MerlinType

Text snippet buttons for Windows

MerlinType gives you a panel of buttons that you build yourself. Click in the window you're typing in, such as an email, a ticket form, a PowerShell console or an SSH session, then click a MerlinType button. Its text appears where your cursor was. You don't copy, switch windows or paste.

A button can also type a key sequence, run a multi-step macro, ask you for values before it runs, fill in the date, your user name or the clipboard, open a site or folder, or run a PowerShell or Command Prompt script. The panel docks to the edge of your screen or floats, and clicking a button doesn't take the focus from the window you're typing in.

If you've used TypeItIn, the idea will be familiar. MerlinType is a separate product and isn't affiliated with TypeItIn or its authors.

Is it for you?

It's a good fit if you:

• type the same replies, notes, signatures or ticket updates many times a day;
• work on a service desk or in IT operations and keep a text file of commands to copy from;
• fill in forms in ticketing tools, CRMs or web portals with text that's mostly the same each time apart from a name, number or date;
• don't have administrator rights on your PC.

It's probably not for you if you want text that expands as you type an abbreviation (MerlinType works by clicking a button, pressing a hotkey or picking from a quick search), want snippets synced through the cloud, or need AI to write text for you. It has no AI features.

Features

Insert text anywhere

• Types or pastes into almost any Windows program. When it pastes, it puts your clipboard back afterwards.
• Checks the target window before every keystroke, and stops rather than type somewhere else if that window has gone.
• Press Enter after for console commands, and an adjustable typing delay for remote desktops that drop fast keystrokes.

Variables and prompts

• Built-in values such as {Date}, {UserName}, {ComputerName} and {Clipboard}, with formats like {Date:dd/MM/yyyy}.
• Your own variables, such as {TicketNumber}, that it asks for when the button runs, with defaults, dropdowns and validation.
• Secret values are masked, encrypted for your Windows account and never written to the log.

Macros and scripts

• A step-by-step macro editor with a Test button that shows a log of each step.
• Scripts run PowerShell, PowerShell 7, Command Prompt or any program. They ask before they run, and administrator scripts go through the normal Windows UAC prompt.
• Imported scripts and macros stay locked until you've reviewed each one.

Organize and find

• Sections with their own color, icon and layout; drag and drop; linked copies that update together; version history for every button.
• Search with filters such as tag:vmware, and Quick launch (Ctrl+Alt+Space) to run a button from anywhere.
• Backups on a schedule, export and import as JSON, and CSV import from a text file or another snippet tool.

Price and license

Free beta until January 31, 2027. After that, a license is $39, one time. Licenses go on sale January 1, 2027. It's one payment, not a subscription.

• The key arrives by email. Paste it into License and click Activate. It's checked on your PC, with nothing sent anywhere.
• Licensed to you by name and not tied to one PC.
• Without a license after January 31, your buttons and settings are all still there and you can still edit, search, export and back them up. Only running buttons stops.

Privacy

MerlinType works entirely on your PC. It has no account and no cloud, doesn't phone home and doesn't collect usage data. It never writes the text of your buttons, your clipboard, your answers to prompts or your secret values to its log.

Requirements

Install

1. Download the zip, extract it, and run the setup file inside. If Windows shows "Windows protected your PC", click More info, then Run anyway. The app isn't code-signed yet.
2. Choose whether to add a desktop shortcut and start MerlinType when you sign in.
3. MerlinType starts with example buttons. Click in Notepad, then click a button to see it work.

SHA-256 of the setup file inside the zip:

BF12F21991F21A6175D9F9AE20EC078DD09DBEF1BBA3E20554C5E02C490A3F2C

Known limitations

• Windows doesn't let a normal program type into a window running as administrator. MerlinType tells you; run it as administrator too, or use a copy-only button.
• Some consoles and remote-desktop clients drop very fast typing. Turn up the typing delay or switch the button to paste.
• It can't read other snippet tools' data files directly. Use CSV import.