Abbreviate!Abbreviate! Help
Abbreviate! saves time and reduces errors by cutting the keystrokes for things you type often, using two powerful strategies: abbreviation expansion (Mac, iPhone, and iPad) and word prediction (iPhone and iPad).
But it's more than that. It also solves one of the most annoying problems with typing on the iPhone: do you find that you frequently get the key next to the key you were trying to type? Usually to the right of the intended key for right-handers and to the left for left-handers. Abbreviate! provides a way to adjust the touch area on the keyboard so that if you tend to tap a bit to the right (or left) of the keys that you intend to hit, you can move the touch area to accommodate your touches. It can make a significant difference by reducing mistaken keystrokes.
Features
On the Mac, iPhone, and iPad
- Abbreviation expansion: type a keyboard abbreviation and have it expand into a word, phrase, sentence, paragraph, or even a document. Or a web address, a block of code, a street address, or other combinations of characters including emoji 😊. Abbreviate! is MUCH more powerful than the Text Replacement built into iOS and macOS.
- Automatic word endings: use only one abbreviation that covers plurals, "-ing", and past tense "-d/ed" forms. So pred>predict, preds>predicts, predg>predicting, and predd>predicted. About 380 irregular words are built in: with prsn for person, prsns gives "people", and meetd gives "met" (see Automatic Word Endings).
- Ready to use: Abbreviate! starts with 212 everyday abbreviations — contractions, common words, and phrases — so it's useful from the first minute. Edit them freely; Restore Starter Abbreviations always brings back the originals.
- Capitalization: no need to store abbreviations with both upper- and lower-case initial letters. Abbreviate! will make abrn>abbreviation and Abrn>Abbreviation. For all caps, type the abbreviation in all caps: ABRN>ABBREVIATION.
- Learn suggested abbreviations: load bodies of text and document files from your field: medical, accounting, financial, architectural, legal, chemical, manufacturing, etc., and Abbreviate! will create a list of suggested abbreviations for words and even frequently used phrases. You then review them, keep, change, or remove each one, and they'll be on all your licensed devices.
- Keep multiple sets of abbreviations: have sets for work, hobbies, correspondence with family and friends, text messages, sports, volunteer organizations, etc.
- Fun & Games: learn your abbreviations by playing. A Daily Challenge that's the same for everyone, so you can compare scores with friends, and rounds from your own set, as many as you like, with scores and streaks (see Fun & Games).
- One license, all your devices: one perpetual license covers your household's Macs, iPhones, and iPads (up to six people in your Family Sharing group), and all abbreviations are synchronized across your devices through iCloud, so you only ever maintain one list.
- Privacy: your abbreviations, learned words, and emoji collection are encrypted on your devices (AES-256). Your abbreviations and learned words are encrypted again before they sync through your own iCloud account, so only your devices can read them.
On iPhone and iPadiPhone & iPad
- Word prediction: as you type, it learns the words and phrases you use, in complete privacy, so it can suggest the next word or phrase after each word you finish.
- Endings without backspacing: after a suggested word, or one you typed yourself, type a lone "s", "g", or "d" and a space or punctuation — no need to backspace over the space after the word — and it gets its plural, "-ing", or past tense ending: "walk" becomes "walks", "walking", or "walked" (see Word Prediction).
- Forget a mistake: suppose you didn't notice that you had mistyped "spel" and then you saw it in the word prediction line. Just tap and hold on it and the words [Forget "spel"] and [Cancel] will appear, so you can forget the word, or cancel and keep it in your learned words. Forgetting a word also forgets every phrase that used it.
- Check spelling of learned words: list every learned word the spelling dictionary doesn't know, and delete it, keep it, or correct it to the suggested spelling, all in one pass.
- Learn predicted words: load bodies of text and document files from your field: medical, financial, architectural, legal, manufacturing, sports, etc., and Abbreviate! lists the words and frequently used phrases it found, so you can keep or reject each one before they're added to word prediction.
- Keyboard touch area bias: do you find that the iPhone keyboard tends to take keys to the right (or left) of the one you intend? Adjust the touch area in the direction that suits your typing style. It's one of Abbreviate!'s most useful features.
- Fun & Games: learn your abbreviations by playing. A Daily Challenge that's the same for everyone, so you can compare scores with friends, and rounds from your own set, as many as you like, with scores and streaks (see Fun & Games).
Enabling the Abbreviate! Keyboard on iPhone and iPadiPhone & iPad
On iPhone and iPad, Abbreviate! works through its own custom keyboard — abbreviations and word prediction only work once that keyboard is enabled and selected.
- On the main screen, tap "Enable the Abbreviate! Keyboard" and follow the steps — it can open Settings directly.
- In Settings, go to General ▸ Keyboard ▸ Keyboards, tap Add New Keyboard…, then choose Abbreviate!
