Article Summary
Snippets are reusable blocks of content — like AUM statements, regulatory disclosures, or standard risk disclaimers — that you can embed inside any response. Update the snippet once and every response that uses it stays in sync automatically.
Give your proposal teams a single source of truth for the language that matters most, while still letting you freeze specific versions when wording must be preserved exactly for a regulator, allocator, or consultant submission.
Estimated Time
Creating a snippet: 2–3 minutes
Embedding a snippet in a response: A few seconds
Bulk importing a list of snippets: 5–10 minutes for a spreadsheet of 50+
Prerequisites
An AutoRFP user account with Content Manager or Admin permissions
An active project if you want to embed snippets into responses
💡 When to Use Snippets
Snippets are designed for content that:
Appears across multiple responses — e.g., your firm's AUM, regulatory registrations, fund structures, etc.
Needs to stay consistent everywhere — so a quarterly AUM update or a new SEC registration flows through every live RFP at once
Must be controlled centrally — typically by Compliance, Legal, IR, or RFP teams who own the approved wording
Has a single approved version — language that's been reviewed by Compliance and shouldn't be paraphrased ad hoc
Common use cases:
Company facts that change on a regular cadence — headcount, revenue, customer count, AUM, locations served (refreshed monthly or quarterly)
Regulatory registrations and licences — SEC/FINRA/FCA for financial services, HIPAA/HITECH attestations for healthcare, SOC 2 / ISO 27001 / PCI DSS for SaaS
Step-by-Step Instructions
Part 1: Create Snippets
There are two ways to create snippets in AutoRFP — bulk import for setting up your library or direct entry for adding individual snippets one at a time. Most teams use both: a bulk import to seed the library initially, then direct entry for ongoing additions.
Option A: Direct Entry (One Snippet at a Time)
Use this when you want to add a single snippet.
Step 1: Navigate to Content Management
Open the Content Management area in the left navigation
Select Add Content on the top right corner and select Direct Entry
Select Snippet
Step 2: Create the snippet
Enter a Name — this is how the snippet will appear in the snippet picker (e.g., "Company Overview — Short", "SOC 2 Certification Statement", "Past Performance Disclaimer")
Enter the Content in the editor — this is the text that will be inserted into responses. Rich formatting (bold, italics, line breaks, links) is supported
(Optional) Add Tags for organization (e.g.,
Compliance,Cyber,Product,Risk)Select Add
💡 Tip: Keep snippet names short, descriptive, and consistent. "Compliance — SOC 2 Type II" and "Compliance — ISO 27001" are easier to find at scale than "Our SOC 2 statement" and "ISO certification info".
Option B: Bulk Import via Excel
Use this when standing up your snippet library for the first time, or when refreshing many snippets at once (e.g., a quarterly update across dozens of entries).
Step 1: Prepare your Excel file
Use Excel format (.xlsx) — other formats (CSV, Google Sheets exports, Numbers) are not supported
Create a worksheet with two columns:
Column | Accepted Headers | What to Put Here |
Name |
| A short, descriptive name for the snippet — this is how it appears in the snippet picker |
Value |
| The actual text to insert when the snippet is embedded in a response |
Each row becomes one snippet
Rich formatting in the Value column (bold, italics, line breaks, links) will be preserved on import
Name | Value |
Company Overview — Short | [Company Name] is a leading provider of… |
SOC 2 Certification | [Company Name] maintains SOC 2 Type II certification, audited annually by… |
Past Performance Disclaimer | Past performance is not indicative of future results. Investments may lose value… |
HIPAA Compliance Statement | [Company Name] complies with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act… |
Standard SLA — Premium | We guarantee 99.95% uptime measured monthly, excluding scheduled maintenance windows… |
Step 2: Import the file
Select Add Content from the main dashboard
Select the Snippets library
Upload your prepared Excel file
Step 3: Review what was imported
AutoRFP will:
Create new snippets for any names not already in the library
Update existing snippets if their content has changed
Skip exact duplicates (same name and same content)
After import, review the snippet list to confirm everything looks right, and add tags as needed.
‼️ Important: Snippets are matched on name. If your spreadsheet has two rows with the same name, the second row silently overwrites the first — deduplicate before uploading.
Part 2: Embed a Snippet in a Response
You can embed snippets into a response in two ways. Both work in the response editor.
Method A: Use the snippet er in the toolbar
Open the response you want to edit
Place your cursor where you want the snippet to appear
Click the snippet icon in the toolbar
A dropdown appears listing all your firm's snippets
Use the search box at the top to filter by name or content
Click a snippet to insert it inline at your cursor
Method B: Use the [ shortcut
While typing, press the
[(open square bracket) keyA suggestion list appears with all matching snippets
Continue typing to filter the list (matches against snippet names and content)
Use arrow keys to navigate, then press Enter to insert — or click with your mouse
Press Escape to dismiss the list without inserting anything
The inserted snippet appears as a small chip within your response, displaying the snippet's name and a status indicator. The chip is part of the response, but it stays linked back to the source.
🗒️ Note: When the response is exported (DOCX, copy-paste, etc.), the chip is replaced with the snippet's actual content seamlessly. Allocators, consultants, and reviewers will see clean text, not chips.
