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I am trying to create some custom shortcuts for often-used words/phrases using the built in dictionary, but have run into a roadblock.

I'm trying to follow the instructions in this blog post, specifically:

  • Tap Settings, Language & Input, then “Personal dictionary.” (Note: the exact settings may differ depending on the make and model of your Android phone.)
  • Tap the “+” sign in the top-right corner of the screen, then enter the word or phrase (like “on my way”) you’d like to make a shortcut for.
  • Next, type a brief shortcut that’s easy to remember; for example, “omw” for “on my way.”
  • Tap the Back key, and you’ll see an entry for the shortcut you just added. Want to add more shortcuts? Tap the “+” sign again.
  • Now, go to the Messaging app, compose a new message, and tap one of your new shortcuts—and when you do, the phrase you entered will appear in the row of auto-correct options just above the keyboard. Tap the phrase to add it to your message.

However, I'm not able to find these settings on my Galaxy Note 2. How can I do this?

In the first step itself I am stuck. Didn't find any option for 'Personal Dictionary' sort of thing.

Tap Settings, Language & Input, then “Personal dictionary.”

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  • Are you talking about auto-correct or are you looking for a text expander you can customize? Did you search for "text expander" on the Play Store? Which of those apps have you tried and why won't they work for you?
    – ale
    Commented Apr 19, 2013 at 12:29
  • @AlEverett, I have seen the text expander but did not try. Am looking from the default OS itself. Have seen this heresthethingblog.com/2012/12/04/… But couldn't find it in Galaxy Note 2.
    – coder284
    Commented Apr 19, 2013 at 12:35

3 Answers 3

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Not every device has this feature. I tested on my , and it doesn't have this option either, but the and do. I'm not sure whether the feature was only added in , or if it's just missing from Samsung ROMs. Either way, you probably want a third-party text expander app as others have suggested.

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  • For what it's worth, I can do it on my Galaxy Nexus.
    – ale
    Commented Apr 19, 2013 at 13:39
  • What version is it on? That would provide a minimum bound on what stock Android versions have it.
    – Dan Hulme
    Commented Apr 19, 2013 at 13:43
  • 4.2.2. Now that Verizon has finally joined the club I think all GNex's should be up to that.
    – ale
    Commented Apr 19, 2013 at 13:45
  • OK, so that just tells us it's available on stock 4.2, which we already knew.
    – Dan Hulme
    Commented Apr 19, 2013 at 13:52
  • I can do it on Xperia SP (stock) running 4.1. I dont know on which version it appeared but I use the Google keyboard app from the play store, so it must be available to anyone who can install it ( 4.0+?)
    – Matthieu Harlé
    Commented Sep 11, 2013 at 12:47
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For what its worth... On my galaxy note 2, I found the "Personal Dictionary" option by tapping the gear icon next to "Google Keyboard". I didn't find "Personal Dictionary" under any other keyboard option though, so it may be limited to the Google Keyboard.

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On my Galaxy S4, I discovered that when you hold your finger down to bring up the menu ("copy, paste, select all, ..."), one of the items is "clipboard" and it contains the last up-to-20 things you copied to the clipboard. While your clipboard is open, you can delete stuff that you no longer want on the clipboard.

You can also "lock" stuff to the clipboard, which stops it from "scrolling off" once you copy twenty more items. When you lock an item to the clipboard, it gets a little overlay icon of a lock. However, when I was testing this and copied twenty more items, the content displayed in the 20th item was incorrect. I thought I had lost the text I locked, but when I exited and got back in later, the correct text was there. That's a very minor bug and probably only happens when you open the clipboard and mess with it until an item you locked would otherwise scroll off - not something that would ever normally happen.

Unfortunately, overloading clipboard functionality with memorized-phrases functionality is NOT sufficient when there are only 20 slots (only ten can be locked at one time). However, it will serve me almost as well at least until I have 10 items locked in there. Then I'll look for the "text-expander" app that @Al E. mentioned.

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