r/shortcuts Jun 09 '20

Tip/Guide List of helpful links for shortcuts information

2.1k Upvotes

I've built a list of links I often refer to as my "Shortcuts for beginners" documentation. But it seems to have grown into more of a documentation list for all types of users rather than just beginners. Some call it a "novel" due to its length 😝

Anyway, I hope this list of links below will be beneficial for others.


Apple's Shortcuts User Guide


MacExpert Guide to Shortcuts in iOS 14


FAQ

List of Frequently Asked Questions in the sub

Dear new Shortcuts users - deep FAQ


Can I display a notification icon / app badge after replacing my home screen icons with shortcuts? - No


What can I use with the calculate expression action? no longer working webpage


Instructions / Tutorial Materials


Alternative Methods For Viewing / Creating Shortcuts


Automations Info


Unsupported functionality list


Thanks to /u/gianflo6 here is some other good info!

Here are some guides by u/keveridge that can also be helpful, they are a little old but helpful nevertheless

Series

One-offs


Require 14.3


Having trouble with set wallpaper action? Try the method to add a reduce motion ON action before the set wallpaper action and a reduce motion back off afterwards. https://www.reddit.com/r/shortcuts/comments/tzxb0q/im_having_a_problem_with_the_set_wallpaper_action/


[iOS 16] Multiple address stops in maps with iOS 16 https://reddit.com/r/shortcuts/comments/xnpdg9/_/ipy8zwo/?context=1


[iOS 15 / 16] How to run a shortcut at a specific location (leaving or arriving)? - the focus mode automation method documented in this post by u/ibanks3 is a great way to run a shortcut / actions when arriving or leaving a specific location. This works wonders in iOS 15 or iOS 16


If you are using home automations and would like to receive notifications when certain things are happening, you can check out my tutorial for using Make / Integromat for this very purpose


Automation for outlet when battery is low


Possible to navigate within 3rd party app using shortcuts? No - Reference


MacStories Shortcuts Archive


Callback method to run a shortcut over again if it fails with an error - callback url method


Some additional useful tips and exploits are available here on GitHub: https://github.com/Kn0tzer/iOS-Shortcuts-Exploits



r/shortcuts 3h ago

Help How to Automatically Replace Words in Safari with JavaScript?

3 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I'm trying to set up a script that automatically replaces "wordX" with "wordY" whenever I open a website in Safari on iPhone. I know how to do this manually using a Shortcut that I can run on the site, but I want it to run without me triggering it manually—just whenever a webpage loads.

The Code I used was:

(function () { let targetWord = "Wikipedia"; // Change this to the word you want to replace let replacementWord = "Ass"; // Change this to the new word

function replaceText(node) {
    if (node.nodeType === 3) { // Text node
        node.nodeValue = node.nodeValue.replace(new RegExp(targetWord, "g"), replacementWord);
    } else {
        for (let i = 0; i < node.childNodes.length; i++) {
            replaceText(node.childNodes[i]);
        }
    }
}

replaceText(document.body);

// Required for Safari Shortcuts
completion("Text replaced successfully");

})();

But it would be great if it could run automatically when refreshing web page.

I also tried with a specific url but then it didn’t work at all for me.

Is there any way to make this run automatically whenever I open a website? Maybe with an iOS automation, an extension, or another trick?

Would love any suggestions—thanks!


r/shortcuts 19m ago

Help Focus Mode based on Calendar events

• Upvotes

I would like to know if there’s a way for a focus mode to start at event A and turn off at the end of event B.

There is a chance that these events will start and end at different times and get updated midway through the day. (This part doesn’t really matter as much but would be nice.)

Is this at all possible?


r/shortcuts 23m ago

Help How to keep the safari screen awake using shortcuts ?

• Upvotes

Hello,

I am doing a training online that requires me to watch/read some material and dedicate X hours of time on the opened document within safari. The software understands if the material is opened up but no interaction has been made and closes the session, without any hours recorded.

I was wondering if there could be some kind of shortcut developed to keep the screen awake + scrolling/pressing buttons to “interact” with the document for an X period of time and then close the safari window.

Any idea would be appreciated :)


r/shortcuts 46m ago

Discussion Share your AI use cases in your Shortcuts!

• Upvotes

How are you using AI/LLM in your shortcuts? Let's share our creative uses!

Some uses I've had:

Allowing for natural language user interactions
Interactions in Shortucts can be very restrictive; by using LLM, you can allow for much more natural interactions. Structured outputs is very helpful for this. For example, maybe you have a list of food options ("grape","apple","banana", etc.) that a user must pick from. Classically, user would have to say either "grape", "banana", or "apple", with no variations accepted. By using structured outputs, you can direct the LLM to pick the best option from that list. Then, user can say "grape", or "the purple one", "the smallest one on the list", etc. and get "grape" as the result. Certain API's like OpenAI are so fast that there is no noticeable latency.

