Using Snippets for Fast Responses and Templating


Follow

Overview 

Snippets make it easy to type common phrases, sentences, or even entire letters so that you can reply to frequently asked questions in a few keystrokes. You can create snippets for your regular writing tasks to ease your day-to-day activities. This article provides information on how to create snippets, the way to trigger them, the snippet placeholders, and the snippet administration. 

 


 

Information 

  1. Creating Snippets
  2. Naming Snippets
  3. Activating Snippets
  4. Changing the Snippet Activation Key
  5. Snippet Administration
  6. Snippet Placeholders

 

Creating Snippets

  1. Go to Avatar Menu > Snippets.

    mceclip0.png

  2. Click Create New Snippet, either under Snippets For Everybody or under Personal Snippets.
    Snippets For Everybody could only be accessed by the Administrators or the users who are given permission. See the section on Snippet Administration for more details. 

    mceclip2.png

  3. Name your snippet by typing in the Snippet field.
  4. Enter the text that will be triggered with the snippet in the Replacement Text field.
  5. Click OK.

    mceclip3.png

 

Back to top


 

Naming Snippets

Snippets are useful tools; however, when you have a lot of snippets, and when they fall into different categories or pertain to different projects, the list can become overwhelming. This is why we recommend using a standard naming system for especially the global snippets. With a standard naming system, the users see the full list of snippets shrink to subsets when they search for them.

For instance, the code KLN- could be used as a preface to all the Kiln snippets, and the code FGBZ- could be used as a preface to all the Fogbugz snippets to allow easy filtering. When you type the preface, the search box will only show the snippets in that subset.
Note that the snippets are not case sensitive. Also, make sure that you do not use the snippet activation key in the snippet names.

 

Back to top


  

Activating Snippets

Snippets can be used in any text field in a case, but they are most useful for replies to emails. To trigger a snippet, just type the snippet name, followed by the activation key. The default activation key is `. To change the activation key, please see the next section. Alternatively, you can type the snippet activation key twice, which will bring up a snippet search box. Typing in the search box will filter the list of snippets to those that contain the text you have typed.
 
mceclip4.png
 

You can also activate the snippet search box from the rich text editor
 

mceclip5.png

 
The snippet activation key only works with a keyboard stroke. Do not copy and paste it.

 

Back to top


 

Changing the Snippet Activation Key

The snippet activation key is configurable on a per-user basis. If you have a non-English keyboard layout, you might find that the regular snippet key does not work. You may change the key by following the process below.

  1. Go to Avatar Menu > User Options.

    mceclip6.png
     
  2. At the bottom of the page, click Legacy Settings.
  3. Under Snippet Activation Key, select the key of your choice. 

    mceclip7.png
  4. Click OK.

 

Back to top


 

Snippet Administration

Snippets can either be personal to the user or global (available to all users). Both types are configured on the same page, Avatar Menu > Snippets. All site administrators see the global snippets available for management at the top of that page, above their own personal snippets. If a non-site-admin such as a project manager or a customer service lead needs access to creating, editing, and removing the global snippets, a site administrator can grant them the necessary permission. See the process below for how to do so.

  1. Go to Avatar Menu > Snippets.
  2. Click Edit Permissions.
  3. Click Add a User or Group.

    mceclip8.png
     
  4. Select a user or a group.
  5. Click on the check icon to grant permission.

    mceclip9.png

Back to top


 

Snippet Placeholders

Snippets can contain placeholders, surrounded by curly braces, which will be replaced with the text from the case attributes or from the current user’s profile. Placeholders are containers that allow you to include standard information easily in your snippets. You may find a list of placeholders and their replacement texts below. 
 

 Placeholder Replacement Text
{case} case ID
{sender_firstname} sender’s first name
{sender} sender’s email address
{subject} subject of the message
{ticket} external ticket ID
{ticket_singlecase} external ticket ID that only has access to the current case (not other cases submitted by the same person)
{url} URL of the Fogbugz site
{ticketurl} link to the external case (e.g., http://try.manuscript.com/default.asp?[ticket])
{ticketurl_singlecase} link to the external case (e.g., http://try.manuscript.com/default.asp?[ticket_singlecase])
{userfirstname} logged in user’s first name
{userlastname} logged in user’s last name
{username} name of the logged in user
{useremail} email of the logged in user

 

You can also include one text symbol like [[version]] in each snippet. When the snippet is inserted, that portion of the text will be highlighted, so the next thing you type will replace that text.

 

Back to top