- Tap Abbreviate! in the keyboards list, then turn on Allow Full Access.
Full Access lets the keyboard use the abbreviations and word predictions you set up in this app, and sync them securely through your own iCloud account. Nothing you type is sent to anyone else. On your devices, your abbreviations, learned words and phrases, and emoji collection are encrypted (AES-256), and your abbreviations and learned words stay encrypted in iCloud.
Once enabled, switch to it from any text field by tapping and holding the globe key (🌐) and choosing Abbreviate!, or by tapping it repeatedly to cycle through your installed keyboards. A yellow emoji key next to the space bar shows that you're in the Abbreviate! keyboard (the system keyboard's is white).
The Menu Bar IconMac
Look for the "Ab!" icon in your menu bar.
- Left-click: opens the Abbreviations window.
- Right-click: shows the full menu — Abbreviations, Sets, Fun & Games, Keystrokes Saved, Software Updates, Help, Send Feedback, License, About Abbreviate!, and Quit Abbreviate!.
The App MenuiPhone & iPad
Tap the ≡ icon in the top-right corner of the main screen for Abbreviation Sets…, Prediction Sets…, Fun & Games, Keystrokes Saved, Help, Software Updates, Keyboard Touch Setting, Send Feedback…, License, and About.
Managing Your Abbreviations
Left-click on the Ab! menu bar icon to open the Abbreviations window. The abbreviations and their expansions in the selected set will appear, sorted alphabetically. The blue buttons at the top right, the same as on iPhone and iPad, are search, add, edit, and remove; hold the pointer over one to see its name.
- Magnifying glass (Search): opens a box to find an abbreviation by its shortcut or its expansion. Command-F opens it too; click the magnifying glass again, or press Escape, to close it and see the whole list.
- + (Add): create a new abbreviation. Type the abbreviation and its expansion — expansions can be several lines long — then click Save.
- Pencil (Edit): select an abbreviation, then click the pencil to revise its abbreviation or expansion without deleting and re-adding it.
- Trash can (Remove): select an abbreviation and click the trash can (or press Delete). You'll be asked to confirm first. To remove several, Command-click or Shift-click to select them first: you'll see them listed, each ticked, so you can untick any you want to keep. Removed some by mistake? Press Command-Z right away to bring them all back.
The main screen lists your abbreviations and their expansions, sorted alphabetically.
- Magnifying glass: beside the Abbreviations heading — opens a box to find an abbreviation by its shortcut or its expansion. Tap it again to close the box and see the whole list.
- +: beside the magnifying glass — create a new abbreviation.
- Tap: tap any abbreviation in the list to edit its abbreviation or expansion.
- Swipe: swipe left on an abbreviation to delete it. Deleted one by mistake? Shake your iPhone or iPad to bring it back.
- Select: beside the Abbreviations heading — tap the abbreviations to delete, then Delete. You'll see them listed, each ticked, so you can untick any you want to keep. A shake brings back the whole group.
Multiple Sets
Your abbreviations live in a "set" — you might want one for email and a separate one for work, so the two don't mix. Only one set is active at a time; its abbreviations are the only ones that expand. All your sets are kept up to date across all your devices, securely, through iCloud.
- Switch sets from the Sets submenu in the right-click menu, or from the picker at the top of the Abbreviations window.
- Create, rename, or delete a set from that same submenu, or from the ⋯ menu next to the picker in the Abbreviations window. There must always be at least one set.
- Learn from Documents… suggests abbreviations for the words and phrases you use most. Choose documents or folders from anywhere on your Mac (plain text, rich text, Word, PDF, or email), or click Paste Text… and paste in text from any app, such as a note. Pick the suggestions you want, then add them to a new set or one you have. A word is suggested once it appears at least three times, a phrase four, even in a single document. Pages, Keynote, and Numbers files can't be read: in the app, choose File ▸ Export To and pick Word, PDF, or Plain Text, or copy the text and paste it in.
- Merge Sets… combines two or more of your sets into a new one, asking you to choose wherever they define the same abbreviation differently. Anything the largest of the sets doesn't already have is marked New, and you can show only those, to see what merging adds. The sets you merged stay as they are.
- Restore Starter Abbreviations… gets back the abbreviations Abbreviate! starts with (see Choosing Abbreviations), which are built into the app, so editing or deleting them is always safe. Add an untouched copy as a new set, or add the ones the current set is missing; anything already in it, including abbreviations you've changed, stays as it is. When a new version of Abbreviate! adds starter abbreviations, this is how to pick them up.
- Export saves the current set — its name and abbreviations — to a single file, ready to hand to another Mac via AirDrop, iCloud Drive, or a USB stick.
