Text replacement on Mac only works in Apple apps

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Text replacement on Mac only works in Apple apps

I have set up a number of text replacements on my iphone, which, therefore, have also been transferred to my Mac via iCloud. To my dismay, it turns out that they only work in Apple apps like Pages, Safari, the Apple mail app, TextEdit and so on, but do not work in Microsoft Word and other 3rd-party apps. Can anyone suggest a way of making it work in Word, etc.?

I used to have Typinator installed on my Mac, but I discovered (possibly because of duplication with the native text replacements) that it produced a strange effect when typing the name of a document while saving it, so I deleted Typinator. I realize that I could remove. all my existing text replacements and install Typinator on both my iphone and my Mac, but I would much rather not do that if a simple solution using the native text replacements could be found.

(My Mac is a 2013 Mac mini, not a 2018+ one, but I can find no way of selecting it)

Mac mini 2018 or later

Posted on Sep 16, 2019 12:36 PM

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Answer 1

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Michael Graubart Author

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369 points

Sep 19, 2019 4:46 AM in response to VikingOSX

I discovered that particular piece of iCloud magic — the sharing of the text replacements between devices — long ago. I suspect that it caused what started my investigations and Apple Discussions postings, namely that at a time when I used Typinator on my Mac for text replacement but had begun to create systemic ones on my iPhone, Typinator interfered in the quite unconnected process of naming documents while saving them. That is why I deleted Typinator from my Mac and discovered that my text replacements had been transferred from my iPhone to my Mac, but no longer worked in Word.

I have MS Office 16 on my Mac (updated regularly, but not to the new major upgrade of Office), and Word Preferences do not have a Mac-enabling option for text replacement. So I am now spending some time re-creating my replacements manually in Word. But thank you for the suggestion.

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Answer 2

Sep 16, 2019 1:31 PM in response to Michael Graubart

Third party vendors that use other visual libraries (e.g. Qt, Gtk3, etc.) to provide cross-platform native GUI appearances and menu structures — would not using Apple frameworks that support text replacement. Case in point, LibreOffice v6.3.1.2.

Applications must use Apple's frameworks and specifically code them for Text Replacement functionality. Accordingly, it is up to Microsoft to incorporate this feature on the Mac, and as I do not have Office 2019 for Mac, they may have already done so.

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Answer 3

Sep 18, 2019 4:43 PM in response to VikingOSX

Thank you for that explanation. It’s as I suspected. I shall have to enter my text replacements into Word’s Preferences manually.

But the interesting discovery I have now made is that, while my Apple text replacements do not work in Word on my Mac, they do work in Word on my iPhone! This is not due to an iCloud linkage between Word on the two devices, for I have not yet entered all my replacements into Word on either device. It is clearly my Apple replacements working in Word on the phone.

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Answer 4

Sep 18, 2019 7:32 PM in response to Michael Graubart

Text Replacements on the Mac are shared with your iPhone almost as soon as you enter them on the Mac. Microsoft's implementation of Word on iOS may be ahead of its present Mac version. Also, check your Word Preferences to see if there is an option in there to enable Text Replacements from the Mac.

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Answer 5

Sep 19, 2019 4:47 AM in response to Michael Graubart

I discovered that particular piece of iCloud magic — the sharing of the text replacements between devices — long ago. I suspect that it caused what started my investigations and Apple Discussions postings, namely that at a time when I used Typinator on my Mac for text replacement but had begun to create systemic ones on my iPhone, Typinator interfered in the quite unconnected process of naming documents while saving them. That is why I deleted Typinator from my Mac and discovered that my text replacements had been transferred from my iPhone to my Mac, but no longer worked in Word.

I have MS Office 16 on my Mac (updated regularly, but not to the new major upgrade of Office), and Word Preferences do not have a Mac-enabling option for text replacement. So I am now spending some time re-creating my replacements manually in Word. But thank you for the suggestion.

Reply

Text replacement on Mac only works in Apple apps

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