Detailed Feature List

Here you can find a complete list of all feature included in PhraseExpress. The links will transfer you to the corresponding sections of the manual.

Phrase Organizer functions

Text snippets can be created with a single click and organized into a customizable folder structure.
Phrases can be inserted system-wide in any Windows application such as MS Office, Lotus Notes, SAP, Thunderbird, database frontends, Skype, MSN, ICQ, Opera, Firefox, InternetExplorer, etc.
Phrases can be inserted by…
- Selecting the phrase from the task tray menu.
- Popup menu next to the cursor.
- Hotkeys (keyboard shortcuts).
- Autotext (text abbreviations).
- Floating menus (phrase selection menu on the desktop).
Text snippets can include text formatting (HTML-, RTF- and Microsoft Word format) and contain bitmap images (.JPG, .PNG. .BMP und .TIFF).
Unicode support ensures compatibility with e.g. for Asian language character sets.
Phrases can be linked and nested to create text templates for re-use in multiple other phrases (Video demo).
Keystroke simulation including special keys to automate tasks.
Quick access to the last used phrases by a customizable hotkey.

Networking features

Professional Client-/Server architecture with a central server service to share commonly used phrases in a network.
Write collision prevention if multiple users try to edit the phrase library simultaneously.
Users can have personal and common phrases. The Read-/Write access to each phrase folder can be defined based on the user name, workgroup, user group or domain based on the Windows Access Control List settings (ACL).
Roaming profiles assure that every user gets his personal phrases independent on whichever computer the user is logged on.
The network cache provide access to the phrases while the computer is disconnected from the network.
Optional password protection for the connection to the server.
Integrated central license management. No need to activate licenses on the local client installations.
Automatic server IP address detection with customizable TCP/UDP port configuration.
NEW Support for Proxy Servers.
Centralized software update check for all client installations.
Optional accumulated usage statistics for all clients.
NEW Support for Windows 2008 and Citrix/TerminalServer.

Dynamic phrase contents

Phrase contents can be enriched with dynamically created content:

Manual text input can be embedded within a static phrase:
- Optionally single- or multi-line input field.
- Input with optional and customizable default content. This default content itself can be another phrase or dynamic data such as the current or past date with customizable date shift.
- One text input can be re-used in multiple places within the same phrase.
- A dynamically generated input form can collect multiple manual text input and input via checkboxes, drop-down selections and insert them into the boilerplate template (Video demo)
Date-/time stamp
- Customizable time or date output format (e.g. "10/09/09", "Nov 09", "Monday", "23:34", "11:34pm", etc.) (Video demo).
- NEW Date/time math (add or subtract years, months, days, workdays Mo-Fr or Mo-Sa, hours, minutes, seconds from current date and time or any given date).
- Date picker with a calendar dialog window.
- Calculation of the current Calendar Week or Day of the Year.
Unlimited amount of counters with customizable start value and incrementor/decrementor
Windows environment variables
ActiveDirectory LDAP variables
Random number generator (which can also be used to trigger a random phrase).
External text files and bitmaps can be either embedded into the locally phrase data file or dynamically linked either online or offline from your hard disk.
The current Windows clipboard contents can be pasted into any position of a static phrase.

Auto-Complete features

The text suggestion feature analyze your daily text input to offer completing any repetitive phrases which saves you from creating phrases manually:

Optional auto-completion of single words, parts of a sentence or full sentences.
Continuous optimization of the text suggestions based on the user habits.
NEW Existing MS Word documents, plain text files or sent MS Outlook 2003/2007/2010 Emails can be analyzed to train the text suggestion feature. This eliminates any text input training to achieve instant results.
Reciprocal support of the Autotext and text suggestion feature. Autotext can trigger the text prediction feature and vice versa.
The text prediction feature can be limited to certain Windows programs.
Language independent function and individual dictionary for each user.
Automatic exclusion of password input from the dictionary.

Text Replacement features

The same Autotext abbreviation can be re-used for multiple phrases. In such case, a popup menu allows you to select the desired phrase.
Autotexts can be automatically expanded or optionally offered in a popup menu for optional insertion.
Smart detection of unwanted text replacements.
Text case of the phrase can optionally adapt to the case of the Autotext input.
Autotexts can be restricted to certain programs.
NEW Advanced Autotext options can be applied to individual phrases.

Spelling Correction features

The text replacement feature can also be used to replace typos with the correct spelling.

More than 10,000 spelling corrections in 6 six languages available.
NEW Self-learning of individual spelling corrections (Video demo).
Smart detection of unwanted spelling corrections.
Smart spelling correction at the beginning of a word, within a word or at the word ending.
Spelling corrections can be restricted to certain programs.

Clipboard Manager

The Clipboard Cache keeps the history of previous Windows clipboard entries for quick access.

Optionally strips text formatting when inserting clipboard contents.
Optional removal of leading and trailing spaces.
Clipboard entries can easily be integrated into your text snippets collection.

