Templates & TextExpander-Like Tech: Crowdsourced Applications for Work and Personal Life

We all type certain phrases on repeat in our work and personal lives – from short things like our addresses to long things like common email inquiries and responses we send to others.

Tech like email templates and text-expander software allows us to quickly get that typed-out text without having to type it out fully each time.

Let’s dig into the tech itself and then explore some of the crowdsourced ways working professionals use templates and text-expansion tech in their work and personal lives to make writing/work faster, ensure they get all of the details, and, in some cases, ensure responses are equitable across the board.

Here’s a high-level overview of the tech I’m referring to:

• Email Templates: An email template is a whole drafted out email you save to your email system that you can later select and – boom – the whole email text appears in the email you’re drafting.
  • Email platforms like Outlook and Gmail have template options (see more below on Microsoft). Here are instructions for Gmail templates.
• Text-Expansion Software: Text expansion/replacement allows you to type short words or pieces of text and have it expand into more – e.g., type “555” and the text expands into your full address, 555 Meadow Lane, … . This works for short things like that or long ones where full paragraphs appear in its place.
  • The benefits here are:
    • You can add phrases or paragraphs in the middle of an email (versus templates, which are the whole email).
    • Some text expansion tools can be used across apps/sites (e.g., TextExpander lets you use the same functionality in Gmail, text messages, Word docs, etc.)
  • Options are many, and include:
    • TextExpander (a specific software you can purchase and use),
    • Apple’s native text replacement tool (see more below),
    • Microsoft QuickParts (more below),
    • TextBlaze; and more.
• Non-Email Templates: We’re going to wrap up this discussion (below) with non-email templates people use in a variety of contexts.

Before we go on, for those who use Microsoft, here’s a Microsoft primer because it’s a bit confusing

Creating & Using Outlook Templates

• In New Outlook, thought references Old Outlook (see this YouTube video)

Creating & Using Microsoft’s text-expansion for Outlook and Word, QuickParts

• YouTube tutorial re QuickParts in Outlook – Note: A comment says you can type out the name (DEMO in this video) and then hit Tab, and it’ll populate too. Faster than all the clicking and selecting.
• YouTube tutorial re QuickParts in Word (need to save it each time you exit Word)

Email Templates Application Ideas

Okay, regardless of which email platform you use, here are some ideas of email templates you can create and use (this is where it gets fun!).

Work

These were crowdsourced responses on Instagram. For many responses, I copy-and-pasted the responses so that they’re written first-hand by the woman responding.

• Weekly emails you send to your teams or clients (e.g., communication plans)
  • Even if you can’t type out the whole email because things change each week, having an outline for it that pre-populates can be very useful!
• Some onboarding follow-ups (e.g., docs they’ll need, links to meeting recommendations)
• Requests for information/connections/referrals – you could have these if you’re the requester or the frequent responder
• Quickly create a template of info you need when a phone call comes in – e.g., contact info for someone you tend to direct people to, prompts to gather certain information. Not all parts needed for all calls, but saves time and frustration
  • E.g., from someone who oversees study abroad programs at a university: “includes things we almost always need like the insurance contact info, questions we need to ask about incidents, and the contact info for our risk specialist in case I need to loop him in or direct students to him.”
• Real estate: opening escrow, next steps for clients, utility transfer profess
• Teacher: use one for the email I send to parents about missing work and assignments
• Professor: Common student questions (e.g., late assignment, login info, class policies)
• Professor: Uniform and equitable responses to inquiries about joining our graduate program
• Trust & Estates Law: used ChatGPT to generate 30 common client communications and then templated them
• Podcaster: Podcast shownotes templates, outlines
• Speakers: Could use templates for whole process of handling inquiries to bookings to follow up
• Requesting interviews from subject matter experts for research
• Attorney:
  • Bar section member event reminders
  • Court hearing notices and reminders to clients (sorted by judge/type of case)
  • Request for documents to clients
  • CSA pick up emails
  • Emails to schedule call or appointment
  • Networking invite

Personal

• Email to school to inform people kid is sick (could use TextExpander for the group of email addresses, too – see below)

TextExpander-Like Tech

Options:

• TextExpander
• Apple’s Native text-replacement: I don’t think this can replace TextExpander for me because I use Text Expander for large pieces of formatted and hyperlinked text, which I don’t think Apple can do. That said, they’re really useful for texting, filling out school forms, etc. And because they’re free with Apple products, I’ll use both.
• Microsoft QuickParts (more above),
• TextBlaze;
• “For those who have Google Workspace, the Gemini AI email reply suggestions are shockingly good! Even if I have to change a few words or add something, it saves a lot of time.”

