Getting Started5 min read
Getting started with SimpleFill 4
Install SimpleFill, save your first snippet, and use it anywhere you type: with a shortcut, a right-click, an auto-suggestion, or Quick Access.
By Ram Patra, updated
You probably type the same handful of things every day. Your email address, a link to your calendar, the reply to a question you've answered fifty times. None of it is hard to type. It just adds up.
SimpleFill saves those things once and puts them back wherever you're typing. This guide gets you from installing it to using your first snippet, and points you to what's worth trying next.
Install it
SimpleFill is in every major extension store:
- Chrome Web Store, which also covers Brave, Vivaldi, and other Chromium browsers
- Firefox Add-ons
- Microsoft Edge Add-ons
- Mac App Store, for Safari
While you're at it, pin SimpleFill to your toolbar. Clicking the icon opens Quick Access, which we'll get to in a minute.
About that permission prompt
Your browser will ask whether SimpleFill can "read and change all your data on websites that you visit". It sounds like a lot. It's the only permission browsers offer for this kind of work: to put text into a box on a page, an extension has to be allowed to change that page.
SimpleFill doesn't collect your browsing activity. Everything you save stays in your browser, and nothing goes to our servers. The one exception is AI: if you run an AI action with a cloud provider like OpenAI, the text you're working on, with a little about the page you're on, goes to that provider, using your own API key. The privacy page in the docs has the details.
Save your first snippet
Right-click anywhere on a page and choose SimpleFill → Open Dashboard. That opens the SimpleFill dashboard on Snippets.
- Type a Name, like Work email.
- Type a Shortcut, like
em. The;in front is already there. - Type your email address as the Value.
- Click Add Snippet.
That's your first snippet. If you want somewhere safe to practice, try the practice email.
Four ways to use it
Type the shortcut. In any text box, type ;em and press Space. SimpleFill
swaps it for your email address. This is the one you'll end up using most, once
the shortcuts stick.
Pick it from a suggestion. Start typing in a form field and SimpleFill shows the snippets that match. Press the Down arrow, then Enter. It even moves you on to the next field.
Right-click. Right-click the box, open SimpleFill, and choose the snippet. Useful when you're not sure what you called it.
Quick Access. Press ⌘ Shift Space on a Mac or Ctrl Shift Space elsewhere,
type a word, and press Enter. It searches everything you've saved, and it knows
which kind of field you're in, so in an email box your email comes up first.
Make it do more
Plain text is where most people start. A few things are worth trying once you're comfortable:
- Rich text. Turn on Rich / Dynamic Value and you get a proper editor with formatting, links, images, and tables. Email signatures are the classic first use.
- Fields. Mark the bits that change, like a customer's name, and SimpleFill asks for them when the snippet goes in. One reply covers every customer.
- Smart Fields. Values SimpleFill fills in itself. Type
;dateanywhere for today's date, or;urlfor the link to the page you're on. - AI actions. Connect your own AI provider, then type
;fixat the end of a message to clean up the grammar, or;translateto translate it. - Saved forms. If you fill the same form again and again, save the whole thing once and fill every field with one right-click.
Each of these has its own page in the docs, with examples.
Why not just use browser autofill?
Autofill is good at what it was built for: addresses and passwords. It falls short for most of what people actually type.
| SimpleFill | Browser autofill | |
|---|---|---|
| Paragraphs and formatted text | ||
| Works in Gmail, Notion, Google Docs | ||
| Pick exactly which value goes in | ||
| Templates with blanks to fill in | ||
| Edit and organize what you saved |
Keep it tidy
Once you have more than a few snippets, put them in Folders, like Work, Support, and Personal. Folders become submenus in the right-click menu, and the order you drag snippets into is the order they appear there.
Coming from an earlier version?
If you used SimpleFill before version 4, your saved Form Data moves over to Snippets by itself the first time version 4 runs. Older backup files still import, and if you have an export from a much older version, the Data Converter turns it into something SimpleFill can import today.
What it costs
Every feature is in every plan, including Free. The plans only differ in how much you can save: Free has room for 5 snippets, folders, Blocks, Fields, and saved forms, plus the 10 built-in AI actions. Standard raises that to 50 for a one-time $29, and Pro removes the limits for a one-time $59. No subscription.
Next
Save one thing you type every day, give it a short shortcut, and use it a few times. That's usually all it takes. When you want more, the docs and the FAQ are there.
