Text expansion for Windows
Never type that
paragraph again.
The same reply. The same address. The same bug template with today's date in it. Type three letters instead and KeptInFlow writes the whole thing out, in email, the browser, your IDE, chat, the terminal. Dates and clipboard text fill themselves in, templates can stop and ask you for a name, and an expansion can be a prompt that the AI answers. It is one part of one app you pay for once.
If Windows SmartScreen asks about this new release, click More info → Run anyway. The installer is code-signed and verified.
Best regards,
Maya Okafor
Design and development
maya@okaforstudio.example
Four characters typed (;sig). The rest was your library.
Expansion is one door of
- Text expander
- Clipboard manager
- Snipping Tool
- Dictation app
- Meeting notetaker
- ChatGPT tab
Runs on your PC, not in a tab · no account · pay once
Four keystrokes instead of forty
Write it once.
Type three letters after that.
You define an abbreviation and the text it stands for. From then on, typing the abbreviation anywhere in Windows erases it and puts the text in its place. There is no plugin per app and nothing to configure in Outlook, Chrome, or your editor.
Any app you can type in
Type your abbreviation and it becomes the full text. Email clients, browsers, IDEs, chat apps and terminals all work the same way, with nothing to install for each one.
Dates, clipboard, cursor
{date}, {time}, and {datetime}
fill themselves in, in your own format if you want one
({date:%B %-d, %Y}). {clipboard} drops in what
you last copied, and {cursor} says where the caret should
land when the expansion is done.
Templates that ask
Put {field:Client} in a template and a small form opens
at your caret when the abbreviation fires. Enter and Tab move through
the fields, a field used twice is only asked once, and
{field:Due=Friday} pre-fills an answer you can accept or
type over.
One abbreviation, several answers
Give an entry variants and typing its abbreviation opens a small
numbered list at the caret instead of expanding. Press 1 to 9 to pick,
or just press Enter for the first one. Handy for one
;date that offers three date formats.
One template, two questions, no window to switch to.
And the part a plain expander cannot do
The expansion is a prompt
Mark an entry as AI and its text becomes an instruction instead of a fixed block. Typing the abbreviation sends the prompt and pastes the answer where you were typing. Cancel it with Escape and your abbreviation comes back.
Prompts that know what you are looking at
An AI expansion can pull in what you copied
({clipboard}), the text of the window you are in
({window_text}), or a screenshot of that window or
screen ({window}, {screen}), so "write a
short reply to this" has something to reply to.
Nothing leaves your PC for a plain expansion
A literal expansion is text substitution on your own machine: no network call, no API key, no model. Only entries you mark as AI ever talk to a provider, and then only to the one you configured.
Groups, names, and an off switch per entry
Entries carry a display name and a free-form group, and each one can be switched off without deleting it. The manager is searchable, with group filter chips, so a library of a few hundred stays navigable.
For libraries you cannot memorize
Type ;; and search all of them.
The reason people abandon text expanders is that they forget their own abbreviations. Type two semicolons anywhere and a picker opens at your caret, searching every entry you have as you type: by abbreviation, by name, or by the words inside the expansion.
Three rows sit under the matches at all times, so a search that finds nothing still goes somewhere: ask the AI what you just typed, save it as a new expansion, or open the manager.
It reminds you while you type
Half-way through an abbreviation, a dim row at the caret shows what it could become, and Tab finishes it. Ordinary prose never sets it off.
Make this an expansion
Select any text in any app and press the shortcut. It lands in your
library with an abbreviation suggested from its own first words ("Best
regards, John" becomes ;brj), with the editor open on the
new entry in case you want a different one.
Create one without leaving the app
The New expansion row builds one at the caret: type the text, use what is on the clipboard, pick something out of your capture library of past copies and snips, or hand off to the full editor for variants, prompts, and fill-in fields.
Bring your old library over
Import reads an Espanso match file, a Beeftext combo list, PowerToys Advanced Paste custom actions, or a Ditto database, and matches on abbreviation so re-importing does not duplicate. Export writes a plain JSON file that is yours.
Your library is a file on your disk, not a row in someone's database. If you want the same one on two PCs, optional folder sync (off until you turn it on) keeps them in step through a folder you already sync with Dropbox, OneDrive, or Syncthing. No account, no server of ours in the middle.
Also for your hands: CapsLock cursor keys
Arrow keys under your fingers
Hold CapsLock and h j k l move the cursor in any app. w and b jump by word, a and e go to the start and end of the line, u and d page. Add Shift to select. Off until you turn it on in Settings, Writing tools.
Every key is yours to change
Bind any letter, digit or punctuation key to arrows, word and line moves, delete, Enter, Tab, Escape, undo, copy and paste, or F1 to F12. Start from the Vim h j k l layout or the i j k l one.
Whole words and whole lines
CapsLock with Backspace or Delete removes a word at a time. Copy line, Cut line and Paste over line are there to bind too, and they stay out of the way in terminals.
A map for when you forget
Hold CapsLock for a moment without pressing anything and a small map of your keys appears at the bottom of the screen. A quick tap still turns Caps Lock on, unless you set it to Escape.
The honest version
Rent an expander, or own one.
TextExpander is a good product and it has been around longer. The difference that matters for most people is not a feature. It is that one of these is a bill that arrives every year, and the other is a purchase.
| A text expander subscription | KeptInFlow | |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay | TextExpander Pro is $60 a year (annual billing), for as long as you keep using it | $59 once, at the founding price |
| After three years | $180, and still counting | $59, and it is yours |
| If you stop paying | The subscription ends | You keep the app forever. Founding buyers get every update for life; later buyers get a year, and renewing is optional at $39/yr |
| What else it buys you | Text expansion | Meeting recording and transcription, screen capture with OCR, a clipboard manager, offline dictation, and AI in every app, in the same purchase |
| Where your library lives | An account you sign in to | A file on your PC, with optional folder sync and no account at all |
The trade is real, and here it is. KeptInFlow is Windows 10 and 11 only: there is no Mac app and no phone app, so if you expand text on an iPhone this is not your tool yet. Team libraries and shared snippet groups are not built. And TextExpander's own export format is not one of the four we import, so a library from there has to come across by hand or through Espanso. Price checked September 2026. Check it yourself, prices move.
