Productivity
Vow Second Screen
Turn a tablet or phone into a second screen for your PC, in its browser
- Free: 3 sessions a day of 30 minutes, HD picture, view only, one device
- $4.95 once: Any length, up to 4K, touch, pen and keyboard, up to 6 devices
Vow Text Expander
Text expander for Windows
Type three letters. Get the whole reply. In every app you type in.
Turn ;sig into your signature, ;addr into your address and ;ty into a polite reply that asks for the customer's name first. It works in Outlook, Word, Chrome, Teams, Slack and any web form. No account, no cloud, no subscription.
- No ads
- No malware
- No account
- Light & dark theme
- 10 of your own snippets, 10 fill-in forms a day, every pack
No ads. Ever.No pop-ups, no banners, no "offers".
No malware or bundlewareThe installer installs one thing: this app.
No account, no uploadIt works on your PC, and your files stay there.
Free daily limits, just $4.95 unlimitedNo subscription. No trial that runs out.
The problem
You type the same things all day
Signatures, addresses, "thanks for getting in touch". Every repeat costs a minute, and the tools that fix it often cost more.
The same reply, again
Your address, your sign-off, the same three-paragraph answer: typed out by hand, dozens of times a week.
Typos in the boring bits
Rushed, repetitive typing is where the misspelt name and the wrong phone number creep in.
A subscription for shortcuts
Some of the best-known text expanders charge every month, per person, for what is mostly a list of abbreviations.
Your snippets in their cloud
Many want an account and keep your replies, addresses and notes on their servers.
Or learn a scripting language
The free alternatives often mean config files and scripts before your first shortcut works.
Only works in one app
Outlook signatures and Word autotext stop at the edge of that program. Your browser and chat get nothing.
Vow Text Expander fixes all of it.
How it works
Create. Type. Expand.
Give a snippet a short abbreviation once, and it turns into the full text wherever you type it.
- 01
Create a snippet
Press Ctrl+N, give it an abbreviation such as ;sig and type its text. Add 5 examples in one click, or import a library from another text expander.
Type a short abbreviation and get the full text anywhere. - 02
Type it anywhere
Type ;sig and a space in any app and it becomes the full text. Snippets with fill-ins ask for a name or a choice first.
...and free ready-made packs and what snippets can do. - 03
Forgot one? Search
Press Ctrl+Alt+Space anywhere, type a few letters and press Enter. The snippet goes in where you were typing.
...and the quick-search hotkey, excluded apps and theme.
Features
Smarter than copy and paste, simpler than scripts
For anyone who writes the same emails, notes and answers more than once a day.
Works in every app
Outlook, Word, Excel, Chrome, Edge, Teams, Slack, web forms and more: if you can type there, snippets expand there.
Fill-in forms
Ask for a name, pick from choices or switch an optional line on, with a live preview, then insert it in one go.
Dates that do maths
Today's date in any format, plus 3 days, minus a week, or 5 business days from now. Times too.
Clipboard and cursor
Drop in what you copied, put the cursor exactly where you want to keep typing, or press Tab between fields.
Backspace undoes it
Expanded by mistake? Press Backspace straight away and your abbreviation comes back.
Adapts to your capitals
Btw becomes "By the way", BTW becomes "BY THE WAY". Or keep it exact, per snippet.
Ready-made packs
A typo fixer for 188 common misspellings, symbols, 65 emoji and dates and times. Free, and never counted.
Moves in from other tools
Imports TextExpander, Beeftext, Espanso, AutoHotkey, PhraseExpress CSV and more, placeholders translated.
See the time you save
Expansions today, this week and in total, characters you did not type and the time saved.
Stays out of password apps
Nothing expands in KeePass, KeePassXC, 1Password or Bitwarden by default, and your clipboard comes back after a paste.
Light & dark theme
Easy on the eyes, day or night.
