Expand Snippet

Expands an abbreviation or TextExpander snippet

This action can either use Editorial’s built-in snippet/abbreviation system or TextExpander snippet syntax.

In the Abbreviation mode, you can enter any snippet abbreviation and it will be expanded to the full snippet. For example, you might enter “tyvm” in the text field, and the output of the action would be “Thank you very much” (if you have such a snippet).

In the second mode, TextExpander Snippet Syntax, you can enter the actual text of the snippet (not the abbreviation), using TextExpander’s macro syntax, for example %clipboard or the various date macros (%Y-%m-%d...). This also works with fill-ins and date math. For a full reference of TextExpander’s snippet syntax, please refer to these pages in the TextExpander documentation:

Please note that some advanced macros are not supported in Editorial, specifically key presses (e.g. %key:esc%) and anything that uses AppleScript or Shell scripts (these only work on the Mac). On the other hand, fill-ins can actually be more powerful in Editorial than in TextExpander because you can combine them with workflow variables. For example, you could set the default text in a fill-in field to the contents of the clipboard, which wouldn’t be possible with a pure TextExpander snippet.

It is not necessary that you have TextExpander touch installed for the snippet syntax to work.

TextExpander is a registered trademark of Smile. You can learn more about TextExpander here: http://smilesoftware.com/TextExpander/touch/index.html

  • Input: Can be used in the snippet field
  • Output: The expanded snippet (empty if it couldn’t be expanded)

Parameters

  • Expand: Can be either Abbreviation or TextExpander Snippet Syntax (see above for details).
  • Insert in Editor: When this option is turned on, the expanded snippet is not only passed to the next action, but also inserted in the editor (like it would be when expanding the snippet by typing). Using TextExpander macros to set the cursor position or selected range (e.g. %|select me%\) will only have an effect if the snippet is inserted. Following actions only receive the actual text of the expanded snippet, without any selection information.