1# snippets
2
3This repo has my (public) text expansion snippets.
4
5Text expansion apps allow me to save keystrokes when I'm typing common words – for example, if I type `intl`, my computer expands it to `international`.
6That saves me 9 keystrokes.
7It may not seem like much, but I use these snippets dozens of times a day and it quickly adds up!
8
9This repo has a script that creates a collection of snippets to use [in Alfred](https://www.alfredapp.com/help/features/snippets/).
10
11## Why not use Alfred's in-app snippet editor?
12
13Because I want to share snippets between my home and work computers.
14
15Alfred can sync its preferences through some sort of cloud storage, e.g. Dropbox or iCloud.
16But I don't want to connect my home and work computers that way – I try to keep them separate.
17e.g. I don't log into my work email on my home computer, and I don't log in to my personal iCloud on my work laptop.
18
19By putting my snippets in a GitHub repo, I can check out the repo on both computers and get the same set of snippets, but in a way that maintains the gap between the machines.
20Neither machine can directly affect the other.
21
22I don't put all my snippets in this repo; just the ones I can make public.
23For example, my home computer has extra snippets for personal info like my phone number and my address.
24I configure those in the in-app editor, because I don't want to put them in a public Git repo and I don't need them on my work computer.
25
26## Usage
27
28```console
29$ python3 create_snippets.py
30```
31
32This will create a new file `Alex’s snippets.alfredsnippets`, which you can open to add these snippets to Alfred Preferences.