Using Raycast Snippets

Raycast Snippets

I'm going to be using Raycast to manage my snippets to see if I can replace TextExpander. I have a few snippets that I'm using fairly frequently, but they're not saving me a ton of time. That's ok, because the mental saving is worth it.

What are Snippets?

Snippets allw me to type a quick abbreviation that expands out into a longer text or phrase. It's useful for things you want to type the same way every time, or that you'lll be typing over and over.

The interface is clean and intuitive and it's really easy to create a bunch of snippets you'll use every day.

Snippets for different occasions

I use snippets for personal information. Things like my email, address, phone number, and so on. I also use snippets for things like dates. Other examples I've seen and want to expand on are:

  1. Code blocks: quickly create a console.log statement
  2. Dates: quickly create a date in the format I want
  3. Markdown: quickly create a URL with my clipboard

Dynamic snippets with placeholders

That last one, creating markdown from the clipboard, makes use of a very powerful feature of snippets, placeholders. Here's where things get really cool. Raycast Snippets aren't just static text - they can include dynamic elements. I can use placeholders for things like the current date, clipboard contents, or custom input fields.

My personal snippet strategy

I'm just getting started using Raycast Snippets, but I'm finding them incredibly useful. Right now I'm splitting them up into several categories:

  1. Work-related snippets: Email templates, meeting note agenda structures etc.
  2. Personal snippets: My email, phone number, address, etc.
  3. Development snippets: Code snippets for things like logging, scaffolding, etc.

Wrapping it up

I'm really excited to combine another tool into my existing workflow. Raycast Snippets are a great productivity system that can save me time typing (and thinking). If you have Raycast and aren't using snippets, give it a go! And if you're not using Raycast, snippets alone could be a great feature, but they're are so many amanzing extensions out there.

References