Getting Started with TypeSnap: Your First Text Snippet

You just installed TypeSnap. Let’s get you expanding text in under two minutes.

Grant Accessibility Access

TypeSnap needs accessibility permissions to detect what you type and insert expanded text. On first launch, you’ll see a prompt. Click Open System Settings, find TypeSnap in the Accessibility list, and toggle it on.

This is a macOS requirement for any app that reads keystrokes. TypeSnap processes everything locally — nothing leaves your Mac.

Create Your First Snippet

Open TypeSnap and click the + button in the toolbar (or press Cmd+N)
Fill in the fields:
- Label: Email Signature (a name for your reference)
- Abbreviation: ;sig (what you’ll type to trigger it)
- Content: Your full signature text

That’s it. Switch to any app, type ;sig followed by a space, and watch it expand.

Understanding Trigger Modes

When does TypeSnap replace your abbreviation with the expanded text? That depends on the trigger mode.

After Delimiter (Default)

The snippet expands when you type a delimiter character after the abbreviation. Delimiters include space, return, tab, and punctuation like ., ,, !, ?, ;, :, (, ), [, ], {, }.

This is the safest mode. If your abbreviation is ;addr, typing “standard” won’t accidentally trigger it — only typing ;addr followed by a delimiter will.

You type:  ;sig⏎
You get:   Aaron Hampton
           Senior Developer
           [email protected]

Immediate

The snippet expands the instant the last character of the abbreviation is typed. No delimiter needed.

You type:  ;sig
You get:   Aaron Hampton
           Senior Developer
           [email protected]

Use this for abbreviations that are clearly unique and won’t appear as part of other words.

Manual Only

The snippet never expands automatically. You trigger it through Quick Search (Cmd+Shift+T) or a keyboard shortcut you assign. Useful for long or complex snippets you don’t want firing by accident.

Case Sensitivity

Each snippet has a case sensitivity setting:

Auto (default) — Matches regardless of case, and expands the snippet as written. Functionally the same as Insensitive for matching, but may be extended with smart case behavior in the future.
Sensitive — Only matches the exact case. ;sig won’t match ;Sig.
Insensitive — Matches any case, expands as written.

Organizing with Groups

Click the + icon in the sidebar to create a group (folder). Drag snippets into groups to keep things tidy. Common groupings:

Email — Signatures, greetings, templates
Code — Boilerplate, patterns, debug snippets
Personal — Address, phone, common responses

Quick Search

Press Cmd+Shift+T from any app to open Quick Search. Start typing to filter your snippets, use arrow keys to pick one, and press Enter to expand it. This works even for snippets set to Manual trigger mode.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Any snippet can have a dedicated hotkey. In the editor, click Keyboard Shortcut and press your desired key combination (like Ctrl+Option+S). Now that combo will expand the snippet instantly, from any app.

What’s Next

You’ve got the basics down. From here, explore:

Date & time macros — Insert today’s date, timestamps, and calculated dates
Fill-in fields — Snippets that prompt you for input before expanding
Regex snippets — Match patterns instead of exact text
JavaScript snippets — Compute values on the fly
Image snippets — Expand images by typing an abbreviation

Every keystroke you save adds up. A snippet you use ten times a day, saving 50 characters each time, saves you over 180,000 keystrokes a year.