Breevy
Productivity,  Software,  Tools

Breevy: Beyond Simple Text Replacement

How many times a day do you type the same thing (think email address, business name or phone number)? Or have you ever had to do the same thing over and over on your computer and wished you could have someone do it for you?

Today we’re going to talk about Breevy…an abbreviation manager that can actually automate your computer work.

Back in the days of SimpleProductivityBlog.com, I had been using an abbreviation manager that didn’t thrill me. Patrick of 16 Software contacted me and asked me to review his product.

I was hooked.

I use Breevy everywhere, and for everything. If I have to type something or perform the same actions on the computer more than twice, I consider putting it into Breevy and being done with it.

The first software I put on my computer is always Breevy. And I use the portable version on a USB stick so I can have it with me everywhere I work as well.

The Basics of Breevy

Breevy, at its most simple use, is an abbreviation manager. That means that you can set it up to replace your abbreviations with full text.

Simple Abbreviations

My most-used simple abbreviations include my email addresses (very handy for logging in), the current date (in three different formats) and my library card number (for the online hold system).

These are abbreviations I use every single day, and it still catches me off guard when I have to type them in fully.

URLs

Another place I use Breevy is the start of the scouting year.

Inevitably, I have parents who cannot find the permission slip and health history online (after they have lost the paper copy I gave them). So I keep those URLs in Breevy so I can add them to emails without having to stop and look them up.

I also have the URL for the blog, URLs for client remote logins, and URLs for the NaNoWriMo stats update.

Address/Phone Numbers

When I was teaching last year, a parent asked at least once a week via email what our school address and phone number were. I put both of these in Breevy so I didn’t have to stop and look them up on the school website.

I also keep my business Google Voice number in there so if a client asks for my phone I can give them that number quickly and not have to worry about a client having my personal phone (and I can block them if necessary)

One Other Outstanding Basic Feature

One of the things that I love about Breevy, and I have to give it a special mention, is the ability to sync the abbreviations to Dropbox. That means no matter what computer I am using it on, I am using the same abbreviations.

I mention it because it is seamless and bugless. Too many other software packages that offer Dropbox “syncing” are flawed.

Breevy is perfect in this regard.

Using Computer Keyboard Access

But Breevy is so much more than abbreviations. You can actually make it do anything you can do with your mouse.

Most people don’t know that you can operate a Windows computer completely without a mouse. This is a built-in feature that makes the computer accessible to those differently-abled. But this feature also makes it possible to have Breevy manipulate the computer just as you would with a mouse.

A brief lesson: if you press the Alt key in a Windows program, you will see little lines appear under a single letter of each menu. Standard ones include F for the File menu, E for Edit, and H for Help. If you press Alt and then the F key, you will then pop down the File menu, and you can use the underlined letters or your arrow keys to find the correct option and select it by pressing enter.

So to save a file, you would press Alt, then F, then S.

In addition, there are several standard shortcuts for things. Save, for instance, is always Ctrl+S.

So if you know these shortcuts and menu access keys, you can make Breevy do anything your mouse can do.

Beyond The Basics

I have a lot of programming of this sort in Breevy. I use them to manipulate text, and also to make the computer act as if I were driving it.

Numbering A Calendar

One of the things I do frequently is make my own month calendars. I do them for the blog and for scouts. But putting in the month day numbers is a PITA. So I made Breevy do it for me.

All of my calendars already have the 7 column by 5 row table set up in Word or in Scrivener. With the keyboard, you can navigate through this grid with your tab key.

I put my cursor in the box of the first day of the month, and type in ..scal, and the days automatically fill in.

(Why the .. In front? It makes sure that the abbreviation isn’t automatically triggered when I am typing other things.)

Here is my Breevy abbreviation to put in the numbers:
1
%(Key tab)2
%(Key tab)3
%(Key tab)4
%(Key tab)5
%(Key tab)6
%(Key tab)7
%(Key tab)8
%(Key tab)9
%(Key tab)10
%(Key tab)11
%(Key tab)12
%(Key tab)13
%(Key tab)14
%(Key tab)15
%(Key tab)16
%(Key tab)17
%(Key tab)18
%(Key tab)19
%(Key tab)20
%(Key tab)21
%(Key tab)22
%(Key tab)23
%(Key tab)24
%(Key tab)25
%(Key tab)26
%(Key tab)27
%(Key tab)28
%(Key tab)29
%(Key tab)30

Photo Credits

I also use Breevy to take the raw data from the pictures I use for blog articles and make the credit line I put in the article.

The data gets put into Notepad on four lines:
Photographer Name in Flickr
Photographer URL in Flicker
The link to the Creative Commons license the photo is under
The URL to the photo

When I type in wlpph on the line with the URL it changes the first three lines into the following HTML, leaving the URL untouched underneath it. I can then copy this right into the post and the photo in the media space.

The code:
%(Key up 2)%(Key end)%(Key shift+home)%(Key ctrl+x)%(Key up)%(Key home)

Image by %(Key end). Licensed under Creative Commons. Text added%(cursor) .

Repetitive Action

One of the more tedious aspects of my programming job is having to clean up large amounts of text before importing into a database.

Using two Breevy abbreviations, I can make the job complete in minutes instead of hours.

Let’s say the client data came through, and at the beginning of every line there was an extra four characters that needed to be deleted, and then at the end of every line, there were two that needed to be deleted.

I would program one Breevy abbreviation called ..cldc to remove the characters on one line:
%(Key Home)%(Key Del 4)%(Key end)%(Key back 2)

Then the second abbreviation would be to run the first abbreviation 10 times, moving down a line after each one:
%(Abbreviation cldc)%(Key down)%(Abbreviation cldc)%(Key down)%(Abbreviation cldc)%(Key down)%(Abbreviation cldc)%(Key down)%(Abbreviation cldc)%(Key down)%(Abbreviation cldc)%(Key down)%(Abbreviation cldc)%(Key down)%(Abbreviation cldc)%(Key down)%(Abbreviation cldc)%(Key down)%(Abbreviation cldc)%(Key down)


Breevy is an absolute powerhouse of automation. It does not only the basic text replacement that all abbreviation software does, but it also allows you to manipulate the Windows environment just as if you were driving it with a mouse.

I absolutely could not work efficiently without Breevy.

Discussion Question

Today’s discussion question: is there anything you do repetitively that could be automated using Breevy? (Download the full trial version and try it out!)

Special Discount

Patrick from 16 Software has agreed to give Whole Life Productivity readers a discount on Breevy. Use the discount code WLP15 for a 15% discount on the software!

Image by Ryan Somma. Licensed under Creative Commons. Text added .