- Share… sends the current set to someone else through AirDrop, Mail, Messages, and so on. Shared copies aren't encrypted, so check the set holds nothing private first. If it contains phone numbers, email addresses, credit card numbers, or street addresses, they're listed so you can choose, one by one, which to leave out of the copy. Export checks the same way.
- Import Set… loads a file exported or shared this way, then asks what to do with it: add it as a new set (you'll be asked to name it), or replace the abbreviations in a set you already have. Nothing else on the Mac is touched either way.
- From Another App…, at the bottom of Import Set, brings in abbreviations from another text expander, so you don't have to retype them: TypeIt4Me sets, Apple Text Replacement exports (select them all in System Settings ▸ Keyboard ▸ Text Replacements and drag them to the desktop), TextExpander groups, or a CSV or tab-separated file with the abbreviation in one column and the expansion in the next. Only the plain text is taken, so everything matches your document's font. Add them as a new set or into one you have.
- Tap the "Abbreviations: …" row on the main screen, or choose ≡ ▸ Abbreviation Sets…, to switch sets, or to create, rename, or delete one. (The row is hidden while the search box is open.)
- Learn from Text… suggests abbreviations for the words and phrases you use most. Paste in text you've written — emails, letters, reports — as many pieces as you like, or tap Add Text from a File… to pick whole files from anywhere (plain text, rich text, Word, PDF, or email). Tap Find, pick the suggestions you want, then add them to a new set or one you have. A word is suggested once it appears at least three times, a phrase four, even in a single document. Pages, Keynote, and Numbers files can't be read: in the app, choose File ▸ Export To and pick Word, PDF, or Plain Text, or copy the text and paste it in.
- Merge Sets… combines two or more of your sets into a new one, asking you to choose wherever they define the same abbreviation differently. Anything the largest of the sets doesn't already have is marked New, and you can show only those, to see what merging adds. The sets you merged stay as they are.
- Restore Starter Abbreviations… gets back the abbreviations Abbreviate! starts with (see Choosing Abbreviations), which are built into the app, so editing or deleting them is always safe. Add an untouched copy as a new set, or add the ones the current set is missing; anything already in it, including abbreviations you've changed, stays as it is. When a new version of Abbreviate! adds starter abbreviations, this is how to pick them up.
- Save a Copy… keeps an encrypted ".json" copy of the current set in the Resources folder, as a backup or a version kept before a big change. Your own Macs, iPhones, and iPads can import it; nobody else can open it.
- Share… sends an unencrypted copy of the current set to someone else through AirDrop, Mail, Messages, and so on. Anyone who gets the file can read it, so check the set holds nothing private first. If it contains phone numbers, email addresses, credit card numbers, or street addresses, they're listed so you can choose, one by one, which to leave out of the copy. Save a Copy checks the same way.
- Import… lists every ".json" file already sitting in Resources — tap one, or tap Choose File… to pick one from anywhere, such as a file someone sent you. Then choose what to do with it: add it as a new set (you'll be asked to name it), or replace the abbreviations in a set you already have.
- Import from Another App… brings in abbreviations from another text expander, so you don't have to retype them: TypeIt4Me sets, Apple Text Replacement exports, TextExpander groups, or a CSV or tab-separated file with the abbreviation in one column and the expansion in the next. Pick the file from anywhere, then add them as a new set or into one you have.
How Expansion Works
- Type the abbreviation, then a space, Return, Tab, or any punctuation mark or symbol (a period, comma, colon, question mark, slash, hyphen, bracket, @, and so on) to trigger it. Nothing happens until that boundary character is typed. An apostrophe doesn't count, so contractions and possessives like "brb's" stay whole.
- An abbreviation only expands from the true start of a word. If it happens to also be the beginning of a longer word you're typing, it won't fire — "om" won't trigger while you're typing "omelet".
- If it happens to be the END of a different word, it's ignored too — typing "amexn" won't trigger an abbreviation called "exn".
- Correcting a typo with Backspace before finishing the word is always safe — it won't accidentally trigger an expansion partway through.
- Didn't mean to expand it? Press Backspace right after the expansion appears, and it changes back to exactly what you typed, which then stays as typed when you finish the word. Handy for a word that happens to be one of your abbreviations, like "ann" when you mean the name.
- Right after an expansion, if the next key you type is ".", ",", "!", "?", ":", ";", ")", "]", or "}", the space that ended the abbreviation is removed so the punctuation sits against the last word, and ".", ",", "!", "?", ":", or ";" gets a space after it, ready for the next word. If you type a space yourself next anyway, it isn't doubled. This happens only straight after an expansion.
- A space typed right before ".", ",", "!", "?", ":", ";", ")", "]", "}", or "/" is removed automatically, since that punctuation always attaches to the word before it — "word ." becomes "word.". Only ever removes one space; a deliberate double space is left alone.
