Switching from aText to TypeSnap

aText has been a reliable Mac text expander since 2011, and if it’s served you well, that’s a fair reason to stay. But if you’re noticing sporadic updates, a dated interface, or you want an actively maintained app with a modern macOS design, TypeSnap is the natural upgrade. The good news: your snippets come with you. TypeSnap has a dedicated aText importer that reads CSV and JSON exports directly.

What Transfers

Here’s what comes over:

• All snippets and their content
• Abbreviations and labels (a snippet without a label uses its abbreviation as the label)
• Groups, when your export has a group column (CSV) or group information (JSON)
• Common placeholders, converted to TypeSnap macros (see the table below)

Snippets without a group land in a group called Imported.

What won’t transfer: aText-specific AppleScript and shell script actions. These import as plain text rather than executable scripts. TypeSnap uses JavaScript for dynamic snippets, not AppleScript, so scripted snippets need to be recreated, either as TypeSnap JavaScript snippets or with fill-in fields.

Step 1: Export from aText

Use aText’s export command to save your snippets as a CSV or JSON file, and save it somewhere easy to find. If you only want some groups, export just those. The exact menu wording depends on your aText version; aText’s own help covers it.

If you use CSV, TypeSnap reads the columns by their header names, so the order doesn’t matter:

• Abbreviation (also Shortcut or Keyword)
• Content (also Phrase, Text, or Snippet)
• Label (also Description or Name), optional
• Group (also Folder or Category), optional

A CSV without a header row is read as abbreviation, content, label, group, in that order.

Step 2: Import into TypeSnap

1. Open TypeSnap
2. Open File → Import Snippets and select aText as the source
3. Click Choose File and select your .csv or .json export
4. Review the preview and its separate Warnings and Errors sections. Rows with a missing or invalid abbreviation are skipped and listed there.
5. Click Import

If an imported abbreviation matches one you already have in TypeSnap, you’ll be asked whether to skip or replace it.

Placeholder Conversion Reference

Anything the importer doesn’t recognize stays as plain text, so it’s easy to spot when you test.

After Import

Open your imported groups in TypeSnap’s sidebar and take a few minutes to scan through them. Plain text snippets should come over exactly as they were.

Look out for snippets that used aText’s AppleScript or scripting features. They’ll appear as plain text containing the script source. You have two options: recreate the logic as a TypeSnap JavaScript snippet, or replace it with a fill-in field (often the simpler approach for things like prompted name insertions).

Once you’ve verified everything works, quit aText and remove it from Login Items (System Settings → General → Login Items). There’s no need to keep it running alongside TypeSnap.

FAQ

What about aText’s AppleScript snippets?

TypeSnap uses JavaScript for dynamic snippets, not AppleScript. AppleScript content imports as plain text: the script is preserved as a string, but it won’t run. You can recreate the logic with TypeSnap’s JavaScript snippet type, or in many cases replace it with a fill-in field ({{input:FieldName}}), which is often simpler.

Can I import aText groups?

Yes. If your CSV has a Group (or Folder or Category) column, TypeSnap creates a matching group for each value. JSON exports that list groups with their snippets are imported the same way.

TypeSnap is $17.99, one time. No subscription, no cloud account required. Download TypeSnap. Or see the full import guide for all supported formats.