Rabbi Shlomo ben Yosef Ganzfried was born in 1804 in Ungvár (Uzhhorod), Hungary, and was named after his grandfather, Rabbi Shlomo, a dayan of the city. Orphaned of his father at eight, the child prodigy was taken under the guardianship of Ungvár's rabbi and rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Heller, known as "Hershele the sharp-witted" for his piercing Talmudic insight; when Heller moved to Bonyhád, fifteen-year-old Shlomo followed him.

He served as av beit din of Ungvár for most of his life. His first book, Keset HaSofer, on the laws of writing Torah scrolls, tefillin and mezuzot, was recommended by the Chatam Sofer as essential for every scribe.

He is best known as the author of the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, a clear and practical digest of Jewish law for everyone, gathering most practical laws, mainly from Orach Chaim, together with guidance on ethics and conduct. Fourteen editions appeared in his lifetime; translated into many languages, it was for more than a century the most widespread halachic guide in Ashkenazi homes, until the spread of the Mishnah Berurah. He also wrote Apiryon, a commentary on the Torah.

He passed away in Ungvár on 28 Tammuz 5646 (1886).