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Use the Text Replacement shortcut to save time

By BY GEORGE GORDON/Computer Guru - | Nov 19, 2021

The Text Replacement shortcut is something that everyone should use. Instead of typing in your e-mail address, your home address or your phone number, in forms or in texts, all you have to do is type in two letters.

That saves me a lot of time. All I do is press ^^, and it instantly types in my e-mail address. I also type in %% for my home mailing address.

Here is how you do this. Go to Settings, Keyboards,Text Replacement, and hit the + sign. A menu pops up. In Phase, type in your e-mail address, and in the Options box choose two letters or keys. Try it out by opening up Notes, press your two keys and then the space bar. Whammo! There is your e-mail address all typed out for you.

If you forget your iPhone password, there is a way to retrieve it. But first you have to set up Account Recovery, which will let a friend with an Apple device help you out. They will keep your password, and Apple will send them a code. Hopefully your friend will give you that code. That’ll reset your password on your iPhone. To do this, go to Settings, tap on your picture on the top, click on Password & Security and choose Account Recovery. But “TRUST NO ONE, Fox Mulder.”

Want to FaceTime call with an Android Phone user? All you have to do is open FaceTime and tap “Create Link.” This creates a unique URL (web address) for them that will link them to FaceTime.

If you’re sending a photo of your bedroom to your new girlfriend and forgot to clean up your room (probably never do), you can use the Portrait Mode on your iPhone camera to blur the background and focus on your face. Yep, she’ll be ready to move in.

To do this, open up the Camera and tap Portrait. Notice a weird icon on the bottom? If you press on it, you can select some cool settings. Try it out.

I use Messages every day, and you can place a photo of your favorite contact on the opening screen instead of scrolling through the list trying to find the contact. Simply swipe from left to right on a conversation and you’ll see a yellow pin icon appear. That contact will jump to the top and appear as a circle with their photo in it.

Need to translate text in a different language on the fly? Using your iPhone camera, you don’t have to copy and paste it into Notes. Just select the text in the photo you took by highlighting it and then tap “Translate.”

Send your computer-related questions to MauiMist@aol.com.