Text Expander comes with a crisp light theme and a calm dark theme. Switch with one click, or let it follow your Windows setting by itself. It remembers your choice.
- LightClear and bright for daytime and busy offices
- DarkGentle on tired eyes late at night
- Follow WindowsChanges by itself when your PC does
Screenshots
See Vow Text Expander in action
Real screenshots of the real app, in both of its themes: 7 light, 7 dark. Click any picture to see it full size.
Light theme
Dark theme
Who it's for
Who saves the most typing
Customer support
Answer common questions with personalised replies that ask for the customer's name before they go in.
Sales and recruiting
Follow-ups, meeting invites with a date three business days out, and links you send all day.
Clinics and practices
Standard notes, instructions and letters typed in a few keystrokes, in any system you use.
Developers and IT
Boilerplate, commands and ticket replies, with the cursor placed where the next detail goes.
Writers and students
Fix the typos you always make, insert symbols and dates, and reuse your standard phrases.
Small business owners
Your address, bank details, sign-off and quote wording, the same every time, in seconds.
Compare
Vow Text Expander vs the usual text expanders
Snippets should save you time and money, not lock them into a monthly plan.
| Feature | Vow Text Expander | Typical text expander apps |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free every day, or $4.95 once | Subscriptions, or free but script-based |
| Account required | No | Often |
| Your snippets stored | On your PC only | Often in their cloud |
| Fill-in forms with live preview | Yes | Paid tiers, or scripting |
| Business-day date maths | Yes, e.g. {date+5bd} | Rarely |
| Set up without scripts | Yes, point and click | Free tools often need config files |
| Import from other expanders | 6 formats, placeholders translated | Limited |
| Ads and bundled extras | None, ever | Common in freeware downloads |
"Typical" describes what we found across the most-downloaded alternatives when we built Text Expander. Your mileage with any one of them may vary; ours won't.
Pricing
Free every day. Just $4.95 once for the lot.
That is not a typo. Software this powerful usually means a monthly subscription; Text Expander is $4.95, once, for life: it's almost a giveaway. Use it free for as long as you like, and unlock Unlimited only if you need more.
Free
$0forever
10 of your own snippets, 10 fill-in forms a day, every pack.
- 10 snippets of your own, as often as you like
- 10 fill-in forms a day (resets at midnight)
- Dates, clipboard, cursor and every placeholder
- Typo fixer, symbols, emoji and date packs
- Quick search, import and export
- No ads, no sign-up, nothing uploaded
Best valueUnlimited
$4.95USD, once. Yours for life.
Almost a giveaway. Less than a coffee for software this powerful: no subscription, no renewals, yours for life on 2 PCs.
Unlimited snippets and forms, daily backups, a sync folder.
- Unlimited snippets: whole libraries expand
- Unlimited fill-in forms every day
- Automatic daily backups, one-click restore
- A sync folder (OneDrive, Dropbox) for several PCs
- One payment, yours for life on 2 PCs
- Every future update included
How unlocking works
- 1Use it free first Install Vow Text Expander and use it on your own files. No card, no account, no time limit.
- 2Click "Unlimited" in the app Pay $4.95 USD once by card, securely through Stripe in your browser.
- 3It unlocks itself Within seconds, for life, on up to 2 of your PCs. Your license key is emailed to you, and every future update is included.
Payments by Stripe: we never see or store your card. Questions? Ask a real person.
Clean software
Safe to install. Nothing else comes with it.
Most "free" Windows downloads pay for themselves with ads, bundled extras or your data. Vow Text Expander doesn't need to: it's paid for honestly, once, by the people who find it useful.
Download Text Expander free- No ads, toolbars or "offers"The installer installs one thing: Vow Text Expander. No pre-ticked boxes to watch out for.
- No administrator rights neededIt installs just for you, in your own user folder, and leaves the rest of Windows alone.
- Nothing running in the backgroundNo startup programs, no tray nags, no services. When you close it, it's closed.
