Every single month, I need to create the exact same meeting. But we never meet on the exact same date. It's going to have the same title, the same meeting location, the same description and details, and even the same guests here.
So how can I make this easier on myself? Well, what if I just use a simple keyboard shortcut like this? And in just one second, absolutely everything is filled in the way that I want: the name, the location, the details, including important links, and everyone that I want to add to this meeting.
So how did I do this and how can you do this in so many other applications? Let me show you how.
For years, I've been recommending that you make use of text expansion tools so that you can not only save a whole lot of time but you can also cut down on errors and mistakes.
So for example, if I ever need to include my meeting details, all I need to do is hit two keys on my keyboard and I can insert my Zoom meeting wherever I want. Maybe there is a standard reply that I use for my consulting clients.
Oh, no problem here. If I even want to address them by their proper name, I can insert that into an email, into a form, or really anywhere that I want on the web.
Now, in today's example, I am using Text Blaze, a free browser extension which allows you to create snippets so you can quickly and easily input the information that you want and then create your own custom shortcut key.
So let's return to my initial example where I had so many different things going on and filled in in just a split second, all with the use of a keyboard snippet. So let me show you exactly what is going on and how you can build the same thing.
So to get started in my example, all I need to do is open up a new blank calendar event.
This is so we can tell Text Blaze exactly where we want to put certain pieces of information. I'm going to go back to my Text Blaze dashboard and I'm going to come up here and select create a new snippet.
And at the bottom of my list here, you can see that that new snippet is displayed. Now, the nice thing is that Text Blaze does allow us to organize our snippets into multiple folders so we don't necessarily have to have just a long list here.
Now, our first step is to give that snippet a name. And in this case, I'm going to call this one a calendar event. Now, the label just describes your snippet and is really only for your purposes.
The more important thing you want to think about is what is the shortcut key going to be? Now, you can really create any combination of characters or letters. But in my case, I've decided to use a forward slash in front of all of my snippets.
Now that we have a label and a shortcut, next we just need to tell it what we want it to do.
Now, in this case, if we go back to our calendar, when we first open up an event, the cursor is already going to be placed here. So the very first thing I need to do is give it a meeting name. So I'm going to call this one Meeting with Tim.
Let's say that Tim and I need to meet once a month but not on the exact same date or week of the month. So that's going to be the name that I give the event. Next, I want to come over here to the right-hand side and tell it where to put the cursor next.
And for that we're going to be using the click element. Now, Text Blaze has a number of different elements that we can choose from here, including adding advanced calculations, inserting tables, and even simulating keyboard presses, which we're going to get to in a moment.
So here I'm going to select click element, and you can see that it has added it here within my snippet. With the click element inserted into my snippet, I'm going to select from website, and it's going to instruct me to open up the other tab, or a new tab if I'm starting from scratch, and tell it where I want it to click.
So going back to my Google Calendar, you will notice two things.
Number one, you will notice that wherever I place my cursor, you are going to see a highlight of yellow. This is so we can zero in exactly where we want that cursor to go next.
The second thing you will notice is that we are given a bit of an instruction here at the bottom of the screen, telling us to select that particular target. So I'm going to come up here to location, I'm going to select it, and here I can confirm by saying insert it into the snippet.
Now, don't worry if you've selected wrong or incorrectly. You can continue to select a different space on the screen. But let's go back and select that location and say insert into snippet. Now, it has taken that piece of information.
That's where the cursor will go next. So in terms of a location, I'm going to say that this is a phone call and maybe I want to include my phone number so that they have it at the ready.
Next up we're going to come back to our click element. I'm going to say select from website. Let's go back. And this time, let's go to our description. And I'm going to say insert into snippet.
And here is where we can include our meeting details. In my example, maybe I want to remind them to review the budget numbers before this call. Next up, we're going to return to that click element. Yes, you get the picture.
Select from website. We're going to come back here and I'm going to move over to the Guests area and say insert into snippet. And here I can add as many different email addresses as I like. For our example, I'm just going to insert the one.
And this time I'm going to actually add a simulated keyboard press because as you may know, when you start to enter in email addresses here, you do need to hit enter on your keyboard in order to actually add them to the invitation.