- Fixing a word in the middle of your text: if you replace it with an abbreviation, type a space to expand it as usual. When a space or punctuation already follows, the space you typed is dropped, so "so ii went" becomes "so I went", not "so I went".
Capitalization
- An abbreviation defined with a lowercase first letter (like "tyfy") also matches when you capitalize just its first letter — handy when it lands at the start of a sentence. Typing "Tyfy" expands to "Thank you for your", capitalized to match.
- An abbreviation typed in all caps expands in all caps: "TYFY" expands to "THANK YOU FOR YOUR".
- An abbreviation defined with an uppercase first letter (like "Btw") must be typed exactly as defined.
- The Abbreviate! keyboard also capitalizes the next letter automatically at the start of a sentence, the same as the system keyboard.
Number Wildcards
Put a "#" in both the abbreviation and the expansion, and type any number where the abbreviation has the "#" — the number takes the place of the "#" in the expansion. With "fu#d" expanding to "follow up in # days", typing "fu5d" gives "follow up in 5 days", and "fu30d" gives "follow up in 30 days".
- You can use more than one "#": the numbers fill the expansion's "#"s in order. With "rm#fl#" expanding to "Room # on floor #", typing "rm214fl2" gives "Room 214 on floor 2".
- The abbreviation and the expansion need the same number of "#"s. Otherwise the "#" is an ordinary character. So is a "#" in an abbreviation whose expansion is just the abbreviation capitalized, like "c#" for "C#".
- Each "#" stands for one or more digits, 0–9.
- Between two "#"s the abbreviation needs a letter or symbol — the "fl" in "rm#fl#" — so Abbreviate! knows where the first number ends. Two "#"s side by side won't work.
- Capitalizing works as usual: "Fu5d" gives "Follow up in 5 days".
Cursor Spot for Fill-Ins
Put a ‸ in an expansion where you'll want to type something each time, like a name, and the cursor lands there when it expands. With "tyts" expanding to "Thank you, ‸! Talk soon.", typing "tyts" and a space gives "Thank you, ! Talk soon." with the cursor right after "Thank you, " — type the name, then carry on.
- Add it with the ‸ Cursor Spot button below the expansion (above it on the Mac).
- One per expansion.
- It's ignored in an expansion with ⇥ tabs, since those parts go to separate fields.
Date and Time
Put today's date or the current time into an expansion, filled in each time it expands: with "cl" expanding to "Called on ⟨date⟩ at ⟨time⟩", typing "cl" gives something like "Called on 9/26/2026 at 11:15 AM".
- Add one with the 📅 Date button below the expansion (above it on the Mac), then choose a format: the date (9/26/2026), the long date (September 26, 2026), the weekday (Saturday), or the time (11:15 AM).
- Dates follow your device's region settings, so the date comes out day-first where that's usual.
- For a date in the future or the past, add a number of days inside the brackets: "⟨long date+30⟩" is 30 days from today, "⟨date-1⟩" is yesterday.
- For business days, use ⟨date+5b⟩ or ⟨long date+5b⟩ for 5 business days from today.
- Combine it with a number wildcard for a date you choose as you type: with "fu#" expanding to "follow up on ⟨long date+#⟩", typing "fu14" gives the date two weeks from today.
Clipboard
Put whatever you last copied into an expansion, filled in each time it expands: with "lnk" expanding to "Here's the link: ⟨clipboard⟩", copy a web address, then type "lnk" and a space.
- Add it with the 📋 Clipboard button below the expansion (above it on the Mac).
- Only text is filled in. If what you copied is a picture, or nothing has been copied, the field is left empty.
- The copied text goes in exactly as copied, even when you type the abbreviation in capitals.
- The keyboard can read what you copied only with "Allow Full Access" turned on.
- iOS asks permission each time the keyboard reads what you copied. To stop it asking, tap Allow Paste once, then go to Settings ▸ Apps ▸ Abbreviate! and set Paste from Other Apps to Allow.
- Expansions with a clipboard field aren't learned for word prediction, since what you copy can be anything, even a password.
Attaching to the Word Before
Put a ⌫ at the start of an expansion to join it onto the word you typed just before it, for the end of an email address or a web address. With "gml" expanding to "⌫@gmail.com", typing "popeye gml" and a space gives "popeye@gmail.com" — the space between them is removed. The same works for ".edu", ".net", ".org", and so on.
- Add it with the ⌫ Attach button below the expansion (above it on the Mac). It always goes at the very start.
- Only a space is removed. At the start of a line, or after punctuation, the expansion just appears where you typed it.
- If you click somewhere else between the word and the abbreviation, the space isn't removed, since Abbreviate! can't be sure what's before the cursor.
Automatic Word Endings
Define an abbreviation for the root word only, and add a letter when you type it to get its other forms — no need to define them separately:
- "s" for the plural, or a verb's "-s" form: "abrn" expanding to "abbreviation" means "abrns" becomes "abbreviations".
