Snippets

In this section

• Creating and managing snippets

  Copy body · Copy link (file path) · Duplicate · Show in Finder · Move to collection · Delete.

• Abbreviations and inline expansion

  Good abbreviations are memorable and unlikely to be typed by accident. Prefix them with z , j , ; , or double a letter.

• Global keyboard shortcuts

  Any snippet can have a system-wide hotkey that pastes it without typing the abbreviation.

• Content types

  Every snippet has a type that decides how it's edited and what happens when it expands, from plain and rich text to shell scripts and AppleScript.

• Collections and tags

  Collections are folders in your vault. Click + next to COLLECTIONS to add one; right-click to rename, delete or nest. Tags are labels in the snippet's frontmatter; click one in the sidebar to filter.

• Visual indicators in lists

  Small icons to the left of the collection name flag snippets that need something extra:

• Rich text editor

  Set content type to Rich Text for a WYSIWYG toolbar: bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, code, alignment, bullet and numbered lists, font size and family (10 macOS fonts), text and highlight color, undo and redo, and a link button. The link button opens a small form for the text and the address: select words first and they are the text; with the caret in a link it edits that one, and can remove it. An address without https:// gets it, and a bare email becomes a mailto: link.

• Images in rich text

  Open a Rich Text snippet, click the image icon at the right of the toolbar, pick a PNG, JPG, GIF or WebP. The image is stored inline as base64 and included when the snippet pastes into apps that accept rich content.

• Markdown snippets

  Set content type to Markdown for a monospace editor with an Edit / Preview toggle and full GitHub-flavored Markdown: headings, lists, bold, italic, code blocks, tables, task lists, strikethrough.

• Nested snippets

  Use {{snippet:abbreviation}} to embed one snippet in another, so a signature or a block you reuse lives in one place.

• Script snippets

  Shell, AppleScript and JavaScript snippets run when they expand, and the script's stdout becomes the pasted text.

• A snippet from the clipboard

  Copy anything, then + New → Quick Capture from Clipboard . A new snippet opens with the clipboard already in the body. Give it a title and an abbreviation.

• Importing from other apps

  Bring your snippets over from another text expander in a few clicks instead of retyping them one by one.

• Expansion stats

  The sidebar footer shows total expansions and estimated time saved, at roughly three seconds per expansion. The count comes from the uses field on each snippet, which increments on every expansion by abbreviation, shortcut or Spotlight.