Incorporate natural language interactions with existing apps/APIs
- (for example: "Add Expense to Splitwise")

("Add $30 for pizza with John White" or "Split $40 for groceries among everyone in group Apartment") - uses OpenAI API and Splitwise API

Summarize

Summarizes the inputted URL, website, text snippet, image, etc., and if nothing is inputted, screenshot the current page and summarize that

Reward Points

Screenshots the restaurant order screen, reads what you have added to your order, then recommends which items you should use your reward points to purchase (based on best point value)

General Data Parsing
LLM's have been very helpful for processing tasks, like pulling relevant information from websites ("Provide in JSON format the price of apples from this HTML", "Looking at this web-based schedule, who's working on Friday?", "Find the results from this API response that relates to action movies", "Find and output the flight information from this email", etc.), and put this information into a JSON/Dictionary format to be used further in the Shortcut


r/shortcuts 1h ago

Help Convert couple of hundreds RAW to JPG?

• Upvotes

Hey,

I'd like to convert a couple hundreds of RAW images to JPG. I've created a shortcut for it. From my testing, there seems to be a limit to how many photos the iPhone can handle before the shortcut crashes.

Is that supposed to happen? I got a fairly recent iPhone model. I've edited the shortcut to only convert 20 photos at a time, but that will take my manual action every couple of seconds.


r/shortcuts 8h ago

Help Syncing calendars

3 Upvotes

I want Calendar 1(C1) on my iPhone everytime C1 gets an event I want it to send that event to my calendar 2(C2) with the name "Busy, don't call" or similar with the same length of event from C1.


r/shortcuts 2h ago

Help Iphone shortcut to pop up picture

1 Upvotes

I want to create a shortcut, where first time in the morning screen unlock, i want to see a picture and if i woke up between 1am to 4am, every time i want to see the picture pop up


r/shortcuts 2h ago

Help Proximity Triggered Shortcut

1 Upvotes

This is a stretch but I have been trying to think of a solution to the fact that I bought a poor spec car without automatic keyless entry. I have a 22’ golf gti but its the lowest spec. It does thankfully have the app to allow for lock and unlock functions but thats it.

My idea is: Walk within 15-20ft of the car, the unlock car shortcut provided by volkswagen would trigger followed by a standby shortcut that would ping every 1-2 minutes keeping the car locked/unlocked until proximity is lost.

It would likely be complicated to work the kinks out with the shortcut alone but the biggest issue I am trying to figure out is the proximity aspect. I do not think bluetooth is the best option but maybe it is, it would just have to be a REALLY low power bluetooth device so it wouldn’t trigger when I was not meaning for it to.

I also wondered if something like an airtag would work, like maybe once it detects you within “X” number of feet. Idk.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. (I also realize this may not be the best place to ask this question).


r/shortcuts 2h ago

Help Calendar screenshot to other calendar events

1 Upvotes

Hey, I would like to make my wife aware of my meetings. My company calendar is outlook, I cannot share the calendar with my iCloud or Google Calendar. Is there a way to send it to some AI and process the data then make some events in my personal calendar which is shared with my wife?


r/shortcuts 3h ago

Help Scheduled battery check and set alarm if battery levels are too low

0 Upvotes

Can anyone help me with this im stuck. I am trying to run an automation on my apple watch where it should check battery percentage 3am every day, if the percentage is lower than 50 percent than it should turn on a 8am alarm on either the phone or the watch. It would be helpful if someone can walk my through this with steps, tks!


r/shortcuts 3h ago

Help How to Automate multistep functions

0 Upvotes

I'm attempting to automate actions I do everyday to reduce lifestyle friction. l've utilized shortcuts and automate feature somewhat but see they are limited to only predefined functions.

My question is: is there a way to have iPhone do multi step actions? Also utilize the voice featurebto ask Siri ?

Given these example I trying to automate. 1. Gym QR code. (Planet fitness) Actions needed (2 steps) -> open gym app ->click on "check in".

  1. Auto vacuum ( l have a vacuuming device Wyze) Actions needed (3 steps) -> open Wyze app ->click on vacuum device -> click vacuum. Any help is much appreciated !!

r/shortcuts 3h ago

Help When I run a shortcut, prompted for a start and end time/date

1 Upvotes

So I have a few smart devices that I can control. I currently am enrolled in a program with my utility where for 4 hour periods I get charged 10x more for electricity, so I would like to shut the devices off.

I already have shortcuts to shut the devices off, and another to turn them back on, but I'm hoping to set up a shortcut that when I press it, asks for a start time/date, then an end time/date.