- "g" for the "-ing" form: "pred" expanding to "predict" means "predg" becomes "predicting".
- "d" for the past tense: "predd" becomes "predicted".
So "intrst" for interest also gives "intrsts" (interests), "intrstg" (interesting), and "intrstd" (interested).
Standard English spelling rules are applied to whichever word the expansion ends with: "company" becomes "companies" and "box" becomes "boxes"; a silent "e" is dropped before "-ing" ("make" becomes "making") and just takes "d" in the past tense ("type" becomes "typed"); and a short word ending in one vowel and one consonant doubles that consonant ("run" becomes "running", "stop" becomes "stopped").
Common words that break those rules are built in, about 350 of them: irregular plurals ("person" becomes "people", "child" "children", "knife" "knives", "analysis" "analyses", "aircraft" stays "aircraft"), irregular past tenses ("meet" becomes "met", "go" "went", "write" "wrote", "think" "thought"), and verbs that double a final consonant or add a "k" ("occurring", "preferred", "programmed", "panicking"). Spelling is American ("traveled", "canceled"). Like every automatic ending, these apply only when the root word is the expansion of one of your abbreviations: with "prsn" for person, typing "prsns" gives "people". Typing a word out in full is left as you typed it, but you can still add an ending to it without backspacing: type the word, a space, then a lone "s", "g", or "d" and a space or punctuation — "walk s " gives "walks ", "jump g " gives "jumping ". A capital letter ("Vitamin D"), a letter after a number ("100 g"), and one after a word in all capitals are left as typed, and if one of your abbreviations is itself "s", "g", or "d", it expands instead. Didn't mean it? Press Backspace right away to get back exactly what you typed. It works in text that was already there, too: put the cursor right after a word, and type a space, the letter, and a space (on the Mac, in apps that share their text with Abbreviate!, which most do, though not terminals). With the Abbreviate! keyboard, a word tapped in the suggestion line can take these endings too (see Word Prediction).
For anything else, or a word with two meanings that the built-in list doesn't follow ("lie" gives "lied", not "lay"), define that form yourself — an abbreviation with the ending letter already on it, like "lyd" for "lay" if "ly" is your abbreviation for lie — and your definition is always used instead of the automatic one. The "d" ending gives the simple past ("wrote", "went"), not the form used after "have" ("written", "gone").
Endings aren't added to an expansion that ends in a contraction or punctuation, so "im" for I'm leaves "img" alone, and "eg" for e.g. leaves "egg" alone.
Exactly as typed: a very short abbreviation can start real words or names. Turn on Exactly as typed in its editor and it gets no automatic endings, doesn't expand in all capitals, and doesn't expand right before a hyphen; a capital at the start of a sentence still works. The starter set does this for wi>with, so "wig", "WI", and "Wi-Fi" stay as typed, and for wd>would, so "WD-40" does too.
Choosing Abbreviations
A few tricks for defining abbreviations make them easier to remember, and some abbreviations don't save many keystrokes but do save time. Here are suggestions we've found useful over the years we've used text expanders, including the original Abbreviate! program in the 1990s. Most of them are in the Starter Abbreviations set a new copy of Abbreviate! starts with, which you can always get back with Restore Starter Abbreviations.
- Short contractions like ain't, can't, didn't, don't, doesn't, and won't: just double the last letter, so aintt>ain't, cantt>can't, didntt>didn't, and wontt>won't. It's fast and easy to remember, and you don't have to hunt for the ' key.
- Longer contractions can use the abbreviation for the root word plus a "t" at the end: cld>could and cldt>couldn't, shd>should and shdt>shouldn't, wd>would and wdt>wouldn't.
- Long words like associate, organize, and administrate: use the first syllable or two, and where you need to tell related words apart, add a letter for the ending — "t" for -ate, "n" for -ion, "r" for -er, "v" for -ive, "z" for -ize. So admint>administrate, adminn>administration, adminr>administer, adminv>administrative, assoc>associate, assocn>association, orgz>organize, orgn>organization, sugg>suggest, suggn>suggestion, and suggv>suggestive. (Avoid plain "admin", which is often used as a word by itself.)
- You need only one abbreviation for plurals, "-ing" words, and the past tense. Define an abbreviation for the root word, and the automatic word endings handle the rest: orgz>organize, so orgzs>organizes, orgzg>organizing, and orgzd>organized. (See Automatic Word Endings.)
- Short words you use very often: yur>your, bcz>because, im>I'm, ts>this, tt>that.
- Abbreviations with punctuation built in: ie>i.e., and eg>e.g., with the comma included, so it's always right.
