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QuickChars

QuickChars

Otto Jiménez

|
9 installs
| (0) | Free
Quick access to special characters, symbols, emojis, and code snippets through a customizable sidebar panel
Installation
Launch VS Code Quick Open (Ctrl+P), paste the following command, and press enter.
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More Info

🚀 QuickChars

QuickChars Logo

A Visual Studio Code extension that provides quick access to special characters, symbols, emojis, and code snippets through a convenient sidebar panel.

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✨ Features

  • ⚡ Quick Character Insertion: Insert special characters and symbols with a single click
  • 📝 Code Snippets: Insert predefined code snippets with placeholders
  • 📁 Collapsible Groups: Organize items into groups that can be expanded/collapsed
  • 💾 Persistent State: Groups remember their expanded/collapsed state between sessions
  • 🔄 Dual Panel Support: Available in both Activity Bar and Explorer sidebar
  • 🎨 Fully Customizable: Configure your own groups and items through VS Code settings

📦 Default Groups

QuickChars comes with these pre-configured example groups:

  • 🔤 Special Characters: Arrows, copyright, checkmarks, currency symbols, mathematical operators
  • 🇪🇸 Spanish Accents: Accented letters and Spanish punctuation (¿, ¡)
  • 😀 Emojis: Common emojis for documentation and comments
  • 💻 Code Snippets: Console.log and arrow function templates

🎯 How to Use

  1. 📍 Access the Panel: Look for the QuickChars icon in the Activity Bar or Explorer sidebar
  2. ✨ Insert Items: Click any button to insert the character or snippet at your cursor position
  3. 📂 Expand/Collapse Groups: Click on group headers to show/hide their contents
  4. 🔕 Hide Info Banner: Uncheck "Show Info Banner" in settings once you're familiar with the extension

⚙️ Customization

📝 Adding Your Own Groups and Items

  1. Open VS Code Settings (Ctrl/Cmd + ,)
  2. Search for "QuickChars"
  3. Edit the "Groups" configuration

📋 Configuration Format

{
  "quickChars.groups": [
    {
      "name": "My Custom Group",
      "items": [
        { "label": "✓", "text": "✓" },
        { "label": "My Snippet", "text": "console.log('$1');", "isSnippet": true }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

🔧 Configuration Example

{
  "quickChars.groups": [
    {
      "name": "Math Symbols",
      "items": [
        { "label": "α", "text": "α" },
        { "label": "π", "text": "π" }
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "JS Snippets",
      "items": [
        { "label": "Log", "text": "console.log('$1');", "isSnippet": true }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

🏷️ Item Properties

  • label: Text displayed on the button
  • text: Text to be inserted
  • isSnippet (optional): Set to true for full-width snippet buttons

📝 Placeholder Support

  • $1, $2, etc. for tab stops
  • ${1:placeholder} for default text
  • $0 for final cursor position

🎮 Commands

  • QuickChars: Toggle QuickChars in Activity Bar - Show/hide the Activity Bar panel
  • QuickChars: Toggle QuickChars in Explorer - Show/hide the Explorer panel

💡 Tips

  • 💾 Groups remember their expanded/collapsed state - your preferred layout persists between sessions
  • 📄 Use isSnippet: true for multi-line code templates that need full-width buttons
  • 🔲 Regular characters work best as square buttons without the isSnippet property
  • 🔄 You can completely replace the default configuration with your own groups
  • 🏠 The first group is expanded by default, others start collapsed

📋 Requirements

  • Visual Studio Code 1.102.0 or higher

⚡ Extension Settings

This extension contributes the following settings:

  • quickChars.showInfoBanner: Enable/disable the configuration tips banner
  • quickChars.showInActivityBar: Show/hide QuickChars in Activity Bar
  • quickChars.showInExplorer: Show/hide QuickChars in Explorer
  • quickChars.groups: Define your custom groups and items

📄 License

This extension is provided as-is without warranty. Feel free to modify and distribute according to your needs.

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