7 Oslash Alternatives for Writing Text Snippets

by | May 16, 2024 | Productivity

Repetitive typing can be a pretty time-consuming venture. This is especially true for those who have jobs that require them to prepare long documents, reports, meetings of minutes, emails with canned responses, etc.

Text expanders allow people to use just a few keystrokes to insert entire paragraphs or sentences of generic text.

Oslash was one of the popular tools for this kind of thing, known for transforming some of the most cumbersome text into easy shortcuts. However, it is no longer available as of 2023 for users.

Thankfully, incredibly solid alternatives exist, and these are what will be the focus of the sections below.

1. Klutch

Klutch is a very impressive knowledge base software that offers text expansion tools, that has more of a team focus than Oslash. While the necessary functionality for reducing repetitive typing is available in no short quantity, there is also a focus on collaboration and providing information to team members.

Some of the standout features include:

  • Platform-independent accessibility on desktop, mobile, and browsers
  • Convenient shortcuts for replies, sending out meetings, sharing company info, etc.
  • Templates that reduce typing repetitiveness even further
  • Pages for long-form company content that allow efficient documentation and faster onboarding

Klutch’s pricing comes in two flavors:

  • Free – Includes up to 2 GB of storage, shortcuts, 10 canned responses monthly, up to 10 items, and access to unlimited members.
  • Pro – Removes all the limitations associated with the free version, except for storage, which is upgraded to 100 GB. The cost is $5 per user per month when paid monthly, or $4 per user per month, when billed annually.

Pros:

  • Cost-effective
  • Loaded with additional features beyond text expansion
  • Usable anywhere

Cons:

  • Can be a lot to navigate through at the onset just to get to relevant features

2. TextExpander

Like Klutch, TextExpander is also meant to be a team-based application. However, the focus is purely on making the repetitive phrases easier to navigate. The setup requires the creation of the most commonly used messages, URLs, phrases, emails, etc.

With that done, then these items can be shared, and used by anyone with access. Customizations can then be added to maintain a human touch.

Notable features include:

  • Platform independence
  • Inclusion of popup menus, drop downs, etc., to customize individual messages
  • Easy to get started
  • Usage insights

TextExpander’s pricing model provides access to four different subscription types:

  • Individual – Focused purely on the communication side of things to enable more efficiency. The cost is $4.16 per user per month.
  • Business – Adds collaborative functionality that allows for effective team communication, and costs $10.41 per user per month. Meant for small teams of up to nine users.
  • Growth – Includes advanced data and user management insights and is meant for growing teams of between 10 and 50 users. Here, the cost is $13.54 per user per month.
  • Enterprise – The solutions here are customized, and so a consultation is done to identify what kind of features are needed. Pricing is based on the results of these consultations.

Note that all costs come with a 20% discount if annual billing is selected.

Pros:

  • Great focus on text expansion
  • Shareable shortcuts that can be updated for the entire team
  • Knowledge base to promote ease of use

Cons:

  • No free tier
  • Lacking in integrations

3. Text Blaze

Text Blaze is another option that happens to be Chrome-based. The selling point here is the sheer amount of customizability. Plus, the company states that it leads to an 11 times multiplier in user productivity whenever one of its snippets is used. It also states that actual user results indicate a 200-character-per-minute typing speed.

The standout features here include:

  • Personal assistant for the easy filling in of fields on forms
  • Snippets and templates are used to improve work greatly by expanding text, using macros, capitalizing on canned responses, and more
  • A central database that allows the team to access the most effective emails, chats, and other messages

The pricing model for a Text Blaze is a bit unique when compared to some of the other options that have been covered. By default, the extension is free.

However, there are different business-based versions for recruiting, marketing, support and operations, sales, education, etcetera. To get the pricing on these, customers would have to color contact the sales team.

