Visual Advisory

The Visual Advisory is a window that is always active on your screen. As you type, the Visual Advisory window will recognize text shortcuts and text blocks, and offer to complete the phrase. You won't need to memorize thousands of shortcuts, just follow a shortcut system or start typing the phrase.

The Ditto Visual Advisory window will show the likely phrases based on what you type. It was built with a minimalistic design to reduce screen clutter. The title bar and advisory line header automatically disappear when not in use.

You can also hide the group list section so only advisory lines remain as you type. The following sections go over how to do this and many other ways to configure the visual advisory window.

In this section we will go over the following topics:

• Toolbar
• Select a Phrase
• Clear Lines
• Enable or Disable Group
• Hiding Group Lists
• Full Text Sort Order
• Background Colors
• Number of Visible Lines
• Text Size
• Location on Screen
• Window Transparency
• Anchor Windows

Toolbar

The Visual Advisory toolbar gives you control over the shortcut types, line behavior, colors, sizes, and how the window interacts with other programs on your computer.

Here is an overview of what each button does:

Select a Phrase

After typing a shortcut or phrase that is in one of your enabled groups, the Visual Advisory window will show the possible full text phrases you can insert into your document.

To insert the selected full text phrase, press the "Enter" or the "Tab" key. Alternatively, you can press the number of the row to instantly insert the full text phrase. Note that the 10th row (if defined) requires that you press the "0" key.

Any full text phrase selected from the Visual Advisory window will be followed by a tentative space. If a punctuation character is pressed after insertion, the space will be removed and replaced with the punctuation. In most cases however, the space will likely be used and you can continue typing.

To navigate the selection up, press the Alt + Single Quote key (Alt+'). To move the selection down, press the Alt + Semi-Colon key (Alt+;). The navigation keys will only be active when the visual advisory window has rows to select.

Clear Lines

At times, you may not want to have the visual advisory entries interfere with your normal typing. To clear the available rows, press the "Esc" key.

Enable or Disable Group

Depending on the type of work you are typing, you may only need certain shortcut groups active. You can enable/disable groups using your mouse or keyboard shortcuts.

Using Your Mouse. Select the group you would like to activate and right-click. Select "Activate". Alternatively, you can double-click any group to toggle between active/inactive status.

Using Your Keyboard. Hold down the "Alt" key and use the down/up arrows to select the group. When the group you would like to activate/inactivate is selected, press the "Enter" key while still holding down the "Alt" key. This will toggle between active/inactive status. Use the right arrow key to toggle between the Text Shortcut and Text Block groups. Remember to hold down the "Alt key while performing these operations.

A green light will appear to the left of the group name when it is active. A red light will appear to the left of the group name when it is inactive.

Hiding Group Lists

While typing, you may want to hide the group lists section. While holding down the "Alt" key, press the left arrow key to toggle between a hidden and visible group list section.

Full Text Sort Order

There are 5 different ways to sort advisory lines.

No Sorting Advisory lines will appear in random order. This is not the recommended choice but is useful if you are starting off and want to be able to see your phrases to remember what shortcuts you have saved.

By Usage Advisory lines will be sorted by the number of times the full text phrase has been used. The most often used phrases will appear at the top.

By Recent Advisory lines will be sorted by the full text phrase that was most recently used. The most recent phrase will appear at the top. This is the default sort order.

By Longest Advisory lines will be sorted by the longest full text phrases. The longest phrases will appear first. This ordering is useful when similar phrases exist in your library and you would like to have the longest phrase first to avoid typing it.

By Shortest Advisory lines will be sorted by the shortest full text phrases. The shortest phrase will appear first. This ordering is useful when similar phrases exist and you would like to have more control over how the phrases are inserted.

Background Colors

You can modify the background color of the Visual Advisory screen here. Simply select the primary color you would like. The current color is the lower bar below the color grid.

Number of Visible Lines

Select the number of visible lines you would like to see in the Visual Advisory window. Beginners should use 3-5 lines to get a feel for the advisory lines. Gradually step up the number of lines as your level of expertise increases. Ditto will adjust the size of the window to the new line numbers.

Text Size

Modify the text size here. You can preview the size in the drop-down menu before selecting the preferred size.

Location on Screen

Change the location of the visual advisory box on your screen. The recommended location is the lower part of the screen.

You can also drag the window using the grid handle on the top-left corner of the window. Doing so will save the window location and change the selection to "User Defined".

Window Transparency

You can reduce screen clutter further by changing the window's transparency. The visual advisory window is implemented to take up the least amount of space on your screen. With window transparency, you can view screens behind the visual advisory window.

Setting the transparency to 0 (the default) will cause the visual advisory window to be completely opaque. As you move the slider closer to 10, the transparency level of the window will gradually increase. Select a level that will still allow you to see advisory lines.

Another useful way of utilizing the transparency is if you are a novice user and would like to transition into using a visual advisory window. There are countless benefits, getting used to phrases popping up as you type can be overwhelming. Start with a transparency between 4 and 6 to get used to the changes. Gradually decrease transparency as you adjust to the change.

Anchor Windows

By selecting the anchor button (default state), the visual advisory window keeps itself in the foreground at all times. If any program window is activated and is covered by the visual advisory window, Ditto will first move it outside of the screen space that the visual advisory window is occupying and resize it to make it fit the remaining screen space (if necessary).

Using the anchor button allows you to always have visual advisories available anywhere, while not taking over your windows or covering other open programs.

De-selecting the anchor button will treat the advisory window like any other open window on your computer.