So coming back to Text Blaze after entering in my email addresses, and I could separate these with commas if I wanted to add more, I'm going to say key press. So I'm going to select select the Enter key. And now it's going to simulate selecting Enter on my keyboard.
Now, best of all, when using Text Blaze, we don't have to wait to finish our entire snippet here before we can go and test it out. So let's return to our calendar event. Let's place the cursor at the top where it would be anyhow when we first open up this event.
And I'm going to select forward slash C-R snippet trigger. And here in just a split second, it's added everything that we've wanted exactly where needed: the name, the location, along with the phone number.
We have the description. And yes, Jane has been added as well. But why don't we just add a few more details so we can make this even faster? For example, we can tell Text Blaze to hit the save button once we've added these details here.
And as you may know, if you're a Google Calendar user, we are going to be prompted to send out invitations to those users. Well, we can add that functionality to our snippet as well. Going back to Text Blaze after the Enter key, let's come back to the click element.
And this time we're going to come up here and select that save button. We're going to say insert into snippet. Perfect.
So now that I've proceeded with hitting the save button, here is the prompt. And we also want to tell Text Blaze to select send at this point. So I'm going to come over here. And once again, we're going to select the click element, select from website.
And this time we are going to select that send button. I'm going to select insert to snippet. And now I think we are done. So let's return to our Google Calendar main page. I'm going to select the time where I want this meeting to happen.
All I need to do is select forward slash C on my keyboard. And now I'm instantly returned back to my calendar with that event created and with all of the details that we wanted.
So think of the number of places, the number of forms, the number of things that you do on a regular basis where this could not only save you so much time but will ensure that you get the correct details.
Next, let's take a look at an example where we are wanting to collect information from a certain website because rather than just inserting the same information within a form, this time we are going to be pulling or scraping information from a particular website.
In this example, I'm wanting to create a list of different softwares, along with their G2 scores, how many reviewers gave that score, and what is the top industry within those areas. Now, all of this information is going to be coming from the G2 website.
And this would take an awful lot of time for me to do manually, to come into each and every product, to scroll down, to copy and paste the name or type it in manually.
I would have to hover over this just to get the specific score and then I'd have to scroll down and find out what the top industry is represented here. Well, what if I could just come back to my spreadsheet and just enter in forward slash G2 and I've got all of that information inserted in just a second.
What if I came back to G2 and say that I wanted to, oh, I don't know, maybe get the same information from Asana.
As soon as I have Asana pulled up, I'm going to use the exact same snippet and now I've got that information input as well. So let's return to our Text Blaze account. And let me show you how to set up this type of snippet.
Now, remember, we are not actually doing anything in particular with Google Sheets. In fact, we could use this snippet within any other application. What we are doing is telling it where to pull that information from.
So here we're going to be using the insert website information element. By selecting this, I'm going to come down. And we have a number of different options to choose from. But in our example, we're going to say website contents text.
I'm going to select that and we are presented with a very familiar select from website button, where we now go to that particular website. And just like we saw before, you will see that highlight of yellow.
Well, first things first, I want the name of the product. So I'm going to select that and say insert into snippet. Because I intend to put this into a spreadsheet, I want to use the key press element next and select the Tab key.
Remember, that's going to push the cell over to the right so we are ready to insert that next piece of information. Back in Text Blaze, what we are going to do is again select website and then website contents text. And we are returned to our screen.
This time I'm going to scroll down a bit further and I'm going to select the 4.3 and then insert to snippet. Once again, we'll want to simulate a Tab key so it pushes it over into the next field. And next I'm going to select insert website.
And for this I'm going to return to the top of the screen and I'm going to select this review option here and select insert into snippet. We will hit that simulated Tab key press once again.
And then the last one we are going to choose from, website contents text, we will be returned to our tab. And here I want to select that top industry. So I'm going to select this area here and then insert into snippet.
And now we should be ready to go. So now if I return to my spreadsheet, all I need to do is select forward slash S and that information is automatically put into my spreadsheet. And don't forget, when you're here within your Text Blaze editor, you can click and drag these elements around as well.
So if you do put things in an incorrect order or perhaps you need to add an extra click element or a simulated key press, you can always do so without starting from scratch.
So now that you've seen the amazing ways in which Text Blaze can save you time, what kind of snippets will you create next? Be sure to let me know and share with others in the comments down below.
Thank you so much for watching. And remember, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.
