Microsoft Word For Mac Insert Code Snippets

15-09-2021

Microsoft Word For Mac Insert Code Snippets

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Code snippets, often referred to as code templates, are useful for efficient programming as they allow the insertion and editing of pre-written blocks of code. Using code snippets can be convenient for quickly adding common patterns, or even for learning new patterns when as the developer you are unsure of syntax. There are templates provided for C#, F#, HTML, XML, Python, and Razor.

Snippets make reusing text simple. Just select text – a few words, a whole paragraph, or an entire document – and then create a snippet with one click. Insert snippets with a click or autocomplete as you type. Easily see how text differs from a snippet. Instantly create a new document from snippets. Demonstrating how to circle a word in Microsoft Word.

This section explains how to create, insert, and use snippets in code.

Inserting a snippet

There are some different ways to add code snippets, some of which are described below:

Tab Expansion – Start typing the template name, select it from the list and press Tab, Tab to add it:
Toolbox – Use the Toolbox Window to display a list of all code snippets. Drag any template from the toolbox into the correct position in the source code:
Insert Templates command – There is currently no default key binding set for inserting a template. To create one, browse to Visual Studio > Preferences > Key Bindings and search for template. This allows adding the desired key binding into the Edit Binding field, then click Apply:

Creating a new template

While there are many existing templates in a variety of languages that you can use and edit, new templates can also be added by navigating to Visual Studio > Preferences > Text Editor > Code Snippets:

Press the Add or Edit buttons to create or edit snippets.

Keywords in code snippets

After a code snippet is inserted into the editor, any keywords defined are highlighted and can be edited by tabbing between them. Keywords behave like a 'variable' in the code snippet and are defined by placing a dollar-sign $ before and after the name of the keyword.

The Edit template window is shown below, editing the built-in prop snippet. The snippet contains two keywords – $type$ and $name$ – which can have further properties set (such as a default value and tooltip) on the right side of the window:

The following fields are used to define a snippet:

Shortcut – The text the user types to insert the snippet.
Group – Snippets are grouped together in the snippet content menu, using this value.
Description – Explanation of the snippet's purpose.
Mime – Controls what file types the snippet is available in.
Is expandable template – Ensure this is checked so that the snippet can be inserted at the cursor by typing the shortcut.
Is surround with template – Check this option to list this shortcut in the Surround with... content menu in the editor.
Template text – The actual snippet that will be inserted into the editor. Keyword placeholders can be defined by surrounding a token with dollar signs eg. $type$ .
Keyword property panel – On the right-side of the window, use the drop-down list at the top to choose a keyword (eg type) and edit properties like default value and tooltip.

Using keywords in the editor

To use a snippet with keywords, such as the one defined above, type the shortcut and press Tab twice, and the snippet contents will be inserted at the cursor:

Press the Tab key to move between object and MyProperty to customize the snippet for your class.

A keyword can be repeated in a snippet, such as this for example, notice the $i$ keyword appears 3 times:

When used in the editor, the Tab key will switch between the first i and max. If you overtype the i with a different variable name, all three instances will be updated:

Reserved keywords

There are two reserved keywords that you can use in a snippet:

$selected$ – If the snippet has Is surround with template checked, this keyword will be replaced by the text that was highlighted in the editor when the snippet was chosen.
$end$ – When the user has finished editing the keywords in a snippet, the cursor will be placed at the location of the $end$ keyword.

The for snippet in the previous section is an example of both these reserved keywords.

Microsoft Word is a very versatile software. It has a large number of great features which the common users don’t even know about. Let’s consider a scenario. The other day, Rajesh, a friend of mine sent me an email and told me that he was preparing an MS Word document and needed to embed programming code with syntax highlight. To insert code snippet in his MS Word document, Rajesh did all the syntax highlighting manually. You can imagine that it is a tedious job! So, he asked me if there was an easier way. Well, indeed there is one!

It is easy to embed code snippets with automatic syntax highlight in MS Word. Let’s learn how you can do this magic!

A code snippet is a piece of computer programming code. Such code is usually marked with several colors in order to show various elements of the code distinctively. For example, all the programming language keywords will be highlighted in a particular color and all the errors will be highlighted in a different color. Similarly, there would be per-defined colors for text, tags, properties, attributes, values, symbols etc.

Our tips on MS-Word make your life easier and increase your productivity at work.

Program lines in a code snippets are also usually indented to make the code easily readable.

How to Insert Code Snippets with Syntax Highlight in MS Word

First of all, open the MS Word document in which you want to insert the code snippet. Then place the cursor where you want the snippet to be inserted.

Now, go to Insert tab and then click on the Object option. A new box will appear with a list of objects that you can insert in your MS Word document. Select OpenDocument Text from the list and click OK to insert the object.

You will see a new shaded area is inserted at the cursor position. Also a new Word document will open up. Whatever you will write or paste in this new document, the same will appear in the original document.

To add code snippets with syntax highlight, you can use Insert Object method of MS Word.

So, now, copy the code from your code editor and paste it in the new document. Save the new document and that’s it! Code snippet will appear neatly embedded in your MS Word document.

If you have copied the code from a Microsoft product (like MS Visual Studio), the syntax highlight will automatically carry to the MS Word.

However, if you’re using some other code editors (like Programmer’s Notepad), copied code may appear without syntax highlight in MS Word. But don’t panic!

Most of the code editors will give you the option of copying text with HTML markup or RTF format. You should use these options while copying text.

In Programmer’s Notepad, this option appears as Edit -> Copy as RTF

In Notepad++ the option is available as Plugins -> Copy Text with Syntax Highlighting

If you’re copying syntax highlighted code from a webpage, the HTML markups will automatically get copied and syntax highlight will carry to MS Word.

Advantages of Embedding Code Snippets with Syntax Highlights