The Typing Assistant is a comprehensive, integrated set of files designed to minimize your keystrokes for medical transcription (TAMed2C) or for general typing at work, for school or at home (TAGen).
Both fast and slow typists will find the Typing Assistant useful. Fast typists - because using the simple rules of the ABCZ system (and in some glossaries, any abbreviation rule), you can enter text faster than ever. Slow typists - because as you type letters, the most common words and phrases are displayed, and you can then enter words or entire phrases with a minimum of keystrokes. ABCZ helps you target those words and phrases reliably and accurately.
The Typing Assistant will not only increase the amount you produce, but it will greatly reduce your keystrokes. At the same time it saves you the time and trouble of constructing hundreds or thousands of abbreviations or short forms.
Whatever you want to type - letters, documents, email, brochures, memos, term papers - virtually any text - the Typing Assistant is here to help.
The ABCZ Typing Assistant Version 2 - TAMed2C consists of separate glossaries containing:
22,000 words and phrases in the ABCZ base medical glossary.
- Common words and phrases in ABCZ
format. (ABCZMed.glo) 11,000 entries in the general version.
(ABCZGen.glo) The medical version is drawn particularly from
the fields of orthopaedics, neurology, internal medicine, medical-legal
reports, orthopaedic surgery and plastic surgery.
25,000 of the most frequently used
English words. (Wordsbiglist.glo)
Use any left-to-right abbreviation method to enter long words (Instant
Text version).
- Enter words correctly the first
time - the file functions as a built-in spell checker.
Do a "wild card" search by typing selected letters from a word you're not sure of.
Reduce time spent in dictionary searches.
Full dates for 3 years - regular, hyphenated, slashed - using efficient shortcuts for quick entry.
2000 Drugs with dosages. 7000 entries overall. (Drug&Dosage.glo)
- Use any abbreviation method to access
drug and/or dosage, then enter with a keystroke or two
Saves having to look up drugs on line or in a drug reference.
The medical version also contains
a 2400-entry DrugNumbers.glo
- First and last names, places, cities/states.
- Short forms for the most frequently
used conjunctions, pronouns plus verbs ("he will have"), preposition
combinations ("to the", "from the"), adverbs, etc.
Key in the most common words with 1 or 2 keystrokes using Instant Text's unique feature.
- Along with several other glossaries.
Click here for full list of glossaries.
Here's how the ABCZ
system works:
In the screen shot below we see that the ABCZ MED Glossary has been opened in Instant Text. The Phrases Advisory is visible on the right. (The Words Advisory is on the left but is not shown in this example.)
Only two letters have been typed:
"go".
To enter the word "going"
into the text, you would simply hit a marker key (usually semicolon, but
the spacebar or many others can also be used). You could also type another
"g" and the marker key.
If you wanted "good health" you could hit "2" and semicolon, or you could add "he" to "go" and hit semicolon.
If you wanted "greater on the
left" you could type "5" and the marker key or "tl" and
your marker key.
(You can also use the Shift and
Control keys to select an entry.)
Having typed only 2 letters ("go") and a few more keys, you can enter anywhere from 5 to 17 characters into your document (21 counting spaces). With longer expressions, you can save even more keystrokes.
(NOTE: You can display from 0 to 15 advisory lines in Instant Text.)
The above screen also shows the 3 main rules of the ABCZ system in action:
ABCZ:
for longer words - the first three letters, plus the last: gonl=gonadal,
govd=governed
ABAB:
for 2 word phrases - the first 2 letters of each word: gohe=good
health
AAA(A): phrases
of 3 words or more - the first letter of each word: gotr=greater
on the right.
What could be simpler!
Naturally, there are a few more things to keep in mind, but those are the basics of the ABCZ system.
ABCZ MED comes with a set of instructions
on how to make maximum use of the system.
You can also, of course, make up
your own short forms, or change those in the glossary, as you like.
What if you want to use other rules?
In addition, you can use any left-to-right rule or short form to access the 25,000 words in Wordsbiglist.glo and 5000 entries in Names&Places.glo. (Also the 7000 entries in Drug&Dosage.glo in the medical version.)
Here we've typed "secy" with only
WordsBigList active. (In practice, several glossaries are "Included" together
and are active at the same time.) Only the Words advisory is shown here.
Suppose you wanted the word "secretary." You would then type "5" and a marker to enter "secretary" into the text. You could have tried "secty" "sctry" or any other left-to-right combination to target "secretary".
Since there will often be other words
which contain several of the same letters as the word you seek, you need
a targeting strategy. Depending on the letters/short forms you select,
you will be more or less successful in reaching a word quickly and accurately.
The ABCZ method minimizes these problems by using a few simple rules and
a fixed list of words/phrases and short forms which appear in the Phrases
advisory (shown in the earlier example). But, you have the option
of using whatever method works best for you in targeting words.
NOTE: The seven files in
the medical version of the Typing Assistant (TAMed) replace ABCZ.glo, which
is a single file. ABCZMed.glo replaces ABCZ.glo and in addition there are
six other files that make up TAMed.
More examples and screen shots