 15 or so years--even mail. Good luck.

Expander Complaints - Typist

[ In Reply To ..]
Generally speaking, an expander program in some form or another is a MUST if you're transcribing.

I have Shorthand 10, which everyone raves about. Frankly I have a complaint.. You can't have complex entries because the abbreviation expands within the code! For example, you can't create two entries, "ch" for chest and "fch" for flail chest. If you do, the latter won't work because as soon as you type the "ch" it will expand to "chest!"

Dictaphone has an expander built into ExText, called ESP, and I love ESP because you can get as creative and complex as you want: the possibilities are endless.

That's very odd... - Does not happen that way for me

[ In Reply To ..]
I too have Shorthand 10; have used it for years.

I'm not sure what you mean by "complex entries." I just added the two entries you describe above, "ch" for chest and "fch" for flail chest, and they each work just fine.

One thing that I make use of (to try and keep myself from using the wrong expansion when there are similar entries) is the pick list. I started doing this when I accidentally used the expansion for "acute respiratory failure" instead of the one for "acute renal failure." Now, "arf" expands into a pick list, and then I choose which of the two I want. Also, my stubborn fingers seem to want to type "pat" instead of either "past" or "part," so that too is a pick list.

very odd, has never happened for me in over 10 years - hmmm

[ In Reply To ..]
unless I am in a particular program that "hides" the first character from Shorthand. Microsoft Excel is a program that does this. I have to be very careful when using SH in that program, but since I am only creating a list it isn't much of a problem.

I would think it is more an issue for the program, not Shorthand. You can do a search for Shorthand fixes to see if this has been discussed elsewhere. I will occasionally need a fix after a software upgrade and usually find what I need by doing a Google search.

my Shorthand 10 does not do that. I think you should get support on that - yours must have a glitch.sm

[ In Reply To ..]

I just tested that out on mine and I have no problem.

You need to contact them on their site. I had a problem with smarttype at one point and I emailed them - they sent me a patch to install and fixed it.

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