Espanso — The Complete Guide: Text Expansion for Standard Paragraphs in Reports and Letters
Espanso is an open-source tool that detects keywords as you type and replaces them with ready text, in any program. An engineering office repeats the same sentences over and over: the disclaimer at the end of an expert opinion, the design assumptions paragraph, the opening of a letter to an authority, the date and the project number — here each of them is a trigger of a few letters.
Espanso
Federico Terzi
Text expander — type a short trigger and get a standard paragraph, a date, a formula or an email template.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Replacement in any program — word processor, email, browser or design software.
- Search bar — find a snippet when you forgot its trigger.
- Forms — a template with fields to fill in, such as client name and file number.
- Dates and special characters — and running scripts too.
- Per-application settings — triggers that work only in a specific program.
Sharing in a team
All configuration lives in plain text files. That makes it easy to back up, keep in a shared folder and maintain one standard wording library for the whole office — so every engineer writes the same disclaimer in the same words.
Related tools
For broader automation on Windows — AutoHotkey. For clipboard history — CopyQ. For writing the report itself — LibreOffice.
AutoHotkey
AutoHotkey
Automate repetitive tasks in Windows — hotkeys, macros for CAD and office programs, and text expansion.
Get it from the vendor
CopyQ
CopyQ project
Clipboard history with search and editing — move values between calculation sheets, programs and reports without re-copying.
Get it from the vendorDitto
Ditto project
Clipboard history for Windows — everything you copy is saved, so earlier values and text can be found and pasted again.
Get it from the vendor
LibreOffice
The Document Foundation
A full office suite — documents, spreadsheets, presentations and drawings, compatible with Office files.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
Espanso saves typing and keeps wording consistent across reports and letters. Open source and free for any use, including commercial work.
Further reading
- AutoHotkey — The Complete Guide: Automating Repetitive Work in CAD, Excel and Windows
- CopyQ — The Complete Guide: Searchable Clipboard History for Work Across Sheets, Programs and Reports
- Free Software for Engineering Reports and Theses — What Really Replaces Word, EndNote and Acrobat, and What Does Not