- Be careful with single letters. Any punctuation finishes an abbreviation, so i>I would turn "i.e." into "I.e.", and u>you would turn "U.S." into "You.S." If you want them anyway, use ii>I and uu>you. And if an abbreviation does expand when you didn't mean it to, press Backspace right away to change it back.
- Avoid real words and common acronyms. An abbreviation that's also a word expands when you meant the word — that's why it's wontt and not wont. When in doubt, add a letter.
- Phrases by their first letters: qcr>quarterly compliance review, lmk>let me know. Learning from your documents suggests these for the phrases you actually repeat; rename them to fit your own system before adding them.
- Define in lowercase. Typing "Bcz" at the start of a sentence gives "Because", so one abbreviation covers both.
- Names, addresses, and sign-offs: initials for people you write to often, addr for your address, sig for your signature, ty>Thank you.
- Forgot one? The search box in your abbreviation list searches expansions too, so typing "organiz" finds orgz.
- Start small. Add five or ten abbreviations at a time for things you type every day, and use them until they're automatic.
Everyone finds the memory tricks that work best for them — and finding yours is part of the fun!
Adding Emoji to an ExpansionMac
While editing an expansion, click the Emoji… button at the bottom of the window. It shows the emoji from your Abbreviate! keyboard on iPhone and iPad, in the same order; click one to add it to the end of the expansion. For any other emoji, click More Emoji… to open the Emoji & Symbols picker, then double-click an emoji there to insert it at the cursor. (The usual Control-Command-Space shortcut doesn't reliably work in this window, which is why the button is there.)
Word PredictioniPhone & iPad
Above the keys, the Abbreviate! keyboard shows up to three suggested words as you type — tap one to insert it instead of typing it out. Predictions learn as you go: a word you just used moves to the top of the list, so whatever you're actively writing about surfaces quickly, not just whatever you type most often overall. Once you've used the same word or phrase more than once in the same spot, the keyboard will offer to complete the whole phrase in one tap.
- Add an ending to a word: when the word you need is offered without the ending, tap it anyway, then type a lone "s", "g", or "d" followed by a space or punctuation. There's no need to backspace over the space the suggestion added: the word gets the same ending an abbreviation would (see Automatic Word Endings): "walk" and "s" give "walks", "g" gives "walking", and "d" gives "walked"; "company" and "s" give "companies". The same works after a word you typed out yourself: "walk", a space, then "s" and a space give "walks". It works in text that was already there, too: put the cursor right after a word, and type a space, the letter, and a space. It's the word with the ending that's learned, so next time it can be suggested itself. Since the ending is only added once the space or punctuation is typed, "walk" followed by "slowly" is left alone, and so are a capital letter ("Vitamin D"), a letter after a number ("100 g"), and one after a word in all capitals. Didn't mean it? Press Backspace right away to get back exactly what you typed.
- Tap the "Predictions: …" row on the main screen, or choose ≡ ▸ Prediction Sets…, to manage this. It's laid out the same way as the abbreviation sets.
- Learn from Text… gives prediction a head start with a subject's vocabulary: paste in text — a legal brief, a medical article, a finance report, anything — or add whole files from anywhere, the same way as for abbreviations. Tap Learn to see the words and phrases it found, each with how often it appears, all ticked; untick any you don't want (an unticked word takes any phrase containing it with it). Then tap Add… and choose a new set or one you already have. Anything you keep can still be removed later in Edit Learned Words.
- Merge Sets… combines two or more of your prediction sets into a new one, adding their usage counts together; afterwards, Show New Words lists the words the largest set didn't already have. Share… sends an unencrypted copy to someone else; since predictions are learned from what you type, share only a set trained for the purpose. If it contains phone numbers, email addresses, credit card numbers, or street addresses, they're listed so you can choose, one by one, which to leave out of the copy. Save a Copy… keeps an encrypted ".jsonp" copy in the Resources folder, checked the same way. Import… lists every ".jsonp" file in Resources, or tap Choose File… to pick one from anywhere — then add it as a new prediction set, or replace one you already have.
- Clear empties the current set's learned words but keeps the set itself, so you can train it again from scratch.
- Edit Learned Words… lists every learned word and phrase — jump between them with the Words and Phrases buttons under the title, or tap the magnifying glass to search — so a typo or an odd suggestion caught after the fact can be removed on its own, without clearing everything else you've trained. Swipe one to delete it, or tap Select, tick several, and tap Delete: you'll see them listed, ticked, to untick any you want to keep. A shake brings back whatever you deleted last.
- Check Spelling, under the title in Edit Learned Words, lists every learned word the spelling dictionary doesn't recognize, so mistypes that got learned can be cleared in one pass instead of waiting for each to come up in the suggestion line. Each word has three choices: Delete removes it everywhere it was learned, including phrases that use it; Keep leaves it, and it won't be listed again (for names and your own shorthand); and the suggested spelling, when there is one, corrects the word everywhere while keeping what was learned about it, such as "sarah" to "Sarah". Your choices are saved as you make them, so Later closes the list and you can pick up where you left off. Apply makes all the changes at once, and a shake brings them back.
