Synced snippets
Move text between your devices
You wrote it on the laptop. It needs to go into a form on the desktop. Typist's saved snippets carry text between the computers where you are signed in, and then type it where it belongs.
The usual workarounds
Emailing yourself, a notes app, a shared document, a message to your own chat account. They all work, and they all add steps: open the thing, find the text, copy it, switch windows, paste — and if the destination field refuses a paste, type it out anyway.
How snippet sync works
A snippet is a titled block of text saved to your Typist account. Save one in the side panel on one computer, and it appears in the panel on any other computer where Typist is installed in Chrome and you are signed in with the same Google account. There is nothing to export or import.
- Free accounts keep three snippets. Pro, at $4.99 a month, keeps as many as you like.
- Editing a snippet you own never counts against the limit, so one slot can carry whatever you are moving today.
- If a Pro subscription ends, your snippets stay and keep syncing. You just cannot add new ones until you are back under three.
- Saving a snippet does not use your daily words. The allowance is counted when you run text, not when you save it.
How to do it
- On the first computer, open the Typist side panel, sign in with Google, and put the text in the panel.
- Save it as a snippet with a title you will recognise later.
- On the second computer, open the panel signed in to the same Google account. The snippet is there.
- Click into the destination field — a text box, a text area, a rich-text editor or a Google Docs document.
- Load the snippet, pick a speed and press Start. Pause, resume or stop whenever you want.
The one time your text reaches our server
Ordinarily the text in the Typist panel stays in your browser. A saved snippet is the deliberate exception: its title and text are stored on the Typist server so they can reach your other devices. Nothing is stored until you press save, and deleting a snippet removes it. For anything sensitive, delete the snippet once it has done its job. The privacy page sets out exactly what is kept.
Good uses
- A draft written on one computer that has to be entered in a browser on another. For a long one, see retyping a long draft.
- Standing text — a bio, a signature block, an address — that you want on every computer you use. Saving text you retype often covers building that library.
- Sections of a long piece, saved as Part 1, Part 2 and so on, and worked through on whichever machine you are at.
- Demo or tutorial text prepared at your desk and run on the machine connected to the projector or the recorder. See presentations and screen recordings.
Free plan: 300 words a day. A Google sign-in is required before typing.
Questions
- Do both computers need the same Google account?
- Yes. Snippets belong to the account you sign in to Typist with, and they appear wherever you are signed in to that account.
- Does it work on my phone?
- Typist is a Chrome extension for desktop Chrome, so snippets sync between computers where it is installed. It is not a phone app.
- Can I edit a snippet on the second computer?
- Yes. Editing one you own never counts against the limit, and the change syncs back to your other signed-in devices.
- What if I only have three snippet slots?
- Reuse one. Overwrite a snippet with today's text, move it, then overwrite it again next time. Pro removes the limit; see pricing.
The full first-run walkthrough is on how to type text automatically, and saved typing snippets covers the snippet rules in more depth.