Clever TextExpander clipboard snippet trick
Thursday, March 8th, 2007
The makers of TextExpander, a very clever time- and finger-saving snippet utility, have posted a nice tip 
on the company’s blog.
It explains how to make a “smart snippet” using TextExpander’s %clipboard variable, which is replaced by whatever is currently on the clipboard when the snippet is typed.
The original author of the tip uses it to create Amazon affiliate links for his blog on the fly, but obviously it has wider uses too.
For example, imagine you run a blog that attracts a lot of emails asking how to do this, that or the other thing.
You can quickly run up a snippet like this:
Then, when the emails start to arrive, all you need to do is navigate to the link, copy it to the clipboard and then type the snippet into the reply:
Suddenly more of your life is your own. Clever.
If I sat around here long enough I’m sure I could think of a dozen other applications for this tip, but you might have more fun thinking them up for yourself.
TextExpander costs USD 29.95 and is available from the developer’s web site .
Chronos released an update to its SOHO Notes Information Manager (formerly StickyBrain) over the weekend. 
Users will benefit most from the new clipboard functions in the DockNote. 
Clipboard extenders, which save your recent clipping and copying history, are a great way to boost your productivity and reduce the amount of switching around you need to do from one window to the next.
CuteClips is a small app that stores the last twelve entries in your clipboard.
