> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.clinikehr.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Snippets

> Keep the paragraphs you type over and over, then drop one into a note by typing a forward slash — or copy it to the clipboard.

export const StillStuck = ({topic}) => <div className="ck-callout ck-callout--note" role="note">
    <p className="ck-callout__body">
      <strong>Still stuck{topic ? ` with ${topic}` : ''}?</strong>{' '}
      Check <a href="/platform/help/troubleshooting">Troubleshooting</a> first —
      it covers the failures we see most often. If that does not resolve it,{' '}
      <a href="/platform/help/contact-support">contact support</a> and include
      your workspace name and the time the problem happened, so we can find the
      matching entry in your audit log.
    </p>
  </div>;

export const TaskHeader = ({before, time, after}) => <div className="ck-task">
    {before ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">Before you start</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{before}</p>
      </div> : null}

    {time ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">Takes about</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{time}</p>
      </div> : null}

    {after ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">When you're done</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{after}</p>
      </div> : null}
  </div>;

export const Path = ({steps = []}) => <span className="ck-path">
    {steps.map((s, i) => <span key={i} className="ck-path__step">
        {i > 0 ? <span className="ck-path__sep" aria-hidden="true">
            ›
          </span> : null}
        {s}
      </span>)}
  </span>;

export const Availability = ({editions = ['all'], plans, roles, note}) => {
  const list = editions.includes('all') ? ['clinic', 'pharmacy', 'lims'] : editions;
  return <div className="ck-avail" role="note" aria-label="Feature availability">
      <span className="ck-avail__label">Available in</span>

      {list.map(e => <span key={e} className={`ck-pill ck-pill--${e}`}>
          {EDITION_LABELS[e] || e}
        </span>)}

      {plans ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Plan</span> : null}
      {plans ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--plan">{plans}</span> : null}

      {roles ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Who</span> : null}
      {roles ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--role">{roles}</span> : null}

      {note ? <span className="ck-avail__note">{note}</span> : null}
    </div>;
};

<Availability editions={['clinic']} plans="Solo and Team — creating snippets needs Starter or above" roles="Any clinical staff member" />

A snippet is a short block of text you write again and again — standard advice, a follow-up instruction, a normal-examination paragraph. **Read this first: the buttons on the Snippets page copy a snippet to your clipboard, they do not put it in a note.** To insert one directly, type **/** in the note body.

<Path steps={['Sidebar', 'Notes', 'Snippets']} />

<TaskHeader before="Nothing, though a snippet is only worth writing once you know what you retype" time="2 minutes to write one" after="A reusable paragraph your whole practice can drop into any note" />

## The two ways to use one, and why people get caught

| Where you are                                                   | What happens                                                                                |
| --------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| In a note, you type **/**                                       | A menu headed **Insert Snippet** appears. Pick one and the text goes straight into the note |
| On the **Snippets** page, you select **Copy** or **Copy & Use** | The text goes to your clipboard. Nothing is inserted anywhere until you paste it            |

The second one is what surprises everybody. You select **Copy & Use**, see a toast reading "Snippet Copied — "Follow-up advice" has been copied to your clipboard", look at the note, and it is unchanged — so you select it again. It worked the first time. Put your cursor in the note and paste with Ctrl+V, or ⌘+V on a Mac.

If you are already writing, the **/** menu is the faster route by a distance: arrow keys move through it, **Enter** or **Tab** inserts, **Escape** closes it. The note body says so itself — its placeholder reads "Start typing your note content... Type / for snippets".

## What you're looking at

**Snippets** — "Reusable text snippets for quick insertion" — opens on three counters: **Total Snippets**, **Active Snippets** and **Avg. Length**. Under them sits a **Search snippets...** box and a card for each snippet, showing **Created by** and its author, a badge counting its characters, a **Copy** button and a **⋮** menu.

| Menu item      | What it does                                   |
| -------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| **Copy & Use** | Copies the content to your clipboard           |
| **Preview**    | Shows the full text without copying            |
| **Edit**       | Opens **Edit Snippet** — "Update your snippet" |
| **Delete**     | Removes it for the whole practice              |

A brand-new practice sees "No snippets yet — Get started by creating your first snippet." with a **Create First Snippet** button. A search that matches nothing reads "No snippets found. Try adjusting your search terms."

