Hey guys, no jokes today :) Snippets 1.3 is here!
We’ve been working on the next major release for a while. It takes a lot of time and requires a lot more, so, we decided not to wait until a huge 2.0 update is ready and make a release with the features that are ready to use now.
Let’s walk through some of them.
Snippets Expander
Yeah, finally. The name says it all. You can assign a short trigger string to any snippet and then type it in your editor of choice and boom... snippet is there. Pretty easy to use and very helpful feature that improves your ability to reuse code snippets. It’s a fantastic feature for keyboard junkies like me, no need to do any click at all :)
There is a couple of requirements for this feature:
- A trigger string should be 3-20 symbols length.
- You should enable access for assistive devices. (There is a checkbox “Enable access for assistive devices” at the bottom of System Preferences -> Universal Access)
Vertical layout
In the era of wide screen displays it’s an obvious feature. We’ve got both vertical and horizontal layouts and you can switch between them pretty easily using the toolbar switcher or a rotate gesture.

Lock snippet code from editing
Sometimes code snippets are very sensitive for changes, and it’s additional headache if you change the code accidentally. Now you can lock it from edits. There is a new lock icon in the snippets listing and inside the inspector:

If snippet is locked it just means that the snippet’s code is locked. You can’t accidentally change the code but you can change other attributes of the snippet.
Redesigned Inspector
It turns out that previous inspector was beautiful but not much useful. I strongly believe that if we build something it must be useful else do not build it — no one will use it at all. So we decided to redesign inspector from scratch.
Please let us know what you think about those new features. We’d like to get your feedback and improve them.
Thanks for using Snippets.
I would be very grateful for you votes and review on Snippets' page on MacUpdate
Comments
Great update, I use this app all the time. I really like the vertical layout!
This app is really great. I am a web developer and it could really make your work easier and faster. I was using it in trial period and I’ve just placed the order. Keep rockin’ ;)
Perhaps you could allow it to save labels? I keep entering a label for a new snippet and it keeps disappearing. :-/
The latest release 1.3.1 fixes these problems. Sorry for inconvenience.
This is a wonderful update!
I love the idea of the vertical layout. It would be very nice if the snippets column could optionally be a little more minimal (a single row per snippet / essentially the same display style for snippets as in the horizontal layout except with the vertical layout).
Are there any plans for snippets within snippets? I would love this feature.
Thanks for your feedback about the listing table, this is what we want and love to listen. We will improve listing table in the upcoming releases.
At the moment we don’t have plans for snippets within snippets.
i love the expander function but it is possible to select the apps that use this?
when i have a trigger (sample) “boxshadow”
he put all the time in all apps the code for this :/
I’ll treat this as a feature request :).
By the way, is pressing Tab key to expand trigger will help you?
Awesome new layout!
Can you set a preference to have small/medium/large fonts in the 3 pane layout middle pane and top of right pane. I think the font is a little big for me.
Great Work!
Do you mean font for these labels https://skitch.com/prudnikov/r28f2/snippets ?
Labels? PLEASE release a build with labels back in it. That’s how I sort what I need. Very sad.
Create a new snippet, enter a label, go off to some other snippet. When you come back, your label is gone. Your smart folder will not find the new snippet.
PLEASE fix this ASAP!
Sorry for inconvenience. Labels will be saved if you press Enter one more time after you’ve done entering labels.
New release that fixes this bug is comming in a matter of hours. Sorry again.
Chris, Justin, @JohnnyPea and others — thank you all for such kind words…
I love the snippet expander feature. Any plans to incorporate tab triggers, or maybe an interface similar to TextExpander so you can have custom fields once expanded?
The ability to highlight a snippet and print it would be awesome! Could this be added at some point?
Yes.
Dosn’t work with mac vim. The trigger string is still in place.
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Awesome work guys! Such a nice surprise for Aprils 1st, in comparison to so many of the lame jokes flying around the interwebs!
The vertical layout option and the snippets expander are both most welcome additions to whats already an awesome, invaluable app!
Keep up the great work and be sure to let me know if you need help again with beta testing 2.0 ;)
Cheers,
Chris