ZipChord 2.1.1

Changes and Improvements

• Added an option during the first run to download starting English dictionaries and place them into a working folder under My Documents.
• Under the hood: Switched app configuration settings from Windows Registry to an INI file for easier handling by third party installers.

Notes

• Because of the changes, the app will start with default settings on the first run.
• These changes bring the experience of using the standalone executable closer to that of using the installer.

ZipChord 2.1

ZipChord 2.1

• ZipChord 2.1 comes with optional install and uninstall features (see notes on installation below)
• Changed the Pause checkbox to a button
• The "New" locale button now correctly checks for existing locale with the same name
• Cosmetic fixes:
  • App Shortcuts window default to OK button and temporarily disables shortcuts to prevent accidental changes
  • The Tip window shows currently selected shortcuts
  • License file is correctly installed
• Test Console improvements (can now be opened after running debugging from About tab, and other improvements)

Installation

You can either download the zipchord-exe-2.1.0.zip, save in a preferred location and run (same as previous releases), or download and use the installer by downloading zipchord-install-2.1.0.zip or zipchord-install.exe. (With the Beta 2 version, it took Microsoft a few days to whitelist the installation zip file as safe.) The installer allows you to choose to create Start menu shortcuts, dictionary folder and other options, and also creates entries and shortcuts for uninstallation.

Note on the Developer version

The standard and "Developer" versions have now merged but the Developer features are not enabled by default. To use the key visualizer or test console features, select the option "Create a Developer version shortcut in Start menu" during installation and then use that version when needed, or run the program using the "zipchord dev" command.

ZipChord 2.1 Beta 2

Zipchord 2.1 Beta 2

• Added install and uninstall functionality
• Changed the Pause checkbox to a button
• The "New" locale button now correctly checks for existing locale with the same name
• Cosmetic fixes:
  • App Shortcuts window default to OK button and temporarily disables shortcuts to prevent accidental changes
  • The Tip window shows currently selected shortcuts
  • License file is correctly installed
• Test Console improvements (can now be opened after running debugging from About tab, and other improvements)

Installation

You can either download the zipchord-exe-2.1.0-beta.2.zip, save in a preferred location and run (same as previous releases), or download and use the installer by downloading zipchord-install-2.1.0-beta.2.zip.

Update: I also included the zipchord-install.exe because Windows Defender considers the Zip unsafe. (I have submitted this to Microsoft and am hoping they can fix this soon. In the meantime, download either the uncompressed zipchord-install.exe file which should not be blocked if you want to use the installer.

The installer allows you to choose to create Start menu shortcuts, dictionary folder and other options, and also creates entries and shortcuts for uninstallation.

Note on the Developer version

The standard and "Developer" versions have now merged but the Developer features are not enabled by default. (The separation in Beta 1 was not accomplishing brining the benefits I was aiming for.) If you want to use the Developer features, select the option "Create a Developer version shortcut in Start menu" during installation and then run that version when you want to, or run the program with the "zipchord dev" command.

I tested the installation and uninstallation in different combinations (with Admin and non-Admin accounts) on Windows 10 and Windows 11. If you experience issues with the installation process, please let me know.

ZipChord 2.1 Beta

New Features

• Pause ZipChord feature in the main menu and the app's Windows tray menu
• Customize app shortcuts for shortcuts to Open ZipChord, Add Shortcut, Pause/Resume ZipChord and Quit
• Context-sensitive help by pressing F1 in any ZipChord window/tab

Changes

• The default keyboard shortcut for opening ZipChord's window is now by holding Ctrl+Shift+Z
• ZipChord 2.1 (and future versions) are released are under BSD 3-Clause license
• ZipChord 2.1 (and future versions) is distributed with two compiled executables, normal and an extended, "Developer" version

ZipChord Developer version

These additional features are included in the "zipchord-dev" version of ZipChord and accessible through ZipChord's tray icon menu.

• Key Visualizer window (the same that was used for this screen recording)
• ZipChord Test Automation Console - use 'help' in the console to see available commands or 'help command' to learn more
• "Log this session (debugging)" option on the About tab of main ZipChord window to create a local debugging file.

Privacy Note

ZipChord does not send or share any information over the network or internet, and the standard version is unable to store any information about your typing. The Developer version can save local files with information about input and output but only if you explicitly start such recording using the "Log this session" checkbox or in the automation console.