## Create a snippet

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the create dialog">
    Select **Create Snippet** in the header. The dialog is headed **Create Snippet** — "Create a new reusable text snippet".
  </Step>

  <Step title="Name it the way you would search for it">
    **Snippet Name** ("Enter snippet name...") is required and capped at 100 characters. This is the name you will scan in the **/** menu, so make it specific: "Post-op wound advice", not "Advice".
  </Step>

  <Step title="Say when to reach for it">
    **Description (Optional)** tells a colleague what the snippet is for. Snippets are shared across the practice, so someone who did not write it will be relying on this line.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Write the content">
    **Snippet Content** ("Enter snippet content...") is required and capped at **1000 characters** — "Content must be less than 1000 characters". A snippet is a paragraph. Anything longer is really a template, so build it under [Custom Templates](/practice/clinical/note-templates).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save it">
    Select **Create Snippet**. The card appears immediately with your name under **Created by** and its character count on the badge, and it is available in every colleague's **/** menu straight away.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Who can do this

Role decides whether **Notes** opens. Permission decides whether you may change the shared library.

| Action                              | Who can do it by default  | Governed by                                   |
| ----------------------------------- | ------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| Insert a snippet into your own note | Any clinical staff member | Role                                          |
| Copy or preview a snippet           | Any clinical staff member | Role                                          |
| Create, edit or delete a snippet    | Owner, manager            | Permission — **Edit note and form templates** |

Snippets are practice-wide, not personal. Editing one changes it for everybody's next note, and deleting one removes it from everybody's **/** menu — though notes already written keep the text they were saved with.

Two behaviours surprise people:

* **Enforcement is opt-in, per person.** A colleague never saved in the permissions sheet is unrestricted; the sheet warns **"Saving starts enforcing"**.
* **A denied action is recorded; an allowed one is not.** Hiding the page from a sidebar is a convenience, not a security boundary.

See [Staff permissions](/platform/team/permissions).

## Check it worked

The snippet is on the **Snippets** page with the right character count, and **Total Snippets** has gone up by one. Open any note, type **/**, and the snippet's name is in the **Insert Snippet** menu — choose it and its text appears in the note body. That is the real test: a snippet that is not in the **/** menu is not usable in a hurry.

## Common issues

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Copy & Use did nothing">
    It copied. Put your cursor in the note and paste. If your browser blocked clipboard access, open **Preview**, select the text and copy it by hand — or use the **/** menu instead, which does not touch the clipboard at all.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Create Snippet is greyed out">
    Creating snippets needs the Starter plan or above; hovering the button shows an upgrade card ending **Upgrade to Starter**. See [Change your plan](/platform/plans/change-plan).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Content must be less than 1000 characters">
    The content field stops at 1000 characters. Split it into two snippets, or build it as a custom template — see [Note templates](/practice/clinical/note-templates).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="No snippets available in the / menu">
    The menu adds "Create snippets in Notes → Snippets". Nothing has been written for your practice yet, or you are signed in to a different workspace than the colleague who wrote them.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Create First Snippet opened the dialog but the header button is locked">
    The empty-state button is not plan-gated in the same way as the header one. If you are on Free, treat the header button as the truthful answer and upgrade before relying on snippets.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## FAQ

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Are snippets mine or the practice's?">
    The practice's. Everyone sees every snippet, and **Created by** records who wrote it. There is no private list.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="If I edit a snippet, do old notes change?">
    No. A note keeps the text it was saved with. The edit only affects insertions made after it.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can a snippet contain formatting?">
    It is stored as plain text, so what you type is what arrives. Format it in the note after inserting.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I use a snippet in a template note?">
    Yes. The **/** menu works in any note field, whether you started from a template or a blank page.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Should a whole consent paragraph be a snippet?">
    If it is under 1000 characters and you paste it into notes, yes. If clients have to sign it, it belongs in [Documents](/practice/clinical/documents) instead.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<StillStuck />