Text Expander-Sparatic Text Output

onlye · Post by **onlye** » Aug 30th, ’25, 15:50

I have been using for couple years and in past 8 months or so the output for Text Expander is sparatic.
I see action (appears to run, drops to next line) but the text does not appear. It may work correctly on the first try or it may fail 1, 2 or 3 times and the work correctly the next time. Primary apps are Web Apps, Thunderbird Email, Notepad, and Word. I get the same issue with all of these apps. Doesn't matter if the text expander is a few words of text or includes user input, or form choices.

I have tried a number of different settings in "Set a Key Delay to 10-50ms" but has not solved the issue.

Fastkeys has significantly reduced the time I spend on activities, which is why this issue is so frustrating.

uszak · Post by **uszak** » Aug 30th, ’25, 20:29

I agree, this is strange, i wanted to test fastkeys as i was using textblaze and this is strange as when typing it is missing letters. I even try to use variables hoping the var will be "pasted" but fast keys types all into the field and ommits some letters while doing so, would it be possible for fast keys to past the sentence instead of type?

Post by **Marko** » Aug 30th, ’25, 20:31

Does this happen with any phrase? Try to reset ALL Preferences to defaults first.

Do you use a Rich Text formatting? You may need to increase the Paste Delay under Preferences/Text Expander/Advanced. Any difference?

Post by **Marko** » Aug 30th, ’25, 20:35

It seems your editor is having issues with handling a fast key sending. Try to use a clipboard method - select "Use clipboard" option (under More options in a phrase definition window) or set the Key Delay to 50-80ms in Preferences/Text Expander/Advanced. Any difference?

uszak wrote: ↑Aug 30th, ’25, 20:29 I agree, this is strange, i wanted to test fastkeys as i was using textblaze and this is strange as when typing it is missing letters. I even try to use variables hoping the var will be "pasted" but fast keys types all into the field and ommits some letters while doing so, would it be possible for fast keys to past the sentence instead of type?

uszak · Post by **uszak** » Aug 30th, ’25, 21:44

I managed to solve my issue by using a file contant where i saved the text needed to be used, ill try your method tomorrow, my text contains crtl+v so if i use clipboard would it somewho nulifies what i have copied in my clipboard already?

onlye · Post by **onlye** » Aug 30th, ’25, 22:03

Marko wrote: ↑Aug 30th, ’25, 20:31 Does this happen with any phrase? Try to reset ALL Preferences to defaults first.

Do you use a Rich Text formatting? You may need to increase the Paste Delay under Preferences/Text Expander/Advanced. Any difference?

Yes, not tied to a specific pharse. Reset all defaults and still an issue. After reset some of pharases were dropping letters in the middle of the pharase, which has not happened before. Before it would appear to apply pharase but there we be no text at all. Yes, using Rich Text Formatting. I increased the Paste Delay from the default of 500 to 800. Will try for a day or so and see if any positive impact. Thanks for the quick response.

onlye · Post by **onlye** » Sep 8th, ’25, 17:15

After the reset and adjusting the delay there is some imporvement but not fixed. I tracked for several days and out of 28 uses of text expander had issues with 9. Most times if it didn't work I tried again and after 2 or 3 tries it worked. This was from 9 different text expanders; some just text and some with input. I don't see a pattern. Below shows test results x means failed, y it worked. multiple means tried same expander several times. THANK for any assistance.
y
xx
xxx
yy
y
y
y
y
y
y
xy
xy
y
xy
xxy
y
y
y
y
xxy
xy
y
y
y
y
y
xy
y

onlye · Post by **onlye** » Sep 13th, ’25, 05:10

Have loved the product but the frustration level is almost to the point that it is not usable. Any suggestions to fix appreciated.

Post by **Marko** » Sep 14th, ’25, 20:11

Rich Text formatting uses a Windows clipboard to paste the phrase result. Increasing the Paste delay in Properties/Text Expander/Advanced should help. It may also be that another application on your computer is causing this. Could you temporarily disable other clipboard management software, anti-virus or other protection applications, and see if this helps?

onlye · Post by **onlye** » Oct 9th, ’25, 17:36

Marko wrote: ↑Sep 14th, ’25, 20:11 Rich Text formatting uses a Windows clipboard to paste the phrase result. Increasing the Paste delay in Properties/Text Expander/Advanced should help. It may also be that another application on your computer is causing this. Could you temporarily disable other clipboard management software, anti-virus or other protection applications, and see if this helps?

Suggestion for the delay setting? I have used from 50 to 1600, issue still happens.
I just checked the box "Use clipboard for rich text" it says requires re-edit. What does that mean I need to do to "re-edit"
Don't know of any other Clipboard management that I have running. Can you give some examples that I might not know about?
Anit-virus stop (using AVG) no impact

This has become so frustrating I am about to go back to copy and paste saved text from notepad and stop using what was the most productive software, Fastkeys. If I can't get it to work correctly then no more postive reccomendations, will have to change to Don't Use.

Some ideas that may actually help would be appreciated. I used this for over a year with no issues.