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Help: Creating and Editing Snippets

Four Steps to Creating a Basic Snippet

  1. Open the TextExpander Preference Pane by clicking on the TextExpander icon in the menubar and choosing "TextExpander Preferences..."
  2. Click on the plus sign button plus button below the snippet list on the left and choose "New Snippet".
  3. Add the snippet content in to the "Content" box on the right.
  4. Assign an abbreviation in the "Abbreviation" box below the content.

For more details, see the Snippets Tab Guided Tour.

What Makes a Good Abbreviation

A good abbreviation is:

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

Duplicating an abbreviations first character (ddate, ssig, zzip) is one way of creating abbreviations that meet these critieria.

If abbreviations conflict, they will be highlighted in red. Conflicting abbreviations will not trigger expansions.

Using Formatted Text in Snippets

  1. Make sure the content format is set to Formatted Text, Pictures, not Plain Text. (To change content format, click on the drop down menu at the top of the Content box.)
  2. Add snippet content in the Content box.
  3. Select text to be formatted.
  4. Click on the text format button button below the Content window to access Font and Text options for fonts, size, color, and alignment.

Adding Images to Snippets

  1. Make sure the content format is set to Formatted Text, Pictures, not Plain Text. (To change content format, click on the drop down menu at the top of the Content box.)
  2. Drag your image into the Content box.
  3. To remove an image, use the Delete key.

Adding Macros to Snippets

Insert predefined macros to snippets via the plus button plus button below the Content box. Predefined macros include:

  • Date
    Inserts the day, month and year of the current date in a variety of formats
  • Time
    Inserts the current time in hours, minutes, seconds and AM/PM.
  • Snippet
    Nest a snippet within your snippet. For example, you might want to use your telephone number snippet in your email signature snippet. If your telephone number changes, you need only update one snippet.
  • Clipboard
    Inserts the current Clipboard contents into your snippet.
  • Picture...
    Browse for an image to insert. Images can also be dragged directly into the snippet.
  • Cursor
    Specify where you want the cursor to appear after the snippet is expanded. TextExpander will reposition the cursor automatically.

Labeling Snippets

By default, a snippet's content appears truncated in the Snippet list on the left and in the window that appears when you click on TextExpander menu bar icon. You can create a short label to appear instead of the truncated contents. Enter the label in the Label field below the Content Box.

Setting Case Sensitivity

A default case sensitivity is set in the Preferences pane. You can change the case sensitivity setting on individual snippets by clicking the drop-down menu bar above the Abbreviation box.
For more details, see the Preferences Tab Guided Tour.

Deleting a Snippet

  1. Select the snippet in the Snippet list on the left.
  2. Click the minus button minus button below the Snippet list or use the Delete key on your keyboard.

 

 
 
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