InsertKit — An Easy Guide to What It Does

InsertKit is a tool that helps you stop typing. It has:

• A desktop app (Windows, macOS, Linux)

• A browser extension (Chrome)

• An Android app

• A website (for your account and settings)

All four connect to the same account, so anything you save on one device shows up on all your other devices right away.

1. What Is InsertKit?

The idea is simple: you should never have to type the same thing twice.

Maybe you answer the same customer questions every day. Maybe you write similar sales emails. Maybe you paste the same code often, or post similar things on social media. InsertKit saves that repeated text once, so you can bring it back instantly — by typing a short shortcut, picking it from your clipboard history, or just saying it out loud.

Here is what InsertKit can do:

• Text expansion — type a short shortcut like /email, and it turns into a full message.

• Dynamic templates — parts of the text (like the date or a name) fill in automatically.

• Snippet variations — one shortcut can offer several versions to pick from.

• Clipboard manager — a searchable history of everything you've copied.

• AI voice typing — hold a key, talk, let go — your words become clean, formatted text.

• Voice commands — say "insert greeting" and it types your greeting snippet for you.

• Voice Assistant — say "Hey IK, write a polite reply" and the AI writes and pastes it.

• Team sharing — share your snippets with your whole team, synced live.

• Works everywhere — Windows, macOS, Linux, Chrome, and Android (iPhone coming soon).

Everything is tied to one account. A snippet you make on your laptop shows up instantly on your phone and in your browser.

2. One Account, Four Apps

InsertKit isn't just one app — it's a family of four apps that all talk to the same online service.

Whatever plan you pay for unlocks the same limits (like snippet count and team seats) across all four apps.

For developers: InsertKit also has a public API. You can use it to create, read, update, and delete snippets or categories from your own scripts or tools, using an API key from your dashboard.

3. Text Snippets

This is InsertKit's most basic feature. You create a snippet — a saved piece of text — and give it a short trigger, always starting with / (like /email). Whenever you type that trigger and then press space, tab, or enter, InsertKit swaps it out for your full saved text.

What you can do with snippets

• Create, view, edit, and delete snippets on any device.

• Search for a snippet by its trigger or title.

• Sort them into categories (Work, Personal, Sales, Support, etc.).

• Pin your favorites so they're easy to find.

• Set who can see it: just you, your team, or everyone.

• Add a hotkey to insert it with one keystroke (on desktop).

• Format the text with bold, italics, lists, links, and more — not just plain text.

• Add a title to help you find it later.

How the expansion actually works

On desktop, InsertKit watches your typing at the system level. On the browser extension, it watches text boxes on the page. When you type a trigger and press space, tab, or enter, it swaps in your saved text.

The browser extension checks for matches in a few ways: while you're typing, right after you stop typing, and when you press space/tab/enter. You can also trigger it manually with Ctrl+Shift+Space.

You can turn off automatic expansion in settings, but the quick-pick popup (see below) still works.

The quick-pick popup

When you start typing a shortcut like /em, a small dropdown shows up with matching snippets:

• Shows up to 20 matches.

• Matches by trigger or title.

• Use the arrow keys to move, Enter or Tab to pick one, Escape to close it.

• Works in both light and dark mode.

Works in almost any text box

InsertKit can type your snippet into nearly any kind of text field, including:

• Regular text boxes and text areas.

• Code editors like Ace, CodeMirror, and Monaco.

• Rich editors like Google Docs, Notion, Figma, Slack, and more.

If the normal method doesn't work, InsertKit has backup methods, including copying the text to your clipboard so you can paste it yourself with Ctrl+V.

Right-click menu (browser extension)

Right-click on selected text to see two options:

1. Expand with InsertKit — turns the selected trigger into its snippet.

2. Save to InsertKit — saves the selected text into your clipboard history.

4. Dynamic Snippets

A dynamic snippet has blank spots — called placeholders — that get filled in automatically or by you, instead of always saying the exact same thing.

