Back up and share text replacements on Mac
You can create text replacements to automatically replace certain text with other text or symbols. For example, you can replace (c) with ©. You can export your text replacements as a file to back them up or share them with other Mac users.
Note: If you want to use your text replacements on another device (using the same Apple ID), you can use iCloud. Just set up iCloud Drive on your Mac, iOS, and iPadOS devices, and sign in everywhere using the same Apple ID. When you add a text replacement on your Mac, it appears automatically on your other devices (and vice versa).
Export text replacements
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
If you’re working in an app, you can also choose Edit > Substitutions > Show Substitutions, then click Text Preferences.
Select the replacements you want to export. To select them all, choose Edit > Select All.
Drag the selected replacements from the Text pane to the desktop. This creates a backup file named Text Substitutions.plist.
Note: You can edit this file using TextEdit.
To back up this file, copy it to an external drive or another location. You can also send it to another person to share it with them.
Import text replacements
On the Mac where you want to import the text replacements, choose Apple menu
If you’re working in an app, you can also choose Edit > Substitutions > Show Substitutions, then click Text Preferences.
Drag the Text Substitutions.plist file from its location to the Text pane.