How To Add Text Replacement Shortcuts On A Mac

In this tutorial, you will learn how you can use the Text Replacement feature on your Mac and enter phrases and text more easily using a shortcut.

We have already shown you how you can add text replacement shortcuts on your iPhone and use them to make typing commonly used phrases more convenient. Many users do not realize that they can take advantage of the same feature on their Mac as well.

Once you have added a text replacement shortcut on your Mac and assigned a shortcut trigger for it, you will be able to enter its corresponding phrase by simply typing the shortcut.

For example, you can add a shortcut to replace ‘hw’ with ‘How are you?’. Then every time you type ‘hw’, you will be able to instantly replace it with the phrase ‘How are you?’.

The text replacements you add on your Mac will be automatically synced to your iOS devices and vice versa over iCloud.

Add Text Replacement Shortcut on macOS

Step 1. To add a text replacement shortcut, open System Settings.

Step 2. From the side pane, click on Keyboard.

Step 3. Next, under Text Input, click on the Text Replacements… button.

Step 4. Click on the ‘+‘ button to add a new Text Replacement.

Step 5. Under the Replace field, type your desired shortcut.

Step 6. Under the With field type, enter the phrase or text you want to enter quickly.

Step 7. Click on the Add button to save the Text Replacement.

Now that the text replacement has been added, you will be able to type the entered phrase by typing the trigger word.

You can quickly delete a Text Replacement by selecting it from the list and clicking on the ‘–‘ button.

Examples of how you can use Text Replacement

Text Replacement makes entering phrases, email addresses, and phone numbers much easier and quicker. This helps in improving your workflow and saves you a lot of time and effort. This feature is one of the hidden gems in Mac’s System Settings that everyone should be using.