Creating, Editing, Deleting Snippets

Snippets are the main building block of TextExpander. They are a combination of the content you want to use, and the abbreviation you type to use it. You’ll want to create a full library of Snippets so everything you need to type repeatedly, correctly, or at length, is stored up and ready to go.

How to Create a Snippet

1. Within the Snippet Group, select the New Snippet “+” button from the top of the Snippets List, or choose File > New Snippet from the menu. Command+N (Mac), Control+N (Windows).
2. Add the snippet content in the large text box, called the Snippet Editor, on the right.
3. Assign an abbreviation in the “Abbreviation” field below the content.
   Optional: Add a label for your Snippet in the “Label” field. This is a chance to have a longer more informative description of the Snippet than the abbreviation allows. Labels are helpful when searching for Snippets or if you are sharing your Snippets with a team.

Another Way to Create Snippets:

• Create a Snippet from Your Clipboard

What Makes a Good Abbreviation

A good abbreviation is:

• short
• easy to remember
• unlikely to be typed by accident
• unique

Duplicating an abbreviation’s first character (ddate, ssig, zzip) is one way of creating abbreviations that meet these critieria. Another way is to use a period or other punctuation mark as the first character of your abbreviation (;date, ‘sig, /zip).

Organization Tips

For tips on organizing your Snippets see Organizing Snippets.

Labeling Snippets

A Snippet’s label is a helpful way to find you Snippets or clearly indicate what is included in a Snippet if you are sharing it with a team. It is typically helpful to make the label a shortened version of the Snippet contents. Enter the label in the Label field below the Snippet Editor.

Editing a Snippet

Open any Snippet, and start editing the content in the Snippet Editor. All changes will be saved by default. If you cannot edit the Snippet, you do not have editing permissions. You can request them from the Admin of the Snippet Group the snippet is in. (See Permissions )

How to Duplicate a Snippet

1. Select the Snippet you want to duplicate.
2. Choose File > Duplicate from the menu, or choose Duplicate from Snippet Actions menu at the top right of an open Snippet. Command+D (Mac), Control+D (Windows).

The original and the duplicate will have the same abbreviation which can cause a conflict, so you’ll want to immediately change one of the abbreviations to something unique.

How to Delete a Snippet

1. Select the Snippet in the Snippet list on the left side of the TextExpander main window.
2. Click on Delete (displayed as a trash bin icon)in the toolbar towards the top-right of the window, or use the Delete key on your keyboard.

Preview Expanded Snippet

Preview a Snippet’s expanded state in the TextExpander window by clicking the Preview (eye) button on the top right of your TextExpander Client, or type Command + Return (Mac) key. Particularly useful when creating date or time snippets, or snippets with other macros. (See Advanced Snippet Elements).

Setting Case Sensitivity

TextExpander can treat the casing of your expanded Snippet differently depending on whether you type the abbreviation in upper or lower case. See Expanding Case Sensitive Snippets.

Edit Last Expanded Snippet

You can easily edit Snippets as you are using them. If you expand a Snippet and realize that it needs to be revised, say you need your new phone number in your email signature, try the Edit Last Expanded hotkey.