[MacOS] Enable Text Replacement

Feature archive
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MacOS allows for a very handy feature that replaces snippet of typed text with another text. A build-in, poor man’s KeyboardMaestro/TextExpander. Some applications allow for Text replacement, some don’t.

Screenshot 2020-05-23 at 13.31.39
Screenshot 2020-05-23 at 13.31.391288×840 180 KB

Enabling text replacement in Obsidian would allow users to use the templates/autocorrects they have already created and encourages more templates to be built. This makes a quick workflow accessible to people without those pricey, full-fledged applications.

Edit: Espanso seems like a free, open-source bridge for now until Text Replacement is enabled.

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This could possible be an Electron limitation, similar to missing Services where Visual Studio Code had to do a lot of extra work to get those in.

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This appears to have been an electron limitation. Cruising through various electron, chromium and related bugs, it seems to have been fixed. The rabbit hole starts here: Text replacements / expansions doesn't work on MacOS · Issue #15535 · electron/electron · GitHub

It appears to possibly be fixed as of electron 7. I don’t code with electron, so I am not sure how easy/hard it is to use that version or later.

This is a huge deal to those of us using Mac OS :slight_smile:

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I use A LOT of these, so I am bit crippled when using Obsidian. So second this feature wish!

A nice thing on MacOS and iOS is that these are synced via iCloud from Mac to iPhone and back. So a substitution made one place, will be made the other as well. Very handy.

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I also found this problem, and hope to support this function.

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Is there any progress on enabling this capability?

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The latest build of Obsidian updated the version of electron to 12.0.6, so presumably that text substitution issue is resolved(?) on the electron end.

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I’m on version v0.12.10 on macOS and text substitution still does not seem to be available. Is it possible that even if Electron supports this feature that it needs to be enabled/configured within Obsidian’s code?

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I’m also interested about an update on this, as I use the apple text replacement very frequenty and it syncs very reliable between all my Apple devices.

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I have copied my macOS substitutions into Obsidian as template snippets.

Like macOS substitutions, they are now just a keystroke combo away.

Not a single system-wide setting, but works very well in Obsidian.

Angel

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My understanding is that the macOS Trello app is also built on Electron, but I cannot remember a time when it did not support macOS’ native text replacement. So it seems likely it’s an Obsidian implementation issue rather than Electron supporting or not supporting it.

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Really hoping to get this implemented!!

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100% agreement. I would use Obsidian even MORE if I could get this to work better.
As it is, my OSX text substitutions don’t work, but more importantly, the spellcheck is just atrocious. It won’t auto-correct “teh” to “the”, or even suggest “the” in the spellcheck suggestions box. Most other OSX apps will simply correct this in light-speed as you’re typing.
Also, Obsidian is constantly telling me words like “they’re” or “don’t” are spelled incorrectly if they’re pasted from another source, even though they are spelled fine.
Amazing app… this is about my ONLY complaint.

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It also still doesn’t work for me.
I found this implementation that seems to be fairly simple to do, it would be a very useful fix to have!

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I am happy to announce, this looks to be fixed on version 13.14! Thank you Devs!

The only thing currently missing (IMO) over most OSX apps is the feature called “Correct Spelling Automatically”, which will auto-fix “teh” to “the” for you when you tap the space bar.

Still—this is great progress!

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