Direct Access is a powerful text expander, application launcher tool, providing instant access to your data by typing an abbreviation, in any application.
When you are writing text, you probably find yourself typing the same words or phrases over and over (like your name, your e-mail address, the URL of your home page).
Direct Access can save you time typing these frequently used text blocks for you. You just define your abbreviations list once and Direct Access will automatically type them for you.
Direct Access can also quickly open your favorite applications and folders, create precompiled emails and do web searches.
You can type the abbreviation anywhere. Direct Access will detect it and execute the proper action.
Direct Access provides instant access to:
- Text string, images and phrases
- Autocorrections in any application
- Applications and folders
- Websites and web queries
- Your email application to create pre-compiled emails
- Comes with a prebuilt set of commands to get you started. A number of Command Packs are available for download
Use Direct Access to:
- Create pre-compiled emails
- Automatically fill-in forms
- Keep your commonly used text string and phrases handy and insert them in any application by typing a few keystrokes
- Directly search your favorite websites like Google, YouTube, Ebay, Amazon or a web dictionary
- Automate and control other applications sending special characters and key combinations
- Quickly open applications and folders without browsing
Version: 2.1 
Released: January 6, 2009
Do more, type less using text expansion…
Direct Access increases your personal and business productivity saving you countless keystrokes. Use abbreviations to insert frequently used paragraphs and open your favorite applications.
- Dealing with customers via e-mail? Need easy access to boilerplate paragraphs?
Create standard customer service responses. Set up a list of often used e-mail phrases, address and other boilerplates and insert them by typing a short abbreviation. - Use different email signatures?
Easily insert a customized signature with a few keystrokes. - Filling out forms?
Make it easy on yourself by adding your address, email, phone and fax numbers to your library! - Need to insert the current date or time?
Direct Access comes with date and time snippets that you can format the way you want! - Need to insert special symbols?
Direct Access allows you to insert special characters automatically, like ® or © - Lost among code fragments and commands to remember?
Define shorthands for frequently used Unix commands, create templates for code fragments and DB queries. - Looking for addresses, emails and phone numbers?
Insert instantly and accurately phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses into documents and emails by just typing a pre-defined "nickname" or "alias" (for example, type "mark" and Direct Access will type "mark@hotmail.com" into whatever document you’re typing in). - RSI syndrome prevention
Direct Access helps decrease the tasks your have to do as it automates them: it reduces the amount of typing you have to do and consequently the risk of suffering the repetitive strain injury.
Abbreviations save a lot of keystrokes
You can define abbreviations to enter your commonly used pieces of text. You can quickly enter the text you type more often by typing the corresponding abbreviation instead. See how much time you can gain, saving your fingers countless keystrokes!
| Stock phrase | Abbreviation |
| Yours sincerely (15 keystrokes) |
ys (2 keystrokes) |
| I look forward to hearing from you soon (40 keystrokes) |
look (4 keystrokes) |
| Best regards (12 keystrokes) |
br (2 keystrokes) |
| You can expect a reply within 24-hours (44 keystrokes) |
repl (4 keystrokes) |
| If I can be of further help, please write me. (45 keystrokes) |
furth (5 keystrokes) |
| yourname@yourdomain.com (23 keystrokes) |
mail (4 keystrokes) |
| http://www.yourdomain.com (25 keystrokes) |
web (3 keystrokes) |
Use abbreviations to launch your favorite applications and websites
If you happen to launch the same applications or websites often, defining an abbreviation lets you fire them up immediately, from any context.
| Action | Abbreviation |
| Open the documents folder | doc |
| Launch the browser | ie |
| Open Microsoft Word | word |
| Open the calculator | calc |
| Open the CNN website | cnn |
| Search on ebay | ebay |
| Search a term in a dictionary | dic |
| Search Amazon | ama |
| Open the compose email dialog | nm |