Expansion is one feature of the app
The rest of what you just bought.
KeptInFlow is a single Windows app for keeping and reusing everything that goes through your screen. Expansion is the typing door. These are the others, all in the one license.
Record calls with no bot
Teams, Zoom, Meet, and Slack huddles recorded from your own PC, transcribed with the speakers told apart, summarized, and searchable later. Nothing joins the meeting.
Snip, OCR, annotate, record
Precise screen capture with on-device OCR, annotation and redaction, scrolling capture, and screen recording you can edit in place. Every capture stays searchable by the words that were on it.
Clipboard manager and dictation
Alt+Tab for your clipboard, plus system-wide dictation that can run entirely on this PC with a free downloaded model, so your voice never leaves the machine.
AI inside every app
Ask a question mid-sentence and the answer replaces it, edit selected text by describing the change, or open a command palette for the whole PC. Bring your own key, or use the included monthly actions.
See the whole app on the home page, or read what it watches: every feature that reads anything, what it reads, whether it leaves your PC, and whether it is on when you install.
No subscription required
Keep it free. Or pay once for Pro.
Try everything free for 30 days. Then keep the free plan forever, or go Pro.
App forever. The first 100 buyers get every update for life; after that, a license includes 1 year of updates. Keep the last version you got if you don't renew. This is not a stealth subscription.
Free trial
30 days
- Every feature, no limits
- Your whole expansion library, no cap
- Then keep the free plan forever, or go Pro
- No card up front. Nothing to cancel.
Free
$0 forever
- Snip, grab text, scrolling capture, color picker
- Clipboard cycler, clean paste, text expansions, calculator
- Smart paste, verification codes, AutoCorrect, mouse gestures
- AI chats, rewrite, inline prompt, command palette
- Record your screen, with sound
- Dictation: 2,000 words a week
- Pair your phone and send things across
100 AI actions a month on us. Want more? Use the free on-device model, your own AI key, or the AI plan.
Pro
$59 one-time
$59 for the first 100 buyers, then $79, then $99.
- Everything in Free, plus Screen Memory, the journal, meetings and billing
- The Studio look, webcam and step-by-step recordings
- Unlimited on-device dictation, no quota to run out of
- Own it forever, no subscription
- Every future update, for life
- Text expansion, capture, meetings, clipboard, dictation, and AI in one app
- 30-day refund, no questions asked
$59 is the founding price for the first 100 buyers, with lifetime updates. It ends when those seats sell out, not on a timer. The next 200 buyers pay $79, and after that the price is $99. Those two include one year of updates, renewable for $39/yr (or don't renew and keep what you have). Or get lifetime updates for $199. Every option is a single payment with the 30-day refund.
AI Included
$12 a month
AI that just works. Nothing to set up.
- 5,000 fast AI actions a month
- 1,200 minutes of cloud dictation a month
- Every Pro feature included while it runs
- No key to get and no AI account to open
- Works on its own, or on top of a Pro license
It renews automatically at that price until you cancel. Cancel anytime from Manage subscription in the app, or at app.lemonsqueezy.com/my-orders.
AI that works the moment you subscribe. Or use your own AI key, or the free on-device model.
There are three ways to run the AI. The free on-device model answers on your own PC and costs nothing to run; it is smaller and slower than a cloud model. With your own AI key you pay the AI company directly for what you use. The $12/month AI plan is for people who want AI to just work: no key and nothing to set up, one bill, 5,000 fast AI actions a month, 1,200 minutes of cloud dictation, and every Pro feature included while it is active. On-device dictation and transcription are unlimited with Pro or the AI plan.
Before you ask
Questions, answered.
Does it really expand in every app?
It works anywhere Windows lets you type: email clients, browsers, IDEs, chat apps, terminals. KeptInFlow types the expansion in the way you would, so there is no per-app integration to install or break. If an abbreviation ever fires somewhere you did not want it, that entry has its own off switch, and the whole feature has one.
Do plain expansions need the internet or an API key?
No. A literal expansion, including dates, clipboard text, fill-in fields, and variants, is done on your own machine with no network call at all. Only entries you deliberately mark as AI send anything, and those go to the model provider you configured.
Can I bring my existing snippets?
If they are in Espanso, Beeftext, PowerToys Advanced Paste, or Ditto, yes: point the importer at the file and it reads the format itself. Existing entries win over imported ones with the same abbreviation, so re-importing is safe. TextExpander's own export is not supported yet.
What happens to my library if I stop paying?
Nothing. The library is a file on your disk, the license is a one-time purchase, and the app keeps working. Updates are what a renewal buys, and skipping one leaves you on the last version you received rather than locking you out. You can export the whole library to JSON whenever you want.
Is there a Mac or iPhone version?
Not today. Windows 10 and 11 only, because that is where this depth of integration is possible right now. macOS is on the roadmap but not dated, and the license will cover it when it arrives. If you need expansion on a phone, buy something else for now.
Is this a subscription?
No. It is a one-time license: $59 at the founding price, with lifetime updates for the first 100 buyers, then $79 for the next 200 and $99 after that, with a year of updates included. Renewing updates later costs $39/yr and is optional. There is an optional $12/month AI Included plan for people who would rather not manage an API key (it also unlocks the app while it runs), and you never need it to use the app you bought.