Telephone Number Expansion

During the beta test this past winter, tester Frank Meschler suggested that Spell Catcher be given the ability to expand a string of digits into a phone number (eg. "2035551212" becomes "(203) 555-1212"). This was a great idea since it's a bother to enter phone numbers into your computer, especially when you are on the phone! Much easier just to enter the digits required and let Spell Catcher format them into the string you want. Within a few days this feature was added to Spell Catcher.

The controls shown to the right can be found in Spell Catcher's Settings dialog, in the Shorthand Expansions panel.

Using these controls you can specify how you want numeric strings, ranging in length from 7 to 16 characters, expanded. In the image shown above, you can see how a 10 digit string should be expanded.

If you then type a 10 digit number into an application (perhaps your contact management application), Spell Catcher will expand those 10 digits into a more desirable format. You should see the expansion displayed in an expansion popup. For example, if I type 2125551212 the resulting expansion is displayed as shown to the right. The numeric string is converted into the phone number when you follow it with a tab, space, or return character: (212) 555-1212

As an aside, we are always looking for useful ways to improve Spell Catcher's operation. If you come up with an idea that you think would make a worthwhile addition to Spell Catcher, let us know. This serves as a great example of kind of feature we are always willing to add to Spell Catcher. Thanks Frank!