3 Using BBAutoComplete

To use BBAutoComplete, type the first few letters of a long word in one of the supported applications. Then invoke the BBAutoComplete AppleScript from the Scripts menu, or use a keyboard shortcut (Command-/ by default). BBAutoComplete will insert the letters to complete the word. If you aren’t happy with the completion BBAutoComplete chose, invoke the BBAutoComplete AppleScript again. You can do this repeatedly to cycle through possible completions.

The order in which BBAutoComplete suggests completions is deterministic. With a little practice you’ll be able to predict what BBAutoComplete will suggest, and how many completions you’ll need to cycle through to get the one you want. Here are the rules:

First, BBAutoComplete looks backwards, from the current insertion point to the beginning of the document. That is, the first completion it suggests is the last word you typed (that matches).
Next, BBAutoComplete looks forwards, from the current insertion point to the end of the document.
Next, it looks in the other windows, front to back, in layer order. (In Mailsmith, BBAutoComplete also looks in the subject, body, and notes fields of message windows; and in the preview panes of the Mail Browser and mail list windows.)
Finally, it uses the Mac spell checker to find additional completions, if you have that option checked in the preferences.
Completions are case-sensitive. Letters and numbers are considered word characters; whitespace, punctuation, and other symbols are not. You can add more word characters in the Preferences window.

Note that this auto-completion algorithm is the same as dabbrev-expand (M-/) in GNU Emacs, except for being case-sensitive. (If you don’t know what Emacs is, stick with BBEdit.)