Snippets
Text that expands: how to write it, organize it, and fire it.
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
Change type with the dropdown at the top of the editor.
- 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.
- 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.
- Script snippets
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
+ New in the toolbar has importers for:
- 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.
Documentation for TypeFire 5.1.0. Updated 2026-09-15.