How Swaps Work on the Free Plan
On the Free plan, you get 5 active Snippets at a time and 1 swap every 2 weeks. A swap lets you change which Snippets are active without upgrading. This article explains when swaps happen, how to use them, and what to do once you’ve used your swap.
What is a swap?
A swap moves your least recently used active Snippet to saved and activates a different Snippet in its place. You get 1 swap every 2 weeks on the Free plan.
When a swap happens
A swap happens automatically when both of these are true:
- You expand a Snippet that isn’t currently active.
- You have a swap available.
Before the swap happens, TextExpander shows a confirmation with:
- The Snippet that will become active.
- The Snippet that will move to saved, which is the one you’ve used least recently.
- The date your next swap unlocks.
Confirm the swap to apply it, or cancel to keep your current 5 active Snippets.
When your next swap unlocks
Your next swap unlocks 2 weeks after your last swap. You can see the exact date in 2 places:
- Your profile sidebar: Shows “Next swap: [date]” next to your active Snippets.
- The swap confirmation: When you trigger a swap, the confirmation window shows the date your next swap unlocks.
You’ll also get a notification when a new swap becomes available, so you don’t have to remember the date.
What if you’ve used your swap?
If you’ve already used your swap for the current 2-week period and you try to expand a saved Snippet, TextExpander shows a message with:
- A note that the Snippet stays saved for now.
- The date your next swap unlocks.
- An option to upgrade for unlimited active Snippets.
Until your next swap, you can expand any of your 5 active Snippets as much as you want. There’s no daily or hourly limit on expanding active Snippets. Only the swap is limited.
Additional details
- Active Snippets stay put until they’re inactive. To delete a Snippet, first make it inactive. A shared Organization Snippet can be deleted once it’s inactive for every member of your Organization.
- Autocorrect Snippets don’t count. Autocorrect Snippets are always on, and they don’t take up an active slot or use a swap.
- Snippets with paid-only features become active after you either remove the paid-only feature or upgrade. A Snippet that uses date math, time math, nested Snippets, JavaScript, AppleScript, shell scripts, conditional Fill-ins, or other paid features expands on Free once you remove the paid-only element or upgrade.
For admins
Swaps are personal. Each team member on the Free plan gets their own 1 swap every 2 weeks. Admins can’t grant or revoke swaps for their members.
Upgrade for unlimited
On Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans, there are no swaps, because every Snippet you have is active. Compare plans.