Finding Saved Snippets

To locate your snippets, open a file in VS Code and use one of two methods: searching with the Pieces Drive menu or with Search Everywhere.

via Pieces Drive

If you want to access your saved snippets directly within the JetBrains IDE, you can:

Open the `Pieces Drive` from the JetBrains sidebar. Once the `Pieces Drive` is open, you have access to a wide range of options that allow you sort through your snippets.
<Image src="https://storage.googleapis.com/hashnode_product_documentation_assets/jetbrains_plugin_assets/jetbrains_plugin_assets/using_snippets/search_and_reuse/searching_snippets_drive.gif" alt="" align="center" fullwidth="true" />

via Search Everywhere

Whether you’re on macOS, Windows or Linux, you must double-press the Shift key twice to open up the Search Everywhere menu.

Once the menu is open, switch to the Pieces tab, then enter a search query to search your entire Pieces repository for any snippet you’ve saved.

After you’ve located a snippet, you can press Enter to open it in a new window and view the snippet’s code and saved context.

You can also press shift+shift again and search while remaining in the Search Everywhere menu’s All tab, but the Pieces tab is the de facto home for seeing only saved snippet search results.

The default behavior for the **Search Everywhere** feature can be changed to whatever keymapping you prefer—learn more about this here.

Adding Filters to your Search

You can filter saved snippets in the Pieces Drive using snippet tags, coding languages, and titles.

To filter through your snippets:

Open `Pieces Drive` via the JetBrains Sidebar. Select the search bar at the top of the Pieces Drive. After clicking on the search bar, you’ll have the option to quickly filter by `Titles`, `Annotations`, or `Content`. Using the filter, enter a search query in the search bar.
<Image src="https://storage.googleapis.com/hashnode_product_documentation_assets/jetbrains_plugin_assets/jetbrains_plugin_assets/using_snippets/search_and_reuse/filtering_snippets.gif" alt="" align="center" fullwidth="true" />

When you’ve finished entering your filters, the Pieces Explorer will only display the snippets that match your filters. You can clear this by clicking the siphon icon with an x over it.

For any tags you don’t want to set, you can leave them blank by just pressing `return` (macOS) or `enter` (Windows/Linux).

Viewing and Reusing Saved Snippets

Saved snippets can be viewed alongside their saved metadata by opening up them up directly from the Pieces Drive—either by pressing enter on a highlighted snippet, or by double-clicking it.

This opens up the snippet in markdown preview mode in a separate window.

From the opened markdown preview, you can then select Copy to Clipboard in the top-left corner of the snippet’s embedded code box or use the ⌘+c (macOS) or ctrl+c (Windows/Linux) shortcut after selecting the section.

via Right-Click Menu

The Pieces for JetBrains Plugin offers several actions when you right-click a snippet in the Pieces Drive menu.

This menu offers several material management and Pieces Copilot-related actions. Read more about them here or see the expanded table below.

via Pieces Sidebar

You can view snippets by opening up the Pieces sidebar in your JetBrains IDE and clicking the Pieces Drive Icon on the left-hand side of your screen.

Once in the sidebar, you can insert a snippet and place it exactly where you want it in your code by clicking Insert at Cursor.

You can also right-click a snippet and select Copy to copy it to the clipboard, allowing you to paste it anywhere you need.

Previewing Saved Snippets

While using the Pieces Drive sidebar, you can click on one of the snippets in the snippets list to view its code before selecting the snippet.


Add to Copilot Context Ask Copilot Copy
Insert at Cursor Shareable Links Annotations
Links Tags Reclassify
Edit Rename Delete

Real Time Snippet Streaming

Each product in the Pieces Suite uses PiecesOS to get information about your snippets' context.

When you update a snippet in the Pieces Desktop App—such as a name or description, tags or any of the other metadata—those changes are also reflected in your Pieces Drive without refreshing.

If your snippets are not updating right away, see the [troubleshooting guide](/products/extensions-plugins/jetbrains/troubleshooting) to details on how to refresh your snippet list.