Pros:

  • Straightforward interface
  • Compatibility with many known websites
  • Free

Cons:

  • Not very feature-rich
  • Only usable in Google Chrome

4. Magical

Magical aims to boost productivity by leveraging the power of artificial intelligence. With that in mind, it tries to automate repetitive tasks on any web platform, which includes typing.

While it is possible to use text expansion here, alongside context-based replies and suggested messages, there’s more to dig into on the customer relationship management and data entry side of things.

Stand-out features here include:

  • Expansion templates that allow for the personalization of messages
  • AI-based writing interface, complete with suggested messages and replies based on conversation history, tone, etc.
  • Leveraging data from any open tab to complete spreadsheets, CRM, or database entries
  • Template sharing with team members
  • Dedicated AI functions for different business types such as operations, education, sales, healthcare, and support

Magical has the following three pricing tiers:

  • Free – 600 monthly text expansions, unlimited template storage, and 20 monthly automations.
  • Core – unlimited text expansions and e-mail/community support are added for $6.50 per user per month.
  • Teams – for clients who need scaled and consistent automation, a custom platform can be put together, but sales must be engaged for the price.

Pros:

  • Automation in numerous areas
  • Collaboration features
  • Specialized implementations for different fields

Cons

  • Core plan needed for moderate use

5. PhraseExpress

PhraseExpress has over 20 years of experience in the business, and allows its users to speed up their typing in just about any program. It does this with templates capturing frequently used text, and even allows them to be stored and shared in the cloud using Microsoft SQL Server or a network storage device.

Standout features include:

  • OpenAI integration
  • Team-based phrase sharing
  • Cross-platform support

As far as pricing goes, there is a pretty solid free version that can be used. However, it is meant for personal context.

Beyond that, standard, professional, or enterprise variations will need to be purchased for $75, $126, and $210 respectively. The price tags may seem high, but PhraseExpress uses purely perpetual licensing.

Pros:

  • Great focus on text expansion
  • Perpetual licensing means a single payment is needed
  • Security implementations

Cons:

  • Interface can feel dated

6. aText

aText is a pretty simple interface, meant to allow for the acceleration of typing in just about any application, by replacing known abbreviations with frequently used phrases that are defined by the user.

It’s currently available for both Windows and Mac OS, meaning a download is necessary. Standard features include:

  • Auto correction
  • Rich text
  • Cloud sync
  • Scripts
  • Built-in snippets

The pricing here can get a little strange to understand. Effectively, there are a couple of personal options, with one costing $4.99 and the other costing $29.99. Those wanting a one-year plan would use the former, and those wanting a lifetime plan would use the latter.

Businesses can get access to $9.99, $14.99, and $29.99 pricing, though it is not easy to understand what the difference is.

Pros:

  • Easy to use
  • Cost-effective

Cons:

  • Platforms are restrictive
  • License schemes can be confusing

7. Espanso

Espanso is a text expander with a twist. It’s cross-platform and open source, but it is meant to appeal to tech-savvy users who need a great amount of customization. The snippets here are not very straightforward. Instead, complex shortcut creation is required, which is right up the alley of power users and developers.

Here are the features to note:

  • Smart typing
  • Form support
  • System-wide integration
  • Script and shell support

Since Espanso is an open-source offering, it is free for all of those who may want to use or improve it.

Pros:

  • Highly customizable
  • The open-source model allows developers to use and transform it for improvement
  • Expansive tool support
  • Free

Cons:

  • Prohibitive to standard users

Choosing the Right Alternative

You should never choose a text expander based on things that you hear other people say. Instead, consider the unique needs and map them to various features. Here are some of the things that you want to think about:

  • Budget
  • Cost
  • Feature set
  • Integrations
  • Team size

Conclusion

While Oslash may not be around anymore, there are superb alternatives such as the ones alluded to above. Just remember that you should factor in your unique needs before anything else as you make your choice, so whatever you choose best suits you.

 

Suggestion for you

Save time by using professionally designed documents and spreadsheet templates created by Klutch.