Insert a snippet

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Type the trigger

Type your snippet prefix and the trigger, like ::quote. SprintBrain inserts the snippet when you pause, or straight away when you press Space, Tab or Enter.

• Three letters are often enough. ::quo inserts the snippet when no other trigger starts with “quo”.
• Capitals don’t matter. ::Quote works the same as ::quote.
• Alternative queries work too. The extra words saved on a snippet act as triggers, so ::estimate can insert the same snippet as ::quote.

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Pick from the menu

Type the prefix on its own (::) and wait a moment. The Insert snippet menu opens at the cursor.

• Keep typing to narrow the list.
• ↑ and ↓ move through it, Tab or Enter inserts, Esc closes it.
• Space closes the menu and keeps what you typed.

Prompts have a menu of their own: type """. See Prompts.

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Fill in the form

When a snippet has fields, a form opens where you typed. Fill in each box, then press Enter to insert or Esc to cancel. What you type shows in bold, while the snippet’s own words around each box stay grey, so you always see which parts of the message are yours. The bold is only on screen: the text you insert is plain. Date boxes open on today. You can change how a date prints, jump to a day such as Tomorrow or Next Monday, or set a time. These choices apply to this insert only. The saved snippet doesn’t change.

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Choose a language

If a snippet has more than one language, SprintBrain asks you to Choose a language to insert. To have one language picked for you each time, set Default Language in the extension popup’s settings.

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Expansion summary

The summary shows the word and character counts for this expansion, plus an estimate based on typing 3.3 characters per second. The time is an estimate, not a measurement of your personal typing speed.

• Text inserted means the text is already in the field. Choose Done to keep it or Undo insertion to take it back out. Closing the card or pressing Esc keeps the text.
• Ready to insert means the text is waiting for confirmation. Choose Insert text to continue or Cancel to stop. Closing the card or pressing Esc cancels the insertion.

If the snippet is deprecated, the card says so instead of its usual line: This snippet is deprecated. Check it is still right before you send it. Archived snippets don’t expand at all. See Review and approval. The card shows whether it will close or insert automatically after five seconds. Moving the pointer onto the card or using its keyboard controls pauses that countdown, so you have time to review. After you choose an action, focus returns to the text field.

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Undo

Choose Undo insertion while the Text inserted card is open to remove the inserted text. If the card says Ready to insert, choose Cancel instead.

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Right-click menu

Right-click inside a text field and open Insert SprintBrain snippet:

• Recent: the last five snippets you used.
• Your folders, with their subfolders inside them.
• Unfiled: snippets that aren’t in a folder.

A snippet with several languages opens a submenu with one entry per language.

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Suggestions for selected text

Select a word in a text field. If it matches a snippet’s alternative queries, a small menu offers that snippet. Click it or press Enter to replace the selection. To turn this off, clear Suggest on selection in the extension popup’s settings.

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Copy from the popup

Click the SprintBrain icon in the Chrome toolbar and search. Click a snippet to open it, fill in its fields and click Copy filled, then paste the text where you need it.

• Copy raw copies the body with its fields still in it.
• Copy shortcut copies the trigger.

Use the popup for fields that don’t accept typed expansion.

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On your phone

Open app.sprintbrain.com/mobile to search, fill and copy snippets. See Mobile.

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Capital letters

With Automatic capitalization on (the default), a snippet inserted at the start of a message, on a new line, or after . ! ? starts with a capital letter. In the middle of a sentence it keeps the capitals you wrote. You can turn it off in the extension popup’s settings.