OpenPLUTO

A Love Letter to Espanso

Written by

William

in

I first heard about Text Expander years ago, and while it seemed useful, I had most of my frequently used text snippets stored in Alfred under the “snippets” extension. This allowed me to quickly paste SomaFM station commands into a terminal using just a few keystrokes. However, when I started using Obsidian, I needed something more powerful—something that could handle special characters, cursor placement, and structured expansions. That’s when I embraced Espanso.

Now, after years of using it, I feel compelled to share my appreciation for this brilliant piece of software and offer a glimpse into how it seamlessly integrates into my workflow. Espanso has become an essential tool for my daily productivity, allowing me to automate repetitive typing tasks effortlessly.

Why Espanso?

Espanso does more than just expand text snippets like Alfred or a clipboard manager—it allows dynamic expansions, including cursor placement, formatted text, and even date-based commands. Here are some of the ways I use it:

Simple Expansions

  • Horizontal line (;') → ---
  • Section mark (;ss) → §
  • Paragraph mark (;pp) →
  • Approximately equal to (;==) → ≈
  • End of document marker (;eo) → ■

Cursor Placement for Structured Text

  • Quote citation (;--) → — cursorStartsHere
  • Source link (;src) → [Ø SOURCE]($|$) (cursor placed between $|$)
  • HTML and CSS comments (;htm, ;css) → <!-- cursorStartsHere --> or /* cursorStartsHere */

Command Line Enhancements

  • Append to log file (;log) → |& tee -a .md (cursor starts before .md to enter filename)
  • MPV media player shortcuts
    • ;mm → mpv -no-video -volume=93
    • ;ms → mpv -no-video -volume=93 -shuffle
  • YouTube downloader shortcuts
    • ;myt → yt-dlp -S +codec:h264
    • ;mp3 → yt-dlp -x --audio-format mp3 --verbose

Date Formatting Shortcuts

I frequently need different date formats depending on the context. Espanso makes it easy:

  • ;dte → 04/04/2023 22:55
  • ;ste → 04-04-2023 2255
  • ;cte → 2023-04-04
  • ;fte → Tuesday, April 4, 2023 22:55
  • ;mte → 0404
  • ;lte → 0404-2255
  • ;zte → 202304042255

Todoist & Productivity Boosters

  • ;dd → in 3 days
  • ;7 → 7:30p
  • Common phrases for quick insertion:
    • ;hw → Hello, World!
    • ;lf → This space intentionally left blank.
    • ;ty → Tyler was here.

Image Clipboard Management

I also use Espanso to store system paths of commonly used images. By invoking Espanso in the right context, these images can be inserted directly into applications as if they were dragged and dropped.

Espanso has seamlessly integrated into my workflow, making repetitive tasks effortless and improving my efficiency across various applications. Whether I’m writing in Obsidian, managing tasks in Todoist, or executing commands in the Linux terminal, Espanso is there, making my life easier.

If you haven’t yet explored the magic of Espanso, head over to the official website and see if it can revolutionize your workflow as much as it has mine. ■

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