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Is it possible to expand an abbreviation in the middle of a word?

Normally, Typinator does not replace abbreviations that occur in the middle of a word. The reason for this is simple: allowing replacements at arbitrary positions could lead to unpredictable or unwanted changes while typing. Let’s look at an example.

Imagine you define wnl as an abbreviation for within normal limits. That may work fine on its own – but if Typinator recognized this abbreviation inside any word, it would also modify the word download, turning it into dowithin normal limitsoad. Clearly not what you want. That’s why Typinator, by default, only expands abbreviations that appear at the beginning, at the end, or as a complete word.

But what if you do want to expand inside a word?

There are valid cases where this behavior is actually desired. For instance, some users type "öö" to represent "é", or "ää" to represent "á" – shortcuts for accented characters that they want to use even within words like cassöös, which should become cassés.

So is there a way to make this work?

Yes!

Typinator offers a powerful solution: Regular Expression Sets.

How to make replacements inside words

To enable this feature, follow these steps:

  1. Open Typinator.
  2. Click the “+” button below the list of sets.
  3. Choose “New Regular Expression Set…”.
  4. Give the new set a name, such as "Accent shortcuts".
  5. Add a new rule:
    Abbreviation: öö
    Expansion: é
  6. Make sure the set is active (checkbox enabled).
  7. Try typing a word like cassöös – it will now become cassés, even though the abbreviation is in the middle.

You can use the same technique for any other abbreviation that should work mid-word, including accents, math symbols, technical notations, or other domain-specific text.

A few things to keep in mind

Regular Expression Sets are more flexible, but also more powerful – meaning they bypass some of Typinator’s built-in safety checks. Be careful not to create rules that unintentionally interfere with normal typing. As always, test your replacements thoroughly before relying on them in day-to-day work. Also, you don’t necessarily need complex regex syntax. In many cases, a plain character sequence like "öö" is sufficient. The difference is that regular expression sets will match these sequences anywhere, even inside words.