Task bar icon

If the start bar icon is not visible, first check whether PhraseExpress has been started at all. Then check if Windows has hidden the start bar icon in a submenu that you can open with a small triangle:

The tray icon is your main hub for PhraseExpress:

The program window

The PhraseExpress main program window is the place to edit and manage your phrases:

The left window pane shows all phrases of one or multiple loaded phrase files/databases.

Select a phrase or folder in the left tree view to edit its properties in the right window pane.

The root items in the first tree level represent the data source (phrase file or database) and their current state. Some of the root level items, such as the clipboard history, last used phrases folder or the autocomplete folders are system folders, that are managed by PhraseExpress.

Display options

The main program window can show your phrases in either a two and alternatively a three columns display mode which can be selected in the View menu or by pressing CTRL-2 / CTRL-3.

The classic Two columns view shows your phrases within the tree structure as you can see above.

Benefits:

• Easy to browse through the library. Everything is one place.
• Most compact user interface.

Collapse/expand folders with the program hotkeys for easy navigation in the tree.

The alternative three column view visually separates the folders from their content:

The first column shows the folder structure without content. The second column shows the contents of the folder currently selected in the first column:

Benefits:

• Easier navigation in large folder structures as no content occupies any space in the tree.
• The middle column can show additional phrase configuration details in customizable sub-columns.

Right-click a column header to add/remove columns.

Click a column header to sort phrases and to toggle sort direction.

Sorting is only visible in the editor. To sort & rearrange phrases in a folder permanently, right-click the folder and select any of the sort options in the context menu.

If using PhraseExpress with a SQL Server, additional columns "number of uses" and "last used" are available.

To show all phrases of a folder including any subfolder, enable View » Flat List

If you select a root element in the tree, the middle column lists all phrases of the entire phrase source you can sort by size, date, usage, etc.

The view options only change the presentation of contents in the program but not the actual structure the phrases are saved in the phrase file/database.

You can't create phrases in flat list view.

Show phrases in tabs

Video tutorial

PhraseExpress can show phrases in tabs allowing you to instantly switch between them.

To open a phrase in a tab, select one or more phrases, and right-click any of the selected phrases and select "Open in tab":

Phrase menu

The phrase menu provides instant access to your phrases:

To open the phrase menu:

• Left-click the PhraseExpress task bar icon to show all phrases, beginning from the root level.
• Press the customizable phrase menu hotkey ALT+SPACE.
• Press the hotkey or enter the autotext, assigned to a phrase folder or multiple phrases.
• If Autocomplete is enabled, start typing a frequently used word/sentence.

To discard the menu, press ESC or click anywhere outside the phrase menu.

Items, that are configured to be hidden, restricted to specific programs or users may not be visible in the phrase menu.

To find an item in the phrase menu:

• Without any additional click, start typing any part of the description to narrow down the menu to items matching our text input.
• Use the Arrow-Down/Up keys to select the next/previous item.
• Press Page-Up/Down or the mouse scroll wheel to scroll through the menu in larger steps.
• Press Home- or End to jump to the very first or very last item.
• Press Arrow-Right-key to jump to and open the first subfolder. To return to the parent level, press Arrow-Left.

A tiny black triangle in the top/bottom right of the phrase menu indicates, if the menu is too small to fit all items into the menu window. Scroll up/down to reach contents outside the viewport.

To resize the phrase menu, pull its borders to the desired height and width.

To position the phrase menu to a static position, drag it by its window title. To revert to dynamic positioning, drag the menu again and select "No" the confirmation dialog.

To insert the selected phrase:

• Click the phrase.
• Press the customizable confirmation hotkey TAB.
• Press the optional "quick key" to directly select and execute a phrase, e.g. Num1+Num9.
• To insert a formatted phrase without formatting. SHIFT-click the phrase.
• CTRL-click a phrase to copy its content into to the clipboard (vs. pasting it into the target application). This helps to insert a phrase in case of application focus problems.

Content-sensitive options:

Right-click any phrase or folder for additional options depending on the content:

• Insert text with or without formatting.
• Fill the clipboard with the selected text.
• Create a new email to the email address contained in the phrase.
• Open web browser if the phrase contains any URL.
• Open folder in Windows Explorer if the items contains any file path.

Desktop menus

Phrase menus can be pinned onto the desktop to prevent them from disappearing after selecting a phrase:

Click the pin symbol in the top right of any phrase menu to keep the phrase menu on visible the desktop.

Double-click the title bar to expand/collapse desktop menus. To resize a desktop menu, click & drag the edges.

Desktop menus can show/hide automatically together with specific programs.

Example:

A desktop menu may contain various bank account information and can optionally be displayed only, if you open a specific banking website or banking software. It automatically hides if you switch to another program. Program restricted desktop menus appear as they would be attached to specific programs and virtually become part of them.

To restrict a desktop menu to particular programs, right-click any desktop menu item or its title bar and select "Restrict to specific programs".