A good snippet manager or autotext tool can save just about anyone a little time and effort. For those who do a lot of typing, it can even help prevent repetitive stress injuries. If you're looking for an application like this, take a look at PhraseExpress.

Apart from point and click insertion of pre-defined text and auto-completion of recognized words and phrases, Phrase Express packs a clipboard monitor, macro support, and system-wide spell check.

Though the settings window presents only two buttons - new folder and new phrase - you're able to do a whole lot more than add commonly used text. PhraseExpress' included macros provide a wide array of powerful functions, including:

• launching external applications
• changing window focus
• opening files, folders, and web pages
• trimming, formatting, and replacing text
• embedding autotext suggestions
• time and date stamping
• inserting Windows environment variables

Since hotkeys are also supported, you PhraseExpress makes a very capable launcher application as well. Unlike some other launcher/hotkey apps, you're able to utilize the Windows key. Despite its numerous features, resource usage is very light - about 10mb of memory on my Vista install.

PhraseExpress can be installed, or you can download the portable version and extract it to your USB flash drive. It's free for personal use and $49.95 to register for commercial use. There's also a network edition that allows groups to access a shared library that runs $44.95 (or less, based on volume) per seat.

If you're already using PhraseExpress, share your experience. If you don't, what apps do you use (if anything) to handle these tasks?