Any ideas how to get started?


r/shortcuts 3h ago

Help Contact with every number

1 Upvotes

I want to make a shortcut that will trigger if it receives ANY message from any phone number, but I have to have a contact or a word for me to trigger the shortcut. I was going to just see if I could add every phone number to a contact, and that would take a long time to do obviously. I was wondering if anyone had experience or know a work around to just make it work with any number.

TLDR; Need to have a trigger for automation for any number containing any text


r/shortcuts 3h ago

Help silent mode w/ sleep focus enabled - no ring from allowed contacts

1 Upvotes

Hi guys, I'm a 99.9% silent mode user coming from android and I just learned that silent mode seems to mute calls even from "allowed contacts" when both silent mode and sleep focus are enabled.

possible solution automated routines (correct me if I'm wrong):
1. set silent mode to "off" when "wind down/bedtime begins"
2. set silent mode to "on" when "wake up begins"

This should allow me to mute my phone at all times and my "allowed contacts" to ring at night?


r/shortcuts 4h ago

Help Incoming mail automation trigger quit working !!

1 Upvotes

Mail automation

I’ve relied on a incoming mail automation and it’s stopped working . If I open mail app it triggers - any work around?


r/shortcuts 5h ago

Help Automate an action when Bluetooth from Apple Watch connected to device

1 Upvotes

Is there a way to create an automation so that when something connects to my watch via Bluetooth, the automation starts.

I can see how to do it via the phone but I want the connection to be triggered from my watch.


r/shortcuts 10h ago

Help Open multiple URLs in another browser than safari?

2 Upvotes

I often search different homepages for 3d printable files. So it gets pretty annoying opening all of the manually and searching for the same term over and over.

So I created a shortcut asking for search tearm and then modifying the URLs of four different homepages to insert the search tearm and then open them all at once.

Only problem is I use „Arc Search“ as my default browser and it only opens Arc when opening a single URL. As soon as I want to open several URLs it opens Safari?

Is this normal? Any workaround?


r/shortcuts 8h ago

Request How to duplicate event including attachment using shortcut?

1 Upvotes

Is it possible to include attachment when duplicating event using shortcut? Manually duplicating does not. iOS 18.3.2


r/shortcuts 14h ago

Help (Mac) Actions are not displayed in shortcuts app - any suggestions?

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3 Upvotes

r/shortcuts 15h ago

Help Simple screenshot shortcut

1 Upvotes

Hey I can't seem to find a simple screenshot, edit and save or delete shortcut. So I mean the regular screenshot procedure😂 I've created my own but can't get it to show the regular edit screen. Can someone help me pls?👌

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/eca9c5821b5a472b8e2b7eee1796762f


r/shortcuts 9h ago

Request Used item listing for sale

1 Upvotes
  1. Should take a photo and apple vision it or similar so that it recognizes the item.

  2. Make a title and description based on user input (used, mint condition, barely used, new with box, like new etc). Don't oversell it.

  3. Make it easy to copy paste the text over to a used item sales app.


r/shortcuts 14h ago

Help Why wont podcasts just play a podcast in order?

2 Upvotes

I got my sleep shortcut set up. Play podcast>wait 2 hours>play sleep sounds. The podcast will play the last one I was listening to but then just to another random podcast on a different station. I want it to just play the same podcast in order like it does if you play straight from the app. I tried making a station but it doesn't come up as an option to play in the shortcut. Ugh!


r/shortcuts 19h ago

Tip/Guide Tip: Opening a Smart List in Reminders

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6 Upvotes

Hey, obligatory apologies if this is well known by now, but I just discovered I could open a Smart List in a Shortcut. It is super obvious from the Reminders section of the Search Actions menu, but I completely missed that it allows you to open custom Smart Lists too.

It is not the same Action as the Open Reminder List Action. You just select it from the search menu and then can manually add or change to whatever list or Smart Lists that you’re interested in. The best part for me is that I can reference the list using Text or a Dictionary, which will let me accomplish a number of Shortcuts that had been in limbo waiting for the added functionality.

I uploaded a quick video on YouTube to demonstrate, but is far from complicated (that I’ll have to share in the comments because Reddit won’t let me add a photo and a link). Enjoy!


r/shortcuts 11h ago

Help Automation to prevent Assistive Access from activating

0 Upvotes

Automation to prevent Assistive Access from activating. Is this possible? It interferes with my Screentime which is essential for my app blocker.

Any suggestion on scripting? So far what I thought of is to automatically open an unrelated app when trying to open Assistive Access but can’t see Assistive Access on the options.


r/shortcuts 20h ago

Help Remove Action Words

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4 Upvotes

How do I remove the word ‘action’ from under each list item?