Windows Automation

Phrases can include macro functions to automate repetitive tasks:

Launch programs including definition of parameters and working directory.
Automatic email creation including file attachments. Support for MAPI, Outlook API and mailto.
Open files or websites by hotkeys or Autotext text abbrevations.
Macro functions can be nested and linked.
Application focus change to any Windows program.
Phrases can be triggered based on the current time or date.
Automated change of the current keyboard language scheme.
Simulation of manual keystrokes.
Advanced string operations (trim strings, count chars, extract sub-string, etc.).
Simulation of mouse movement and mouse clicks.
Calculation of math formulas.
Messagebox output with customizable buttons (Yes, No, OK, Cancel).
Automated generation of phrases.
The cursor can be custom positioned within the boilerplate template after insertion.

Text Snippets Editing features

The phrase contents can be edited with powerful batch editing features:

NEW Phrases can be sorted alphabetically or text length-wise.
NEW Advanced input editor for nested macro functions.
NEW Syntax highlighting and clickable macro functions.
NEW Settings can be applied to multiple selected text snippets.
NEW Microsoft Word Editor integration
QuickSearch function. Results can be displayed within the phrase tree structure or in a flat list.
Multi-line Search & Replace function.
Phrases can be scanned for duplicates, which are then combined to a single phrase.
Custom text can be added to the beginning or at the end of phrase contents in batch.
Text can be removed from the beginning or end of phrase contents in batch.
Automatic removal of leading/trailing spaces of phrase or Autotexts.
Automatic Autotext generation based on the phrase contents.

Additional features

NEW RapidType Engine™ prevents swallowing of characters during fast text input.
NEW Determination of actual user's typing speed.
The usage statistics can calculate the return-on-investment of PhraseExpress.
Calculation of mathematical expressions during normal text input (Video demo).
Optional deactivation of the caps lock key to prevent accidental engagement.
Automatic check for software updates.
Configurable user interface:
- Separate Expert Mode for advanced users.
- Optional display of hotkey Autotext associations in the phrase selection popup menu.
- Separator lines help to visually structure phrases.
- Phrase folder can be excluded from being displayed in the popup menu.
Unparalleled support for all target applications by automatic selection of the suitable phrase insertion method either via simulation of individual keystrokes or pasting using the Windows clipboard. PhraseExpress supports the paste methods VK packet, SendKey and WM_Char.
Optional Windows clipboard buffer to retrieve any previous clipboard contents when pasting phrases using the clipboard.
Customizable phrase paste speed if using the key-by-key insertion method with optional random variation to simulate human text input (suitable for demonstration purposes).

Support for USB devices

Automatic detection if PhraseExpress runs from a USB memory device.
In USB mode, PhraseExpress does not store any data on the guest computer. All data is solely kept on the USB stick.

Embedding of external data

NEW Import of MS Office 2003/2007/2010 AutoCorrect and Autotext entries.
NEW Analysis of MS Word documents, plain text files and sent Outlook Emails to train the text suggestion feature.
NEW MS Word documents and plain text files can be read line-by-line and thus used to create separate text phrases (Video demo).
NEW External MS Word documents, plain text and bitmap files can be dynamically linked into text snippets.
Data import from XML files, AutoHotkey, TextExpander, Texter, GhostTyper, Shorthand, InstantText, InstantType and Autotext Typing Assistant.
Import feature optionally filters duplicate items.

Ease-of-use

NEW Situation dependent assistents and step-by-step wizards
NEW Drag & Drop support all over the user interface.
Automatically user interface font size adaption to the Windows settings to improve readibility for handicapped persons.
Text snippets can be added to PhraseExpress with a single keystroke.
Separate Easy- and Expert mode, which provides suitable options for Beginners vs. Experts.
"Liquid Design" only shows relevant options and adapts the amount of information depending on the current program window's size.
Automatic recognition of text formatting or URLs when storing a new phrase.
Windows Explorer context menu integration for quick access of PhraseExpress relevant features in the Explorer.
Many commands can be assigned to hotkeys for quick access.
Comfortable navigation through the phrase selection menu.
Optional removal of critical user interface commands to prevent operating errors and to minimize user training efforts.
Intelligent use of the secondary mouse button in PhraseExpress.
Extremly resource-friendly (The installation file is just about 2.5 MB).
No third-party components such as .NET or JAVA required to avoid security implications and to minimize memory consumption.

Data Security

We invested major efforts and use industry-leading mechanisms to protect your personal data:

All PhraseExpress related program and installation files are digitally signed, assuring program integrity and the source of origin.
The phrase file and all network communication to the PhraseExpress Server is securely AES encrypted.
The XML phrase file structure is scanned for integrity when being loaded.
File saving is secured by creating a shadow copy before saving the final phrase file to prevent data loss in case of fatal shut-down.
PhraseExpress automatically keeps a backup file of the last changes.
The PhraseExpress Server even keeps of up to 99 backup copies ("rolling backup").
The PhraseExpress client authorization can optionally be password protected.

Features