A very cool productivity tool- Direct Access

Any software application that makes my computer life easier and my efforts more productive gets my attention as fast as cold beer on a boiling hot day and Nagarsoft's Direct Access is exactly such a tool. Once you install this Vista-friendly utility (30 day free trial, $39.95 USD), you start making your life easier by clicking the New Command button and -

Creating autotext. Everything from how you sign your emails and forum posts to blocks of text you use frequently in emails ("Thank you for your order of MasterList Professional" becomes ord plus the F12 key)

Launching applications. You can jump in and out of applications you need just by typing the abbreviation you create – or let Direct Access create for you! See below. This really speeds up the workflow.

Shortcut Websites. Now I can launch Firefox, start my favorite forum site I check a dozen times a day in a second. I just type "biz" anywhere – the desktop, in word, wherever – see the little flag Direct Access puts up to let me know it recognized "biz" as a keyword, click F12 to confirm and Firefox opens the Joel On Software Business of Software forum for me faster than I can.

Once you get the idea of the program, you wonder why this is not build into Windows in the first place – and the easiest way to get how Direct Access works is to spend five minutes with the screen cast – that's all the explanation you'll need. What's more, Direct Access is not a tool only programmers could love, like AutoHotKey and does not tie my system into knots like ActiveWords – two applications I've tried but uninstalled that promised but failed – at least for me – to deliver.

The only quibble I've found so far with Direct Access is that the Command Wizard – which automatically creates a whole set of Direct Access commands for the apps I have on my PC is buried at the end of the New Command dialog. Definitely use it.

I have some ideas re how to use Direct Access I want to talk over with the founder of Nagarsoft, Andrea Nagar, but already Direct Access is changing how I work for the better. Highly recommended.

Comments

[littlehacks]

Hi guys,

I thought you might be interested in checking a GTD-style online productivity tool we have just launched:

http://www.littlehacks.com

You could find it very useful!

[Dennis]

Just stumbled over this thread.

+1 for PhraseExpress: Free and more flexible

Dennis

[steven davies]

I don't know a lot of things about software and computers at all,but what I understood from your post is that I must have Direct Access on my computer.

[Kevin]

My vote for PhraseExpress.

It's free and has MANY more features. It saves text formatting and imported my Microsoft Office Autotexts in a snap. DirectAccess can't do anything like that.

@Gad: No, PhraseExpress does not need the mouse. Try the Autotext feature. It works just like Microsoft AutoCorrect feature and expands text shortcuts.

Kevin

[Ged Byrne]

Frank,

Phrase express looks like a nice tool, but it requires the use of the mouse.

The big advantage for Direct Access is that you can insert snippets and launch applications without having to leave the keyboard.

[Andrea Nagar]

Thanks for your comments, Patrick.
We are planning to add commands packs on our website with canned autotexts and websites according to certain usage scenarios.
I'm working to add integration with Web 2.0 applications, like Basecamp and Flicker (thanks Bob for the idea). So bear with us!

[Frank]

There is a FREEWARE alternative "PhraseExpress" which not only can do the same like ActiveWords but it is even much more easy to use.

See their demo video on the website: http://www.phraseexpress.com

It is really fun to use.

Frank

[Patrick McKenzie]

A big pip-pip for everything you say here! I am a huge fan of Direct Access, and its insanely useful for development. I've been a fan for a while and since I've recently moved to Ruby on Rails, a very verbose language by default, its only gotten better.