- Longest Phrase, on the Predictions page, sets how many words a learned phrase can have, from 3 to 12 (6 to start). Long phrases rarely repeat word for word, and they're hard to read in the suggestion line; for some kinds of writing, longer ones are worth having. New phrases are learned only up to that length, and only phrases that fit are suggested. Longer phrases learned before are kept, so raising it brings them back; to remove them for good, choose Delete Phrases Longer Than N Words… from the ⋯ menu in Edit Learned Words.
Keyboard LayoutsiPhone & iPad
- 123 switches to numbers and common punctuation; #+= from there reaches a second page of symbols. ABC returns to letters.
- 🙂 opens an emoji keyboard: a row of your own frequently used emoji across the top, tap one to insert it. Tapping an emoji moves it to the front, so the ones you actually reach for stay quickest to get to.
- Tap Shift once to capitalize just the next letter; double-tap it to lock capitals on until you tap it again.
- Ab! returns you to the Abbreviate! app in one tap, from any app you're typing in.
Customizing Your EmojiiPhone & iPad
The emoji keyboard's row starts with a curated default collection, but it's yours to change from the main app: tap Emoji to replace any emoji with a different one, add one that isn't in the collection at all, or drag emoji into a new order. Changes sync to your other devices the same way abbreviations and predictions do. If you don't want the arrangement to update each time you use an emoji, you can lock the order so it stays the same.
Keystrokes Saved
To see how much typing Abbreviate! saves you, choose Keystrokes Saved… from the menu bar icon's menu.
To see how much typing Abbreviate! saves you, tap ≡ ▸ Keystrokes Saved.
For today, the last 7 days, and all time, it shows:
- Keystrokes saved: each character an expansion or a tapped suggestion put in for you, less the keys you pressed for it. "tyvm" and a space typed for "thank you very much " saves 15. An expansion you undo with Backspace doesn't count.
- Percentage: how many fewer keys you pressed than if you'd typed everything out.
- Time saved: an estimate, at 40 words a minute on a Mac and 36 on a phone or tablet.
Each device counts its own; the figures aren't combined across devices. Only the counts are kept, never what you typed. Start Counting Again sets them back to zero.
Fun & Games
An abbreviation saves time only if you remember it while you're typing. Fun & Games turns learning them into a few minutes of fun a day.
Choose Fun & Games… from the menu bar icon's menu.
Tap ≡ ▸ Fun & Games.
There are three kinds: quick rounds, Match-Up, and crosswords. In each, you're shown an expansion, such as "thank you very much", and you type its abbreviation: "tyvm". That's the direction that matters when you type: you know what you want to say and need the shortcut. A right answer counts as soon as you've typed it.
Quick rounds show one expansion at a time, ten to a round:
- Daily Challenge: ten abbreviations a day from the starter abbreviations, the same for everyone, so you can compare scores with friends. One round a day; a new one comes at midnight. If your own set has a different abbreviation for one of them, yours counts too, and if your set uses the challenge's abbreviation for something else, the answer tells you, so the challenge never contradicts what you've set up.
- My Abbreviations: ten from your own active set, the ones you most need to learn. Play as many rounds as you like; each new round that day brings words you haven't seen yet. Your set needs at least 24 abbreviations with plain-text expansions; until then the rounds come from the starter abbreviations.
Match-Up puts six abbreviations down one side and their expansions, mixed up, down the other. Tap one on each side, in either order, to pair them: a right pair turns green, a wrong one flashes red and costs that abbreviation points, as a hint does. It's a quick warm-up, and a good way to start learning a new set. Its words come from your own set, like My Abbreviations, and you can play as many rounds as you like.
Crosswords put eight abbreviations in a grid, crossing where they share a letter; the clues are their expansions:
- Daily Crossword: one a day from the starter abbreviations, the same for everyone.
- My Crossword: from your own set. Tap New Crossword for another, as many as you like.
Tap (on the Mac, click) a square or a clue to choose a word; tap a square where two words cross again to switch between them, then type its abbreviation in the box under the grid. Letters already in the grid from words you've solved show in the word's pattern, like T·V·, and cost nothing. A right answer fills in the grid and moves on to the next word. Only abbreviations made of letters go in a crossword.
Points: 10 for each abbreviation you type without help, so a perfect round is 100 and a perfect crossword 80. Hint (in a crossword, Reveal Letter) shows the abbreviation one letter at a time and lowers its points to 6, 3, and then 1. Show the Answer (Reveal Word) gives it to you with no points, so you can learn it. In My Abbreviations and My Crossword, rounds and crosswords after the first of the day are worth half: 5 points a word.
