Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 20
Ten Hints, Tips, and Shortcuts
After spending a lot of quality time with our iPad minis, it's only natural that we've discovered more
than a few helpful hints, tips, and shortcuts. In this chapter, we share our faves.
Saving Time and Keystrokes with Keyboard
Shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts are a way to have your iPad automatically type a phrase when you type the short-
cut. For example, when we type
vty
followed by the spacebar, our iPad minis type
Very truly yours
.
In other words, we type a 3-letter shortcut, and our iPads replace it with a 14-letter phrase in the blink
of an eye.
How long would it take you to type
Dictated to and scent from my iPad mini; please blame Siri
for any missed steaks
on your iPad mini's onscreen keyboard? And would you type it without mis-
takes? It took a fraction of a second to type our shortcut for this phrase (
dict
), and another fraction of
a second for the iPad to expand it (to
Dictated to and scent from my iPad mini; please blame Siri
for any missed steaks
).
Shortcuts save you time and keystrokes.
Another advantage is that you'll always spell things correctly (so long as you spell them correctly
when you create the shortcut and phrase).
You can even use shortcuts to automatically correct the spelling of words you commonly mistype.
Say you often type taht when you mean to type that. Here's how to create, edit, and enjoy your iPad's
convenient little keystroke savers. Start by creating a shortcut:
1.
Tap Settings
⇒
General
⇒
Keyboard.
2.
Tap Add New Shortcut.
3.
Type the phrase and the shortcut you want to trigger it.
For example, say you want the phrase “I'll call or text you as soon as I'm free,” to appear when
you type the shortcut cty, as shown in Figure
20-1
.
