Switching · All apps
Switch from macOS Text Replacements
If you’ve set up text replacements in System Settings, Shorthand can take them over. Unlike macOS’s own, Shorthand’s work in every app, with fill-ins, dates, and formatting.
Step by step
1
Drag them out
Open System Settings ▸ Keyboard and click Text Replacements…. Select all of them (⌘A) and drag them to your desktop. macOS makes a file named Text Substitutions.plist.
2
Import it
In Shorthand, choose File ▸ Import Snippets… (⇧⌘I), click Choose File…, and pick that file. They become a group called Text Replacements.
3
Remove the originals (optional)
Back in Text Replacements, delete the ones you imported, so they don’t fire alongside Shorthand. Text replacements can sync through iCloud to your iPhone, so keep any you still want there.
What gets converted
In the other app
In Shorthand
What it does
Replace (shortcut)
Abbreviation
What you type
With (phrase)
Content
What it becomes
Good to know
Text replacements are plain text, so everything comes across exactly.
A % sign in your text stays a percent sign.
Not yet confirmed: Tested with a hand-made Text Substitutions.plist in the documented format, not yet with one dragged from System Settings. If something doesn’t come across, email support@shorthandexpander.com.
Shorthand is a text expander for Mac. Your macOS Text Replacements files stay exactly as they are.