How To Automate Repetitive Typing (Text Expansion) With AutoKey On Linux

Text expansion (or substitution) helps you save time by transforming abbreviations into a long string of text. Use it to boost your productivity by quickly inserting a phrase that you need to type frequently, your address, code and so on, in any application.

This article explains how automate repetitive typing using AutoKey, a desktop automation utility for Linux / X11. Using this you'll type less and get more done, no matter the application you use, since the text expansion / substitution will work in any application - a web browser, text or code editor, and so on.

For example you can type addr, then press Space, Tab or Enter, and AutoKey expands this to your complete address. Or you can set a keyboard shortcut in AutoKey, and pressing it automatically enters your address (or any other text you like) in the focused application. There are more advanced use cases as well, like selecting some text and wrapping it in code blocks for example.

It's worth noting that since this is an X11 application, it won't work properly if you use Wayland (e.g. Fedora uses Wayland by default; if you want to use Xorg you must logout, and select "GNOME on Xorg" from the cog icon next to the Sign In button).