Automatic fields (fill in by themselves)

Fields you create yourself

You can add your own blanks with different types:

• text — you type something in when it's inserted.

• dropdown — pick from a list of choices.

• date / time / datetime — pick from a calendar or clock.

• clipboard — automatically fills in whatever you last copied.

• myName — fills in your name.

When you use a dynamic snippet, a small form pops up asking you to fill in any blanks that aren't automatic, then it puts your full message together.

Templates (on the website)

On the dashboard, this idea grows into full Templates — documents with forms, dropdowns, and "if this, then that" logic, so the same template can change depending on your answers. You can share these with your team too.

Example:

MarkdownSubject: Quick intro — {{company}}
Hi {{name}},
I came across {{company}} and thought our tool could help your team.
Are you free for a 15-minute call on {{date}} at {{time}}?
Best, {{myName}}

5. Snippet Variations

Sometimes one shortcut should give you a choice. Snippet variations let one snippet hold several versions — when you trigger it, a small picker pops up so you can choose the right one.

Great for things like:

• Emails (work, personal, or support versions)

• Signatures

• Replies

• Greetings

Each version has its own name and its own text. On Android, this picker shows up right above your keyboard.

6. Clipboard Manager

InsertKit makes sure nothing you copy is ever lost. It saves your clipboard history to the cloud so you can find it again later, from any device.

How it collects your copies

• On the browser extension, it saves text you copy (but skips empty selections and anything over 10,000 characters).

• On desktop, it watches your system clipboard directly.

• On Android, it watches your clipboard when Clipboard Sync is turned on.

• How much history you can keep depends on your plan.

The clipboard list

From the popup or the Clipboard tab, you can:

• Browse your recent copies (favorites shown first).

• Search through your whole history.

• Refresh to get the latest.

• Copy anything back to your clipboard.

• Favorite items you use a lot.

• Delete one item, or clear everything.

The paste picker (a favorite shortcut)

Press Ctrl+Shift+Z (or Cmd+Shift+Z on Mac) anywhere to open a clipboard picker overlay:

• Search your history.

• Use arrow keys and Enter to pick something, or just click it.

• Drag the box around, or resize it — it remembers your setup.

• Pin it open while you keep working.

• InsertKit automatically figures out if an item is an email, a link, or plain text.

• It types the text into whatever field you were last using.

• It always copies the item to your clipboard first, so if the typing doesn't work, you can just press Ctrl+V.

7. AI Voice Typing

This is InsertKit's star feature: hold a key, talk, let go — and your words appear as clean, finished text in whatever app you're using.

How it works, step by step

1. Hold your voice hotkey (Right Alt by default on desktop, Alt+V in the browser, or the mic button on Android).

2. InsertKit records your voice.

3. Your speech is turned into text.

4. The AI cleans it up to match the app you're typing in.

5. The finished text is typed in for you.

If you talk for a long time, InsertKit splits the recording into chunks so it can start working on the first part while you're still talking.

Ways to turn it on

• Hold-to-talk hotkey — the main way to use it on desktop and browser.

• Floating mic button — a small button you can drag anywhere on the screen.

• Popup hold-to-talk — a hold button inside the extension's popup.

• Always Listening (desktop Agent only) — say a wake word once, then keep talking without repeating it.

Languages

It can auto-detect your language, and also directly supports English, Bangla, Hindi, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Korean, and more.

Choose how your speech is turned into text

You can use:

• InsertKit Cloud (built-in, no setup needed — just sign in).

• Browser Speech (works right on your device, nothing sent online).

• Or your own key with OpenAI, Groq, OpenRouter, Deepgram, AssemblyAI, or ElevenLabs.

• Or any other compatible service you set up yourself.

Smart formatting based on what app you're using

After your speech becomes text, an AI cleans it up — removing filler words like "um" and "like," fixing punctuation, and correcting mistakes — before it's typed in.

The AI also knows what kind of app you're in, and adjusts its style:

• Email apps (Gmail, Outlook) → gets a professional tone.

