How to Use Text Replacement on Mac

Set up Text Replacement on Mac in System Settings > Keyboard > Text Input. Create shorthand snippets that expand as you type and sync via iCloud.

1. Open the Keyboard settings pane. Open System Settings from the Apple menu. Click Keyboard in the sidebar. Scroll to the Text Input section. Click the Text Replacements button. A sheet opens listing every replacement already stored on this Mac, which on a new machine is a short list of nothing.
2. Create your first replacement. Click the plus button at the bottom left of the sheet. Type your shorthand into the Replace column. Press Tab. Type the full text into the With column. Press Return. Keep the shorthand short and unlikely: a leading semicolon or two characters of nonsense works well.
3. Test the replacement in a text field. Open Notes, Mail, or TextEdit. Type your shorthand, then press Space. The shorthand becomes the full text. If nothing happens, check the app's Edit menu, open the Substitutions submenu, and confirm Text Replacement is checked for that app.
4. Let iCloud carry the list across devices. Replacements sync through iCloud to every device signed in to the same Apple Account with iCloud Drive turned on. Open System Settings, click your name at the top, open iCloud, and confirm iCloud Drive is on. Your iPhone then answers to the same shorthand.
5. Know which apps ignore the list. Text Replacement lives in the system text engine, so apps that draw their own text fields skip it. Browsers, Electron apps, and terminal emulators will not expand your shorthand. Native apps such as Notes, Mail, Messages, Pages, and TextEdit all honor it.
6. Edit or remove a replacement later. Return to System Settings, Keyboard, Text Input, and click Text Replacements. Double-click any entry to edit either column. Select an entry and click the minus button to delete it. Changes travel through iCloud the same way additions do.