ZipChord 2.0.1

Improvements and Fixes

• Improves Hints OSD when using multiple monitors to display on the active monitor (#134)
• Consolidates the notice about keys not matching current keyboard layout into one message (#137)
• Removes debugging features (debugging will be available in a separate version)

ZipChord 2.0

ZipChord 2.0 includes several new features:

• Separate "shorthand" dictionary for expanding regularly typed text
• OSD hints with reminders for shortcuts in your dictionaries
• New interface for defining new shortcuts
• New documentation on Wiki

And many additional improvements described in the preview releases listed on the Releases page.

This version has minor improvements compared to Release Candidate 2:

• Adding a shortcut (hold Ctrl+C) now does not require text to be selected first
• The executable version is now provided as a zip archive (under Assets)
• Cosmetic improvements in user interface of the main window and tray icon menu
• Special keys can now be used in definitions of shorthands

ZipChord 2.0 Release Candidate 2

Fixes and improvements

This release fixes bugs found in the first release candidate and adds minor improvements:

• ZipChord now does not expand shorthands after Backspace or moving cursor (#111)
• Added "Apply" button (courtesy of @Danc2050)
• Shift now capitalizes chords when auto-capitalization is off (#110)
• Added input validation and messages for various settings, including color for OSD (fixes #118)
• Shorthands would sometimes incorrectly appear after a chord was (correctly) disallowed (#108)
• Fixed a bug in renaming locales
• UI improvements (Add Shortcut dialog dynamically switches default button; added locale window modality; and removed repeated error message about keyboard layout)
• Expanded default QWERTY chord dictionary
• Improved behavior when being executed as script

ZipChord 2.0 Release Candidate

This is a candidate release of ZipChord 2.0. It fixes bugs from the Beta version and includes additions for the features introduced in version 2.0.

Improvements and Fixes

• Added a new Hints tab with additional options:
  • Option to display hints as tootips (#94)
  • Options to adjust the hint's position (for both OSD and tooltip) and to customize the font size and color of the OSD (#98)
  • Option with a dynamic adjustment for how often the hints appear (see details under #97)
• Expanded the support for special keys to allow bypassing of the key (#90)
• Fixed a bug where spurious shortcuts could be detected after deleting text or moving the cursor etc.

Known Issues

• A spurious shorthand expansion can happen after a chord is correctly disallowed (#108).
• Shorthands are being detected after a cursor is moved or pressing Backspace, which can result in unwanted text (#111)

These issues are fixed in the latest version of source code on main but not released yet. If you find any other issues, please send a report.

ZipChord 2.0 Beta

What's New

ZipChord 2.0 brings several big features:

• Separate "shorthand" dictionary for expanding regularly typed text (#52)
• OSD hints with reminders for existing shortcuts (#50)
• Better way to define new shortcuts (#79)
• More flexible dictionary format (#82)
• Ability to use special keys in chords (#90)

New Features (compared to Alpha 4)

• New "Expand shorthands immediately" option on the Detection tab. (Triggers shorthand without waiting for space or punctuation.) (This option was part of #47)
• Better functionality and user interface when adding shortcuts on the fly by selecting text and holding Ctrl+C. (#79)
• Dictionaries are now more flexible, allowing lines with empty shortcuts and more columns (#82)
• Improved default dictionaries (including fix to #78 and reworking columns for the shorthands dictionary) -- you might need to download these manually if you used previous versions of ZipChord)
• Support special keys (such as PrintScreen and F1-F12 keys) in keyboard layout and in chords (see #90 for example)

Fixes and Improvements

• Improvements in display and implementation of OSD with hints about existing shortcuts (#81)
• Smart spaces and punctuation improvements (fixes #84)
• Locale (keyboard and language settings) is now correctly loaded at start (before closing the main dialog)

ZipChord 2.0 Alpha 4

New Features and Improvements

• An on-screen display that shows any existing chords and shorthands for the words as they are typed. (Can be disabled on the Detection tab.) (#50)
• A "Do not show again" option for the for tip that appears after closing the main window (#46)
• Tweaked application settings to improve performance
• Default dictionaries get installed only on the first run (#73)
• Fixes from ZipChord 1.9.5
  • Output delay now applies also to smart spaces and capitalization (#72)
  • Changed dictionaries to use UTF-8 encoding with BOM to ensure correct handling of extended characters (#70)
• Under-the-hood code improvements (refactored objects and classes for chords and dictionaries and methods for settings)