• Chat apps (Slack, Discord, Teams, WhatsApp) → stays short and casual.

• Social media (Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Reddit) → matches that style.

• Documents (Google Docs, Notion, Word) → cleaner writing.

• Spreadsheets, code, and search boxes each get their own style too.

For safety, the AI is told never to act on anything you say — it only cleans up your words. So if you accidentally say something like "delete all my files," it just types those words; it doesn't do it.

You can turn off the smart formatting anytime and use Offline mode, which skips the AI cleanup and gives you the raw transcription.

Teaching InsertKit your words

• Hint words — add names, jargon, or acronyms so the AI recognizes them better.

• Replacement rules — automatically swap one word for another (like "iks" becoming "InsertKit").

Voice typing history

Every voice-typed message is saved (up to 200 entries by default), so you can find and reuse things you've said before.

8. Voice Commands

While voice typing turns your speech into text, voice commands turn your speech into an action — specifically, inserting a snippet.

Just say the command word (default: "insert") followed by the snippet's name:

• "insert thanks" → inserts your matching "thanks" snippet.

• "insert email" → inserts your /email snippet.

How it finds the right snippet

1. It cleans up what you said (removes extra punctuation, lowercase, etc.).

2. If you start with "insert" (or "insertkit," or your own custom word), the rest is treated as your search.

3. It compares your words to your snippet triggers and titles, and picks the best match.

4. It inserts that snippet.

This means you can keep your hands on the keyboard and just talk to insert full messages.

9. Voice Assistant

This goes one step further than voice commands: instead of inserting something you already saved, the Voice Assistant writes brand new text based on what you ask for.

Start with a wake phrase — by default, "hey ik" (also works with "hey insert," "hi insert," or "hey insertkit") — followed by your request:

• "Hey IK, write a polite follow-up email" → the AI writes it and types it in.

• "Hey IK, summarize this into a short tweet" → the AI writes a summary and types it in.

You can use InsertKit's built-in AI, or your own AI provider. Everything it writes is saved in your history (up to 100 entries by default).

10. The InsertKit Agent

This is the most powerful feature in the desktop app. The Agent is a voice-controlled assistant with 23 built-in tools that can actually do things on your computer — not just type text.

Default wake phrase: "hey agent" (you can change this).

Ways to start it

Simple session commands

• Say "hey agent" alone and it will ask how it can help.

• Say "start over" or "clear history" to reset the conversation.

• Say "goodbye," "bye," "stop," "exit," "cancel," or "nevermind" to end the session.

Note: The Agent is fully built and working, but it's currently hidden behind a setting in the app, so it's more of an early/beta feature than a front-and-center one.

What the 23 tools can do

Clipboard (always available):

• Read or write your clipboard.

Files (needs File permission turned on):

• Find, move, copy, delete (to Recycle Bin/Trash), rename, or open files.

• Create folders, list what's in a folder, save text to a new file, or read a file's contents.

Apps (needs App permission):

• Open an app, close an app, or see which apps are running.

System (needs System permission):

• Check your computer's info (CPU, memory, storage).

• Change the volume, mute audio, lock your screen, take a screenshot, or empty the recycle bin.

Browser (needs Browser permission):

• Open a website or run a Google search.

Just talking:

• Ask general questions, get things summarized, or brainstorm ideas.

• Some AI options can also search the internet for you, for things like weather or news.

Example things you can say

• "hey agent copy hello from InsertKit to my clipboard"

• "hey agent open calculator"

• "hey agent what apps are running"

• "hey agent create a folder called AgentTest on my desktop"

• "hey agent set volume to 30 percent"

• "hey agent take a screenshot"

• "hey agent open github.com"

The Agent remembers what you talked about earlier in the session, so you can do several things in a row without repeating the wake word each time.

It can talk back

The Agent can reply out loud, using either:

• Piper — works offline, right on your device.

• ElevenLabs, OpenAI, or OpenRouter — online voice options.

