FastKeys Forum

Hi there,

It would be very useful to be able to merge the functionality of the Start Menu and Text Expander, as follows:

I'd love to be able to assign Text Expander strings to items in my Start Menu. Otherwise, I seem to be duplicating functionality, where I have the item in my Start menu for quick visual access, but also want to be able to quickly insert it using a trigger (string).

I basically love the functionality of the Star Menu, where I can create and then navigate through a tree folder with my keyboard.
I also love the functionality of being able to quickly expand longer bits of text using short abbrevations (strings).

However, it's a shame the two can't be combined. Is this something you might consider implementing at some point?

Michael Beijer (Dutch<>English technical/patent translator)

I see what you mean. Currently you can right click to open the context menu and select "Copy to Start Menu" option. This way you can quickly add Text Expander items to the Start menu.

Thanks Marko,

Yes, this is what I am currently doing. I'm just a little worried about duplicating data over time, as well as the problem of how to update & maintain the two separate flows over time.

I think that if it was my program, I would consider rethinking the general structure of the UI, which is currently divided into:
(1) Text Expander
(2) Start Menu
(3) Shortcuts
(4) Auto Complete

Only the Start Menu offers a handy tree navigation feature, and certain functionalities of the items in 1, 2, 3 and 4 are shared across the 4 areas.

I think it might be cool to somehow unify these 4 areas so that the user could use the handy tree navigation feature for ALL 4 areas.

Either way though, you have created a fantastic tool and I'm very much enjoying using it. I'm particularly pleased that I can bring all my own AutoHotkey scripts into FastKeys, and continue learning how to use AHK in my daily work, but inside a better UI than just using tons of separate little AHK script, or dumping them all in one big script.

We are aware of this and indeed this can cause the data duplication in case someone is using different methods to trigger exactly the same commands. However, we believe the majority of users will not experience problems in this respect and they much prefer the clear separation of the modules and the simplicity.

We will still think about this but it would be a fundamental change of the software.