Every ActiveWord needs a moment to fire. That moment is the Trigger: the signal that tells ActiveWords 5 you've finished typing a Word and you want it to run. Most of the time you never think about it, because the standard choices just work. But when you want more control, Triggers are where ActiveWords gets quietly powerful.

The standard choices

Three built-in Triggers cover almost everything:

• Any Delimiter. The Word runs as soon as you type a space, comma, period, or other delimiter after it. Great for corrections and short abbreviations that should expand the instant you keep typing.
• Double Space. The Word runs after two spaces. Useful for full words or phrases that might also appear as ordinary text, so they only expand when you mean them to.
• None. The Word runs only when you pick it from the ActionPad or press the ActiveWords Key. Perfect for Words you never want firing during normal typing.

When you want more control

Custom Triggers let you go beyond the three standard choices. A custom Trigger can be a single character, a set of characters, or a pattern, so you can decide exactly what finishes a Word. A period can end a sentence and fire your Word at the same time. A number can trigger a Word the moment you type a digit.

That last one powers a neat trick. Set up a Word d with a Trigger that fires on any number, and typing d6 becomes $6 as you go. The free currency Add-in uses exactly this pattern to turn quick keystrokes into currency symbols.

For the full walkthrough, including how to add your own Triggers and choose whether the typed Trigger stays in the result, see the Triggers FAQ. New to ActiveWords 5? Read the Version 5 announcement or download the free trial.