TextExpander-Like Application Ideas

Again, these were crowdsourced responses on Instagram. For many responses, I copy-and-pasted the responses so that they’re written first-hand by the woman responding.

Work

• Websites you share often
• Title (for many formal letters)
• Email address groups you email often
• Realtor: “hcd” = happy closing day message with emojis

Personal

• Initials for email address (“kn” for my work email address & “nk” for my personal one)
• House numbers = whole address populates (I did mine without “MN” as I’m usually sending it to people coming to the house and they don’t need the MN detail haha), plus if necessary, detailed instructions on how to find your house
• Could also have some to tell people where to park + which door to go to (e.g., I’m constantly texting people to let me know when they get to our house and we’ll pop the garage as it’s easier than the front door – I created one for that)
• Area code = phone number
• Commonly used emojis (e.g., BH = 💙)
• Websites you share often
• Kid initials for kid names for forms
• For BuyNothing pickups: address, item location, helpful details on finding the house
• Email address groups you email often

Non-Email Templates

Moving beyond email and text expansion, having templates in a broader sense in your work and personal life can be amazing. Below are some crowdsourced examples of how women are using other types of templates in their own lives:

• Work
  • Medical notes (e.g., surgeon – operation notes)
  • Templated workflows based on project type
  • Session note template for speech therapy sessions (all check boxes and text fields)
  • Asana templates for repeating events like payroll, full project workflows
  • Excel that auto-creates a schedule for a recurring project
  • Proposal management: Outlook invite details for draft review meetings – w/ rules, reminders, etc.
  • Common ChatGPT prompts
    • E.g.,
      • .clinsum → Please create a clinical summary of this patient using the following chart notes
      • .summeeting → please use the following meeting transcription to summarize for client using bullet points and bold headings in professional language at sixth grade level
      • .formalize → pelase adapt this email to use more formal and professional language
  • Wealth management – templated frequent to-dos and reminders sent to clients
  • Interior Designer: Various workflows in Dubsado that utilize email templates when there’s a clear process to be followed, like new project inquiries, onboarding newly signed client, offboarding a client at project completion. Most of the time, I can just start the workflow, and emails will be generated automatically, but sometimes I do need to edit a few details. Regardless, it saves a ton of time!
• Personal
  • Holiday menus – returning guest faves and notes on when/where to stop and recipes
    • Includes grocery list and prep/cooking timeline
  • Instructions for care for house, pets and/or kids
    • Include emergency numbers and tv instructions
  • Template To Do List for when people come to visit (in Asana) (and then calendar!)
  • Template To Do List for when we travel (in Asana) (and then calendar!)
  • Printable packing list templates in Google Docs
    • This is Kelly: I keep mine in Excel because I like the built in check boxes – I have two columns for the way out and the way home. I started creating them when I had kids, and they’re huge (both in length and critical-ness to my life and sanity). I “save as” a version for each trip and save them based on kid ages and cold/warm weather. They’re great if you later have more kids and want to grab a list from earlier ages – and they’re handy to send to friends who won’t judge the seeming intensity of them haha
  • Holiday gifts in a google sheet – each year gets a new tab
  • Common ChatGPT prompts
    • .dinner → please find 4 high protein recipes for weeknight differ and create a grocery list
  • Google sheets meal planner – set it up with 30 favs, pick meals & it creates a grocery list; add kid lunches (we have to pack) and breakfast and lunches for adults. It compiles the whole list for me to paste into AnyList – the use prmium to do the online shopping feature from there.
    • She very nicely put this on Etsy for us – you can use the code THANKSKELLY to take 50% off, to bring it to $5!

That’s a wrap for now!

Hope this helps! If you have anything you’d like to add, comment below or email me at ke***@ke********.com, and I’ll add it to this article. Thanks!

Want more like this?

Here’s an article on email rules & filters – with specific applications others use.