Part 3: Understand the Three Snippet States
Every embedded snippet shows one of three states on its chip. The state tells you whether the snippet is in sync with the source.
🔵 Live
The chip is blue with a "Live" badge
The embedded content matches the current snippet in the library
No action needed — the snippet is up to date
🟠 Stale
The chip is orange with a "Stale" badge
Someone has updated the source snippet since this was embedded — for example, AUM was refreshed at quarter-end
By default, the chip will auto-sync to the new content as soon as you open the response
You can also click the chip and select Update to latest to apply the change manually
❄️ Frozen
The chip shows a snowflake icon and a "Frozen" badge
This embed is pinned to a specific version and will NOT auto-update, even if the source changes
Use this when wording or figures must be preserved exactly — for example, after a DDQ has been signed off by Compliance and submitted to a consultant, or for a point-in-time AUM disclosure required by a regulator
A frozen chip can also show "Stale" if the source has changed — this just means a newer version exists, but you've chosen not to apply it
Part 4: Manage Snippet States in a Response
Click any snippet chip in the editor to open its menu:
Update to latest — pulls in the current source content (only available when the chip is Stale)
Freeze version — pins this embed to its current content; future source changes won't apply
Unfreeze — re-enables auto-sync; if the source has moved on, the chip will update immediately
View source — opens the snippet in the References library in a new tab
Remove — deletes the embed from this response (does not affect the source snippet)
‼️ Important: Unfreezing a snippet will auto-sync it to the latest source if it's stale. If you need to preserve a previously submitted figure (e.g., the AUM cited in a regulator filing), copy the wording before unfreezing.
Part 5: Update a Snippet (and Watch It Cascade)
This is where snippets earn their keep — particularly for figures that move on a known cadence (AUM, headcount, number of clients, performance disclaimers tied to a date).
Step 1: Edit the source
Navigate to Content Management → Snippets
Click the snippet you want to update — for example, "Firm AUM — Latest Quarter"
Update the figure or wording: "As of 31 March 2026, [Firm Name] managed approximately $48.2 billion in assets across…"
Save
Step 2: Cascade happens automatically
Once saved, AutoRFP automatically:
Looks up every response and library item where this snippet is embedded
Skips any embeds that are Frozen (e.g., DDQs already submitted)
Replaces the embedded content with the new version everywhere else
Updates the rendered output of those responses
Step 3: Verify in your responses
Open any response where the snippet is used
The chip should show Live (or briefly Stale until it auto-syncs on load)
Frozen chips will continue showing the old content with a stale indicator — that's expected
Part 6: Find and Manage Snippets
In Content Management → Snippets you can:
Search by name or content
Sort by name, last updated, or usage count
Filter by tags
Edit a snippet's name or content (which triggers the cascade described in Part 5)
Delete a snippet — removes it from the library and all embeds in responses (use with care, especially for regulatory wording)
View usage — see how many responses currently embed this snippet
🗒️ Note: Snippets are deliberately excluded from your firm's general semantic search results in the response editor. This prevents short reusable phrases (like risk disclaimers) from cluttering content suggestions when you're searching for full answers. Snippets remain searchable inside the snippet picker and the snippet library itself.
💡 Tips & Best Practices
Naming and organisation:
Adopt a naming convention early — e.g., "Compliance — Form ADV", "AUM — Firm-Wide", "Risk Disclosure — UCITS"
Use tags consistently (
Compliance,AUM,Cyber,ESG,Performance,Fund Structure)Periodically audit snippets with low usage counts — they may be duplicates or outdated
Authoring:
Keep snippets focused — one idea per snippet. A long block covering AUM, ownership, and history together is harder to reuse cleanly than three separate snippets
Avoid embedding context-specific details (like a prospect's name or strategy-specific data) inside a snippet
Working with the team:
Designate snippet owners — typically Compliance owns regulatory disclosures, Legal owns fund structure and risk language, IR owns AUM and firm overview, IT/InfoSec owns cyber and BCP
Refresh AUM and other quarterly figures on a fixed schedule (e.g., the first business day after quarter-end) so RFPs in flight pick up the new figures automatically
Use Freeze strategically for submitted DDQs, regulator filings, or consultant submissions where the figures must remain as of the original submission date
Combining with the Project Agent:
The Project Agent can draft or improve responses, but it doesn't pick snippets for you. Drop the snippet in first, then ask the agent to write around it
After embedding a snippet, you can ask the agent something like "Tailor the rest of this response to a UK pension scheme allocator, but keep the embedded AUM figure and SEC registration statement exactly as they are"
✋🏼 Common Mistakes to Avoid
Forgetting that Frozen embeds skip cascade updates — if you've frozen widely (e.g., across submitted DDQs) and then update the source, you'll need to revisit each frozen embed manually if the new version should apply
Naming snippets vaguely — "Compliance" is hard to find later; "Compliance — MiFID II Best Execution" is much clearer
Deleting a snippet to "clean up" — confirm the usage count is zero (or that you're prepared to lose the link) before deleting, especially for regulator-approved language
Overusing snippets for content that varies by client — if every consultant or allocator needs a tailored version, a snippet isn't the right tool. Use a library response or write fresh
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