Some applications also enable Secure Input at other times, which is appropriate as long as they turn Secure Input off once it is no longer required. Secure Input is generally enabled when you type into a password field. This way, Secure Input ensures that no malicious key-logging software or “spy-ware” will be able to see your sensitive data. With Secure Input enabled, all typing is passed directly to the active application-no other applications can observe your typing. This observation of your typing is called key logging, and it is how TextExpander knows that you have typed an abbreviation that should be expanded into its snippet.Īny application can prevent key logging by enabling Secure Input. Applications such as TextExpander can register to see characters that you type, and even modify them, before the active application receives them. There, they will appear on the screen as parts of words, or they might be treated as commands, or they’ll be handled some other way. How Secure Input Can Cause a ProblemĪs you type characters on your keyboard, they pass through parts of OS X and are usually handed to the active application. In such cases, TextExpander will stop functioning until Secure Input is disabled. But sometimes Secure Input will stay enabled even after you are finished typing sensitive information. Secure Input is usually turned off as soon as you leave the password field or sensitive information area. Normally, Secure Input is a good thing you wouldn’t want TextExpander or any other applications to see your passwords. But when you are typing a password or entering other sensitive information, a feature called Secure Input ensures that TextExpander-along with other applications-can’t see what you’re typing. TextExpander expands snippets in response to what you type. If that doesn’t sort it, please read on… How TextExpander Works (We’ve filed bugs with Apple and the Chromium project on the topic.) This happens to us all the time with our online accounting software. If a website requests a password while Chrome is in the background, that can lead to incorrect reporting of the app which has enabled secure input. While Apple’s Replace With doesn’t allow the more powerful options of an app like TextExpander, it is a nice, free alternative for simpler expansions.TextExpander and Secure Input TL DR (too long, don’t read)įirst, quit and re-launch Chrome. For example, I have a shortcut for inactive support tickets: wfc expands to Waiting for client response. Enter your abbreviation in the lefthand Replace list, and what it expands to in the righthand With list. Apple refers to this as the Replace With list. Open System Preferences > Keyboard > Text and you’ll see a list on the left showing some built-in shortcuts. There are many ways you could use this software to have a more efficient and streamlined experience on your Mac.Īpple has also included some text expansion features right inside the operating system. You can have styled text, insert images, or run AppleScript scripts. It allows you to create many different and sophisticated abbreviations. There are some great utilities available, like TextExpander. You could use the abbreviation tfyo that could expand to “Thanks for your order!” Or you may have boilerplate text for a business, like thank yous. For example, you may create an abbreviation like em1, which could fill in your email when typed. Text expansion is a method of assigning abbreviations for things like often used phrases. If you find yourself typing the same things over and over again, there is a way to give your fingers a break.
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