Layout Snippets are page design blocks which can be used when a Buyer needs to have multiple choices between different page layouts such as inside pages in greeting cards, layouts with different amounts of images for photobooks, etc.
Snippets may also be used in Designer Side as a library of complex, functional building blocks that a Template designer can quickly utilize instead of rebuilding them all the time.
Tip: Please read the Layout Snippets chapter in the Resources tab to find out how to use Layout Snippets and how to define selectable Layout Snippets for the Buyer Side.‚
To create a Library with your Layout Snippets all in one place, create a Layout Library from the new Template section of the Template Browser:
You can also create a Layout Library in the Designer Side by selecting the magneta Template Type icon on the top menu bar:
Tip: We do not recommend to have your Layout and Sticker Snippets mixed in the same Template (although in rare circumstances you may prefer this), and it is better to have Layout Libraries separated from your product Templates.
We can then create multiple documents for our Layout Snippets, and each document is automatically labeled with a Layout-Snippet icon 
in the Document Tab Bar:
Once you have finished designing your Layout Snippet, go to the Document Frame Features tab and choose an existing Tag or write a new Tag for your Layout Snippet. Tags create groups that you can work with in the Designer Side or assign to let Buyers choose from.
Next, just give the Layout Snippet a name. For the example below, we created a new “love layouts” Tag and named the Layout Snippet “Best Mum”:
Next we want to publish the Layout Snippets with the Template Context menu:
Simply click on Publish “X” Layout Snippets from the Template Context menu. This will bring up the Publish Snippet dialog which shows the name and Tag given to each Layout Snippet, and will provide warnings for any untagged or unnamed Snippets:
The final step is to select Publish All Snippets, this will publish all your Layout Snippets and automatically save the Layout Library Template.
Congratulations! You have now created and exported your first Layout Snippets. You can now test them out by opening or creating a new Template (except another Layout Library). You can see all of your published Layout Snippets by finding their respective Tag within the Layer Reasources tab.
In the Layer Resources tab you can use the search mode 
to search through and view your Layout Snippets for each selected Tag, or add Layout Snippet groups for Buyers to choose from by selecting Add Group and simply selecting the desired Layout Snippet tags you wish to make available on the Buyer Side:
Info: Snippets can contain one or multiple pages. Normal Layout Snippets are specific to a page and are inserted at the current page and if the snippet has more page extend to the following pages until the snippet or the document it gets inserted into has no more pages. Snippets can also be of type repeat snippets which always span the complete document and even allow to use normal layout snippets in conjunction with them. See the Repeat Snippets chapter below.
Creating and Exporting Layout Snippets in Standalone Templates
With a Standalone Template, you can create documents with your various Layout Snippets within the Template. Then just mark the document as a Snippet document in the Document Context menu, tag it, give it a name and publish it. After that, it will be available to add as a possible choice for Buyers or used on the Designer Side.
You can set the number of Layout Snippet selection columns shown on the Buyer Side with the Buyer View Appearance settings menu.
Snippets are mainly used in eCommerce applications - “The Buyer Side”.
A list of available layouts will be presented to the user based on the selected page. The front cover of a greeting card can display a different selection of layouts than the inside or the back page.
Example:
On the first page, the Buyer may select only front card layouts:
For the inside of the card. the Buyer may select only the inside card layouts:
When applied, Layout Snippets will always span the entire page to which they are applied to. They will not lose their aspect ratio and will fit on the width axis.
Layout Snippets can span multiple pages and may be repeated throughout the target document.
Layout Snippets will remove any previously applied Layout Snippets before inserting themselves.
Layout Snippets can insert multiple layers. Thus, some frames may appear in front or behind the Base Layer where the user can then insert new frames. But if snippets are inserted into an existing Layer they will always get inserted behind existing elements on this Layer.
Layout Snippets are the only Buyer Side way that frames can be inserted onto other layers than the Base Layer.
Layout Snippets can be combined with Sticker Snippets to create powerful and easy to use Buyer Side user experiences.
Layout Snippets can also get filtered by aspect ratio of the document which is usefull for documents which can change its size e.g. when you want to avoid showing Layout Snippets which are meant for Landscape in a portrait document.
The available Layout Snippets for a buyer are defined at the page level. This makes it possible for a Buyer to select individual layouts for different pages. Layout Snippets are assigned by adding the tags from which Snippets are selected to the Buyer Side settings in the Snippet tab.
Please see here for details on how to assign Buyer Layout Snippets to pages.
With a greeting card scenario, you might enable a Layout selection for only the inside card pages that does not allow the Buyer to alter the front or back of the card. This can be achieved by only assigning Layout Snippets to the inside pages while omitting Layout Snippets on the front and back pages.
As we can see in the above Greeting Card example, we have created various Layout Snippets that the Buyer can chose to place on their product in the initial configuration stage. This is done in the Layout Snippet section of the Buyer View Appearance Settings.
Additionally, the Layout Snippets defined for each page remain visible in the Layouts panel on the right, letting a Buyer effortlessly test out various Layouts for their product to find the one that is perfect for them:
Tip: If you’d like to create a Layout Snippet for facing pages, just design them on a page with the size of the facing page (double the width of the facing pages document).
If a Layout Snippet is placed on a facing page and the difference of the aspect ratio from Snippet to page are similar (<0.1), Printess will display a prompt asking on which page to place the Layout Snippet.
When Layout Snippets are inserted into a document they will by default be centered and resized until they fit the document completely. In the Document tab 
, you can change the focal point for insertion as well as the Fit mode (Fit/Fill) in the general document properties.
See here for more about Layout Snippet placement.
Notice: Layout Snippet Placement Margins are not available for documents with facing pages.
When Clip Base-Layer is checked, all frames on the base layer will be clipped to the user-defined placement margins. This enables the placement of Snippets with bleed at page edges or inside margins (without bleed).
On documents with bleed, you can enable the Dock to Bleed or Splitter features to extend Layout Snippets or the background frames of a Layout Snippet to the page bleed.
When inserting a Layout Snippet, the origin is automatically marked in the Document Layers resource tab. The Snippet origin can be manually changed to every possible origin for single and multiple frames by simply right-clicking on a Snippet layer:
In the Layers palette we can view and configure the various Snippet origin placement settings. The Snippet Origin feature is useful for when you would like to, for example, mark a frame as an Origin: Layout which will cause said frame to dissapear when a new Layout Snippet is inserted.
Repeat layout snippets offer a clever way to create flexible base layouts for a document. A Repeat Layout snippet will get repeated to cover all pages of a given document. There are two different types:
Repeat layout snippets will also be inserted behind other content in the defined layer. They will not add pages in the document they are inserted into.
To configure a Snippet as repeat type snippet, choose one of the repeat modes for Snippet Insertion (do not repeat is default):
The Exchange ID is a useful tool to keep Buyer edits even when Layout Snippets are used and changed. This powerful feature supports Single Line and Multi Line texts, Text on Path, and images.
With the Exchange ID you can mark a text frame or an image frame in all Buyer selectable layout snippets with a unique content ID. Then when the Buyer changes the Layout Snippet, all edits are kept and transferred to the frame with the same Exchange ID in the new Snippet. If images are used in conjunction with Exchange ID, their fit option should be set to fit or fill, as images will be re-fitted on change.
Exchange IDs will even survive the use of a Layout Snippet which does not use a certain Exchange ID. So, if the Buyer first uses a Layout Snippet with three images, after it one with two images, and then switches back to three images, the third image will be still there.
This is only true within one Editor session (will not persist in the save token).