11. Choose Your Own AI Provider

InsertKit's AI features (speech-to-text, formatting, the assistant, and text-to-speech) aren't locked to one company. You can use InsertKit's built-in service for free, or connect your own AI account.

The provider vault

InsertKit keeps a list of AI providers you've connected and what each one is used for. Supported providers include:

• OpenRouter, Groq, OpenAI, ElevenLabs, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Deepgram, AssemblyAI, and Cloudflare Workers AI.

Smart defaults

If you only set up one provider, InsertKit automatically decides what to use it for:

• Only Groq → used for both transcribing and formatting your speech.

• Only OpenRouter → transcribes, formats, and runs the assistant.

• Both Groq and OpenRouter → Groq handles transcription, OpenRouter handles the rest.

If you manually choose something different, InsertKit remembers your choice and won't change it automatically.

Mix and match

You can set a different provider for each job — for example, transcribe with Groq, clean up the text with Gemini, run the assistant with Claude, and get spoken replies from Piper, all at once.

12. Working With a Team

InsertKit isn't just for one person — it also works great for teams.

• Shared snippet library — your whole team can use the same snippets, updated live.

• Team snippets show up with a "Team" label. If you didn't create it, you can use it but can't edit or delete it.

• Access levels — set each snippet as Private, Team, or Public.

• Team management — handle your team from the website dashboard.

• Permissions and usage stats are available too.

• Your plan decides how many team members you can add.

Because everything syncs live, when a teammate adds a new snippet, it shows up on your device within seconds.

13. Syncing Across All Your Devices

InsertKit keeps everything updated everywhere, instantly. It uses two methods:

1. Live connection — a constant connection to InsertKit's server that instantly updates your snippets, clipboard, and team changes across all your open apps and tabs.

2. Backup check — if that live connection drops, InsertKit checks for updates every 15 seconds until it reconnects.

Each app also keeps a copy of your data saved locally, so it still works even without internet — then it catches up once you're back online.

14. Works in Almost Any App

A core promise of InsertKit: it should work in any app you use, not just a few popular ones.

• Desktop: Works in every Windows, macOS, and Linux app, because it works at the system level.

• Browser extension: Works on any website, including ones inside other pages (iframes).

• Android: Works across every app on your phone, using Android's accessibility features.

• InsertKit's website lists over 190 apps it's known to work well with — including Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, LinkedIn, Gmail, Discord, Slack, and popular coding tools.

15. Safety and Privacy

InsertKit deals with sensitive information — your typing, clipboard, and voice — so here's how it protects you.

On Android

Because reading text fields requires special Android permissions, InsertKit shows you a clear approval screen before turning this on, and is upfront about what it can and can't do:

• It can: read text to find your /trigger shortcuts, replace them, show suggestions, and read your clipboard (only if you turn that on).

• It cannot: record phone calls or audio, change your device settings without asking, stop you from uninstalling apps, or bypass Android's privacy protections.

You can turn these permissions off anytime in your phone's settings.

On the browser extension

The extension only asks for the permissions it actually needs, and is limited to talking with InsertKit's own servers and the AI providers you choose to use.

The Agent's permissions

Each of the Agent's 23 tools is grouped by permission (Files, Apps, System, Browser), and you must turn each group on yourself. Actions that could delete or change things may ask for extra confirmation. Every action the Agent takes is logged, and sensitive details are hidden from those logs.

Your own API keys

If you bring your own AI keys, they're stored securely on your own device and used to talk directly to that AI provider. You don't need any keys at all to use InsertKit — the built-in cloud service works with just an account.

Keeping your data clean and safe

Any formatted text in your snippets is cleaned up with a security filter before being saved or shown, to prevent harmful code from sneaking in through shared snippets.

Website: insertkit.com/privacy · Support: support@insertkit.com

16. Pricing

InsertKit is free to start — no credit card needed, and you can cancel anytime. Paid plans unlock more.

Each plan controls things like:

• How many snippets you can save.

• How many team members you can add.

