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A snippet is a trigger phrase and the text it becomes. Say the trigger while dictating and OpenWhispr swaps in the saved text — so you can say “cal link” and get your full booking URL, correctly spelled, every time. The app puts it well: “the stuff you shouldn’t have to say twice.”

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Creating one

1

Open the Snippets tab

Click Dictionary in the sidebar, then the Snippets tab.
2

Type the trigger

In the field at the top — “Add a trigger phrase” — type the phrase you’ll say, like cal link. Then press Enter or click Add.Triggers can be up to 80 characters, and you can’t reuse one: if the trigger already exists, Add stays greyed out and the app tells you “A snippet with this trigger already exists.”
3

Enter the replacement

A panel opens for the Replacement — the text the trigger becomes.
4

Save it

Choose Create snippet. It applies to your next dictation.
If you have no snippets yet you’ll see a New snippet button instead of a list. It doesn’t open a form — it just puts your cursor in the trigger field, so carry on from step 2.

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What people use them for

Anything you dictate repeatedly and get wrong repeatedly is a candidate: URLs, email addresses, postal addresses, bank details, standard disclaimers, and prompts you feed to an AI tool.

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How matching works

Worth knowing, because it explains both why snippets fire and why they don’t:
  • Whole phrases only. A trigger never matches inside a longer word, so a trigger of ask won’t fire on “asking” or “basket”.
  • Case doesn’t matter. Say it however you say it.
  • The longest match wins. If you have both ask and investor ask, saying “investor ask” expands the longer one — so a specific trigger always beats a general one that’s contained in it.
  • Every occurrence expands, not just the first.
  • Triggers must be unique. A repeat is refused with “A snippet with this trigger already exists.”

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Choosing a good trigger

The replacement happens on your transcribed words, so the trigger has to be something you’d say deliberately and never by accident.
  • Two words beat one. cal link is safe; link will fire constantly.
  • Say it out loud first. If it’s a phrase you’d use in an ordinary sentence, pick another.
  • Keep it easy to transcribe. A trigger built from unusual words is one the model may mishear — in which case the snippet won’t fire because the trigger never appeared in the text. If a trigger keeps failing this way, add its words to your dictionary.

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Editing and removing

Hover over a snippet in the list. A pencil and a ✕ appear at the right of that row — pencil to edit the trigger or the replacement, ✕ to delete it. Edits apply to your next dictation; there’s nothing to reload.
The two controls are invisible until you hover, so a snippet row looks read-only at rest. If you’re hunting for a way to change one, that’s where it is.

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Snippets or dictionary?

They solve different problems and it’s worth not mixing them up: A snippet is a substitution. A dictionary entry is a hint. If you want a guarantee, use a snippet.