- Everything includedAll it needs is inside the installer, so you never have to fetch a "required component" from somewhere else.
- Uninstalls cleanlyOne click in Windows Settings > Apps. Your own files are never touched.
- A real company behind itMade, published and supported by XTO Pty Ltd, an Australian company, with real people answering every message.
Step-by-step guide
How to set up text shortcuts on Windows
Your first snippet takes about thirty seconds, and it works in every app straight away.
Step 1: get it freeInstall Vow Text Expander free
Download it from this page and run the installer. There is no account and no administrator prompt; it starts with Windows and waits in the notification area.
Add your first snippet
Press New (Ctrl+N). Type an abbreviation such as ;sig, then the full text in the box below. It saves by itself as you type.
Add a date, a fill-in or the cursor
Use the toolbar to drop in Date, Clipboard, Cursor or a Fill-in field. The preview shows exactly what will be typed.
Type it in any app
Open Outlook, a browser or chat, type ;sig and press space, Tab or Enter. Press Backspace straight after if you want the abbreviation back.
Use quick search when you forget
Press Ctrl+Alt+Space, type part of the name or text, and press Enter to insert it. Ctrl+C copies it instead.
Technical details
Text Expander at a glance
- Works on
- Windows 10 (1809+) and Windows 11, 64-bit
- Expands in
- Any app you can type in
- Triggers
- Space, Tab, Enter, punctuation, or at once
- Snippets
- Plain text or formatted (rich text / HTML)
- Imports
- TextExpander, Beeftext, Espanso, AutoHotkey, CSV, TSV, JSON
- Internet
- Not needed: works fully offline
- Install
- Per-user, no administrator rights, no account
- Languages
- English
- Theme
- Light, dark or follow Windows: one click to switch
- Version
- 1.0.0, released 7 November 2026
- Publisher
- XTO Pty Ltd (Australia)
FAQ
Questions about Text Expander
Is Vow Text Expander free?
Yes. Ten snippets of your own expand as often as you like, with every placeholder, quick search, import and export, and the typo, symbol, emoji and date packs, which never count. Fill-in forms work 10 times a day. Unlimited, a one-time $4.95 USD payment, removes both limits and adds daily backups and a sync folder.
Which apps does it work in?
Practically any app you type in: Outlook, Word, Excel, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Teams, Slack, web forms and terminals such as PuTTY. Each snippet can also be limited to, or kept out of, particular apps.
Can I bring my snippets from another text expander?
Yes. It imports TextExpander (CSV or .textexpander), Beeftext, Espanso, AutoHotkey hotstrings, PhraseExpress CSV, TSV and JSON, translates their placeholders, and shows you what comes in before anything changes. Export to JSON or CSV is always free.
What is a fill-in form?
A snippet can ask for details before it goes in: a name, a few lines of notes, a choice between options, or an optional line you switch on. You see a live preview, press Enter, and the finished text is inserted.
Does it touch my clipboard?
Short lines are typed as key presses and never touch the clipboard. Long or formatted text is pasted, flagged so clipboard history tools skip it, and your clipboard is put back a moment later.
Are my snippets uploaded anywhere?
No. Your library is a file on your own PC. With Unlimited you can point it at a folder you already sync, such as OneDrive or Dropbox, to use the same snippets on several PCs.
What if something expands by accident?
Press Backspace straight away and your abbreviation comes back. Abbreviations only fire at the start of a word unless you choose otherwise, and nothing expands in password managers by default.
Is it safe to install?
Yes. It is made and published by XTO Pty Ltd, an Australian company. There are no ads, no bundled software and no account, it needs no administrator rights, and it uninstalls cleanly from Windows Settings.
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Done searching. Get Text Expander.
Type ;sig and get your whole signature, in every app. Free to use every day, $4.95 once if you ever want Unlimited.
- No ads
- No malware
- No account
- No subscription