• Whether team features are unlocked.

• Whether dynamic/custom snippets are unlocked.

• How long your clipboard history is kept.

• The level of customer support you get.

Payment options

• Card payments for most countries around the world.

• Local payment options for Bangladesh, since international card systems aren't ideal there.

• Crypto payments (USDT) across several networks, with QR codes for easy payment.

• A Lifetime Deal is also available — pay once, use it forever.

Pricing automatically adjusts based on your country, so you'll see the right currency and payment method for where you live.

Referral program

You can earn money by referring others to InsertKit, using your own referral link. Earnings can be tracked in your dashboard and paid out through several methods (like bKash, Nagad, bank transfer, PayPal, Wise, or Binance).

17. Details for Each Platform

Desktop App

The main app, built to be small, fast, and secure — much smaller and lighter than older-style desktop apps.

It includes tools for managing your account, snippets, clipboard, categories, settings, sync, teams, templates, and every part of the voice system (typing, assistant, hotkeys, history, and vocabulary).

Extra features:

• Offline voice typing — download and run speech recognition directly on your computer, with no internet needed. Includes a special lightweight model for Bangla.

• Always-listening detection — a smart system that only "wakes up" when it hears your wake word, and stops speaking out loud the moment you start talking (so it doesn't talk over you).

• Small pop-up windows — for things like the snippet picker, clipboard picker, and voice indicator, designed to open instantly.

• Automatic updates, with security checks built in.

• Works on Windows, macOS (Intel & Apple Silicon), and Linux.

Browser Extension

Runs quietly in the background of your browser.

• A popup window for logging in and managing your snippets, clipboard, and voice settings.

• Content scripts that watch the page you're on to power text expansion, the quick-pick popup, dynamic forms, clipboard capture, and the paste picker.

• A floating mic button you can drag anywhere, with a maximum recording length of 60 seconds and automatic silence detection.

Android App

A modern, easy-to-use app.

Main screens: Login (including Google sign-in), Dashboard (with Snippets, Clipboard, and Categories tabs), Settings, and Voice Typing Settings.

Key background services:

• The service that detects your /trigger shortcuts in any app and swaps them out — with a clear approval screen shown before it's turned on.

• An optional custom keyboard with a dedicated / key.

• A service that watches your clipboard, if you've turned that on.

• Pop-up overlays for autocomplete, clipboard history, and choosing between snippet variations.

Voice features mirror what's on desktop and the browser extension — recording, matching commands, formatting your speech, and picking your preferred language.

Website

Marketing pages: home page, features, pricing, download, changelog, about, contact, support, FAQ, lifetime deal, privacy policy, and terms.

Account dashboard: manage your Snippets, Clipboard, Categories, Templates, Team, Billing, Referral program, Settings, and API keys.

Sign-in: supports email accounts and Google sign-in, with password reset and backup login options.

Payments: handles subscriptions, crypto payments, the referral program, the lifetime deal, and automatically shows the right pricing for your country.

18. The Big Picture

Think of InsertKit as four ways to save time, built on one shared account:

1. Type less with snippets. Short shortcuts that expand into full text, with categories, team sharing, and multiple versions to choose from — on every device.

2. Reuse everything with your clipboard history. Everything you copy is saved, searchable, and easy to bring back with a quick shortcut.

3. Dictate anywhere with AI voice typing. Hold a key, speak, and get clean, properly formatted text in whatever app you're using.

4. Automate your writing with voice commands and the assistant. Say "insert..." to bring back a saved snippet, say "hey ik..." to have new text written for you, and on desktop, say "hey agent..." to control your computer by voice.

Behind all of it: one account, one connected service, and instant syncing — so your snippets, clipboard, and settings follow you from your Windows PC, to your Chrome browser, to your Android phone, without you having to think about it.

That's InsertKit — a productivity tool for anyone tired of typing the same things over and over, now with a voice of its own.

InsertKit · Version 1.4.0 Website: insertkit.com · Support: support@insertkit.com