You need to put the snippet into a folder with the name of the mode to use it in as follows: `snippets/org-mode/diary_template` Check out the documentation: [Organizing snippets > Basic structure](http://joaotavora.github.io/yasnippet/snippet-organization.html#org91b0471): ``` . |-- c-mode | `-- printf |-- java-mode | `-- println `-- text-mode |-- email `-- time ``` [Expanding snippets > ... > Eligible snippets ](http://joaotavora.github.io/yasnippet/snippet-expansion.html#orga555023): > YASnippet does quite a bit of filtering to find out which snippets are eligible for expanding at the current cursor position. > > In particular, the following things matter: > > - Currently loaded snippets tables > > These are loaded from a directory hierarchy in your file system. See Organizing Snippets. They are named after major modes like html-mode, ruby-mode, etc… > > - Major mode of the current buffer > > If the currrent major mode matches one of the loaded snippet tables, then all that table's snippets are considered for expansion. Use M-x describe-variable RET major-mode RET to find out which major mode you are in currently. > > ...