Streaks and scores: each game counts how many days in a row you've finished a round, your best streak, and your total points. They're shared through iCloud with your other devices, so a round played on one shows as played on the others, and a round left halfway picks up where you stopped.
Share My Score at the end of a round or crossword puts your result in a message, with a row of squares: 🟩 typed without help, 🟨 with hints, ⬜ shown.
Only scores and dates are kept, never what you type.
iCloud Sync
Abbreviations sync securely and automatically between your Mac and any iPhone or iPad running Abbreviate!, through iCloud, so you only ever maintain one list — switch devices and everything you've added or changed on one is already on the others.
Before they leave your device, your abbreviations (and on iPhone and iPad, your learned words) are encrypted by Abbreviate! with a key kept in your iCloud Keychain, so the copy in iCloud can be read only by your own devices. The About screen shows a "Key ID", a short code identifying that key (not the key itself); it should be the same on every device signed into your Apple Account.
Sync is between your own devices only, through your own Apple Account. Family members sharing one purchase through Family Sharing each have their own abbreviations and, on iPhone and iPad, their own learned words — what one person adds, changes, or deletes never reaches anyone else, and nobody else can read it. To give someone your abbreviations, use Share… or Export and have them import the file; that's a copy, so later changes on either side stay on that side. (Two people signed into the same Apple Account share everything, as they would with any app; Family Sharing is how a family avoids that.)
Word predictions and your emoji collection sync the same way. The main screen shows the current sync status near the bottom; tap it to see the recent history — what was sent, received, or deleted, and any errors.
Privacy: What Abbreviate! Sees
Abbreviate! sees every keystroke. All text expanders have to: they can't recognize "omw" without seeing the o, the m, and the w. What matters is what it does with them.
On the Mac, Abbreviate! keeps only the word you're typing — and the word you just finished, until you start the next one, so backspacing into it still works — in memory, so it can tell if it's one of your abbreviations. Nothing you type is saved, logged, or learned from, and nothing is sent anywhere. That's why it needs Accessibility access (below), the permission macOS requires of any app that watches the keyboard system-wide. Password fields are off-limits: macOS hides those keystrokes from every app.
On iPhone and iPad, the Abbreviate! keyboard learns the words and phrases you use so it can suggest them — that's what word prediction is. What it learns is encrypted on your devices and in your own secure iCloud account; it's never sent to us or anyone else. Nothing is learned from password, one-time code, or credit card fields. Any learned word can be removed in Edit Learned Words, and iOS always switches to its own keyboard for passwords; switch back to Abbreviate! afterwards to keep using its features. "Allow Full Access" lets the keyboard reach that data and sync it, the same permission iOS requires of any keyboard that does more than type letters. Your prediction sets are shared with your other iPhones and iPads, but only encrypted, through iCloud.
The only thing that ever reaches us is what you write in Send Feedback. We love suggestions and will try to accommodate them, but we can't promise whether or when that might happen.
Accessibility PermissionMac
Abbreviate! needs Accessibility access to watch for and replace text system-wide. The first time you run it, macOS will ask you to grant this in System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Accessibility. If expansion ever stops working, check that the toggle is still on, then click the menu bar icon once to reconnect.
Launch at LoginMac
Abbreviate! starts automatically when you log in. Turn this on or off from the Launch at Login toggle at the bottom of the Abbreviations window.
Trial & License
Abbreviate! works fully for 14 days from your first launch on each device — no purchase and no license key needed during the free trial. After that, expanding text requires a license.
Abbreviate! is bought once, in the App Store on your iPhone or iPad. One perpetual license covers your Mac, iPhone, and iPad. With Family Sharing, it covers your household too: up to six people in your Family Sharing group, including you, can unlock their own devices with no second purchase. The purchase is shared, not the abbreviations: each person keeps their own (see iCloud Sync).
The Mac app is a free download from abbreviateapp.com — it isn't in the Mac App Store. Open it, and its 14-day trial starts.
There's nothing to buy or type on the Mac: it unlocks by itself when it's signed into the same iCloud account as the iPhone or iPad the purchase was made on, or an account in the same Family Sharing group. Choose License from the menu to see the status, or click Check Again right after buying.
The Mac trial doesn't need an iPhone or iPad, but buying does: there's no way to buy Abbreviate! on the Mac alone yet.
Tap ≡ ▸ License, then Buy. The purchase is tied to your Apple Account rather than to one device, so on another iPhone or iPad, tap Restore Purchases to unlock it with no new payment. Any Mac signed into the same iCloud account unlocks by itself.
About
Choose "About Abbreviate!" from the menu to see the current version, shown as a build date and time (for example, 0904261502 means September 4, 2026 at 3:02 PM).
Tap ≡ ▸ About to see the current version, build date, and the git commit that build was made from.