We wanted to eliminate the time it takes anyone to find the right link or webpage. That’s why we built OSlash shortcuts, enabling the fastest way to navigate work. 

But simplifying access to information was just the first step. With each team spending hours repetitively typing out the same content, over and over, we knew we could elevate what you could do with information at your fingertips. 

You have your sales teams, furiously typing with their fingers crossed, sending the same templated pitches to thousands of folks; your support team, perennially tired of being bogged down by repetitive queries; your recruitment team, hoping to find reasons enough to hold on to their jobs while sending “Why you should join their company” to every candidate in the market; marketers who have to write the same pitch that deep-dives into what their company does everywhere; developers who many a time copy-paste an exact piece of code monotonously. Regardless of which function you might work in, repetition is something that cannot be escaped. 

But it definitely can be automated to improve output, reduce efforts, and save hours of time.

To that end, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of our new feature - A text expander by OSlash. 

What is the OSlash text expander?

The OSlash text expander is a tool that convert the stuff you repetitively type out into reusable snippets. You can use snippets to automatically fill out a text block whether in emails, pitches, customer responses, blogs, or code. 

With a text expander snippet, you would be able to summon up content in a matter of seconds. Such snippets can include words, paragraphs, images, rich text, or anything you need.

For example, typing out o/intro can expand to 

The power to go “Accio content” whenever you want saves you time and effort whilst bringing enormous amounts of happiness. Such snippets, used across the workplace, also bring in consistency and reduce the margin of error significantly. 

Types of snippets

Snippets can be a lot more than simple text. Snippets can include images, your favorite emojis, formatted text, dynamic variables, and more.

Snippets can be used no matter where you work. 

Simple text snippets

You can insert textbook replies on Slack for commonly asked questions.

o/ty can be “Thanks a ton for all the help. Really appreciate it.”

Snippets with links

These days most of the information exchange happens via links because that has become the default place of work. Everything important is a URL, and fortunately, snippets can expand texts to include the destination links of the webpages you want. 

o/my-calendar can expand to “If you’d like to drop in your suggestions, feedback, complaints, or just would like to catch up, feel free to book a slot with me on my calendar.” This you’d surely find useful to include in all your email correspondence. 

Or o/product-intro can be used to say “Thank you for your interest in what we’re building. To know more about it, please check out our product demo and intro video."

Snippets can include links to your calendar, to the product deck, or to a marketing video, so you can repurpose the content without making any tweaks at your end. 

Snippets with images

Snippets bring with them endless customization options so you can format the text as well as include a wide range of images where you need to. 

Images and screenshots are especially helpful when responding to customer queries. They work well as you guide a user through a series of how-tos while answering FAQs. 

Dynamic snippets with variables 

Snippets sound awesome, we know, but your concern that they might sound robotic is completely valid. 

No one likes to chat with a bot. Bearing that in mind, we have included variables to allow endless customization and personalization in all your interactions. 

You can simply insert variables wherever they are required while creating a snippet with OSlash text expander. While using the snippet, just replace the variables with actual names of the people or their companies and you’ll be good to go. 

How to use the OSlash text expander?

Here’s a quick walkthrough of how you can start using snippets with the OSlash text expander. 

Once you have our browser extension downloaded, you can pin it for instant access. 

1. Click on the browser extension to open the window
2. Select Snippet
3. Write the snippet copy, format it, or include variables to personalize the text
4. Give the snippet shortcut a name such as o/introduction or o/feedback
5. Click on Save

Type the shortcut and the snippet text will be substituted for it wherever you are in your browser.

Sharing and collaboration

Snippets in OSlash come with two access levels. They can be shared with your entire workspace or be available just to you. 

Workspace snippets can include responses to frequently asked questions or a company pitch that introduces your workplace to the world. They are a great way to ensure consistency of message, voice, and tone across functions.

When you create a workspace snippet, the shortcut would work for everyone in your workspace instantly. They would be able to create templated responses simply by typing out the shortcut wherever they may require. 

Why should you care about snippets?

The world’s most productive people endeavor to automate as many things as possible. 

And we wanted to bring this power of automation to the hands of all our users. 

With snippets, you’d be able to save time spent doing mindless repetitive tasks and gain a competitive edge. 

Here are the advantages of using snippets where you work. 

1. Faster response times. With snippets and templated responses, it is easier for customer support teams to address more queries faster. Faster response times and accurate replies agents translate into lower waiting times and a higher happiness quotient for customers. 

2. Better quality and accuracy of information. Most businesses want to send out quality communication and maintain a good brand image at all times. In the absence of snippets, support and sales staff have to draft ad-hoc responses instantly and are thus more likely to make mistakes including inconsistencies in information, grammatical errors, and typos which can sour the quality of the customer’s experience.

3. Higher productivity. Snippets help reduce the repetitive, manual work of mindlessly typing the same text again and again. Regardless of the function you may be in, snippets can help supercharge your productivity, helping you save more than 30 hours a month. 

4. Personalization. With variables in snippets, frequently sent out texts can be customized to include personalized information that makes the customer feel seen, heard, and valued. Customers are often more willing to buy from a company that offers personalized experiences. 

5. Access to information. The propensity to use and contribute to a company’s knowledge base is highest when everyone knows how to access information.  And when the information you need appears where you are typing, you’re more likely to stay focused instead of going down some rabbit hole on the internet.
   
   With snippets, you can also leverage the collective wisdom of everyone in the company instead of working in silos. Your troubleshooting emails can be written by someone in IT, the canned responses can come directly from the product team, and the company pitch can be consistent with the marketing folks. Through the magic of shared snippets, you can always dig into the pool of collected wisdom, ensuring the best for your company. 

6. Scalability. One of the biggest benefits of using snippets is that it gives a business the superpower of scale. With shared snippets, your team will always be able to hit the right notes in all the messaging. Everyone’s snippets would get updated automatically whenever some tweaks are made, keeping everyone on the same page.
   
   
7. Consistent messaging. Lastly, choosing snippets gives a business the opportunity to incorporate the brand voice and tone into messages, emails, and other communication channels. This makes snippets consistent with the rest of the brand’s communication.

Tips for getting started with text expanders such as OSlash

Ready to skyrocket your productivity? Here are tips for getting started with OSlash’s text expansion software.

Start with basic snippets. You can create a snippet for your most-frequently used responses to your team members. This will help you get used to the platform. 

Next, start with creating snippets for your product’s most frequently asked questions. You can include screenshots explaining the steps to make them more helpful. Make sure these snippets are available to the support team on priority to reduce redressal times. 

You can then proceed to create a snippet (in collaboration with the executive team in the company) deep-diving into what your product does. You will be surprised to hear multiple versions of how your company is pitched to others online. Having a handy blurb will keep the message consistent everywhere.  

Make a habit of turning content you repeatedly type into snippets. For example, you can set a rule that, whenever you type something in your email or elsewhere twice, you’ll turn it into a snippet. 

OSlash makes you more effective

OSlash’s text expander can help you automate canned responses, boost productivity, improve customer interactions, and populate your messages in one click.

Above all, OSlash Snippets helps you get back the 30+ hours you waste each month with repetitive typing.

Try the best text expansion tool for free

Ready to discover a world where you can always say the right thing in seconds? Sign up now.