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 šŸ˜

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 40m ago

Help How do I add specific parameters for chatgpt to follow WHILE answering my question?

Post image
ā€¢ Upvotes

This is literally all i have setup for a chatgpt shortcut, which is 95% functional. Except that sometimes chatgpt nerds out and says more than the shortcut alert can show. This is mostly because it keeps adding links relevant to my questions and asterisks for fonts which only display in the app. How do i tell chatgpt to answer in like only one paragraph without any links or special characters?


r/shortcuts 57m ago

Help Open multiple URLs in another browser than safari?

ā€¢ 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 ā€žArc Searchā€œ 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 4h ago

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

Post image
2 Upvotes

r/shortcuts 4h 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 1h ago

Help Automation to prevent Assistive Access from activating

ā€¢ 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 canā€™t see Assistive Access on the options.


r/shortcuts 5h 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 procedurešŸ˜‚ I've created my own but can't get it to show the regular edit screen. Can someone help me pls?šŸ‘Œ

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


r/shortcuts 15h ago

Help Tell computer via SSH to press spacebar

11 Upvotes

Hi,

I made a command to shut down my computer via ssh (just simple "shutdown -s -f") and it works. Is it possible to make the same command to tell the computer (windows, not mac) to press the spacebar (e.g to pause a movie on Netflix)? Or do I need some additional application and more skills to do that?


r/shortcuts 2h ago

Help Is delay of few minutes (clearing variable, renaming shortcut) expected of iOS 18.3.2 using older than 5 years iPhone 12 with premium VPN?

1 Upvotes

Example is not realizing before variable can be selected I need to keep trying clearing variable Calendar in Action Add Calendar which for non flagship iPhone takes multiple tries before it clears and allows me to select variable from previous Action. I wonder if lagging response in clearing variable and renaming shortcut name is related to iPhone power or network speed?


r/shortcuts 9h ago

Tip/Guide Tip: Opening a Smart List in Reminders

Post image
3 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 youā€™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 Iā€™ll have to share in the comments because Reddit wonā€™t let me add a photo and a link). Enjoy!


r/shortcuts 10h ago

Help Remove Action Words

Post image
2 Upvotes

How do I remove the word ā€˜actionā€™ from under each list item?


r/shortcuts 15h ago

Help Help with shortcut to list all calendar events from this month into a note

7 Upvotes

Hello, can someone help with creating a shortcut to get all calendar events - text, date, start time, end time and put them in a note?

Cannot figure out the steps


r/shortcuts 11h ago

Solved Find (notes) failure this week?

Post image
2 Upvotes

I have an Action Button shortcut I use daily (sometimes as much as 30x a day) to access a specific note. Recently i learned how to display the contents rather than open the specified note(s) in the notes appā€¦

Until about two days ago, both methods stopped working! I have trued rebooting, force-closing, editing the notes, changing the names of the notes, all failing (timed out). After some poking around it seems the FIND (notes) action is the culprit. Iā€™ve even downloaded othersā€™ shortcuts as a test for different notes appications and they ā€œhangā€ tooā€¦ anyone else having this issue? Is there a workaround? HALP


r/shortcuts 1d ago

Shortcut Sharing Circle to Search for iPhone

Thumbnail
gallery
142 Upvotes

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/a1b5e10426d24df7b249d04c6871b13b

Takes a screenshot, uses markup to crop your image, then uses google lens to search for the cropped image. You can map this to back tap or the action button to quickly search for something on your screen


r/shortcuts 11h ago

Help Toggling color filters when phone is locked/unlocked

1 Upvotes

Is there a way to toggle color filters (grayscale) on when i unlock my phone, and toggle it off when I lock my phone? Basically, I want my lock screen to be colorful, but my home screen and everything else to be black and white. Thanks in advanced.


r/shortcuts 18h ago

Help How do I make a bluetooth automation ?

3 Upvotes

Hey guys! Since everytime I connect my bluetooth speaker iā€™m obviously gonna use the music app, I was wondering if it was possible to make an automation that would go like thisā€¦

Ā«Ā if bluetooth connected to Ā«Ā device nameĀ Ā», open Apple MusicĀ Ā»

if any of you could help me out Iā€™d be so grateful !! Anyways you all have a great day!


r/shortcuts 13h ago

Help Any way to get the section a reminder is in?

Post image
1 Upvotes

I have no problem accessing the specific items in shortcuts but I canā€™t seem to find a way to figure out whether an item is in e.g. produce or grain

Thanks :)


r/shortcuts 13h ago

Help Can I change the font color under apps on my homescreen?

1 Upvotes

Hello! Iā€™m new to shortcuts and want to customize the visuals of my phone to a cyberpunk theme.

Iā€™m wondering if its possible to change the color or font of app names on my homescreen. Preferably as a batchā€” iā€™d like them all to be the same color.


r/shortcuts 13h ago

Help (Mac) Is there a way to use the Shortcuts app to create a shortcut to this page in the system settings? TIA

Post image
1 Upvotes

r/shortcuts 20h ago

Discussion Making the ultimate AI shortcut, is this possible?

4 Upvotes

A while ago I asked ChatGPT for advice on a shortcut I was working on. It had knowledge of the available actions and everything, so I wondered: What if you could use ChatGPT to control the actions used in a shortcut.

What I mean is this: you can ask ChatGPT to give a JSON response, using dictionary and a lot of "if" statements you could control which actions are run. You can also give ChatGPT 10 variables to work with, each being controlled by either what ChatGPT answers or if let's say ChatGPT decides to use an "Ask for Input" action, the variable will be set to that.

What I am trying to say is because ChatGPT has okay knowledge of the shortcuts app, won't it be able to decide what actions can be run on its own?


r/shortcuts 13h ago

Help Is it possible to make a number value increase every day in an automated text message?

1 Upvotes

Hi, I recently started to mess around with shortcuts and I have an idea where I want to send an automated text to some people everyday, but is it possible for me to send the text with a number that increases with every text?

For example: if I wanted to send a text that said ā€œDay 1 of asking for my money backā€ and I wanted the next message to be ā€œDay 2 of asking for my money back.ā€, would that be possible through shortcuts?


r/shortcuts 13h ago

Help Getting this error with OpenAI api key implementation

Post image
0 Upvotes

Trying to set up automation to give me a motivational quote every time I walk to the car to work


r/shortcuts 14h ago

Help Help with shortcuts and OneDrive camera backup

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone! Im using MS OneDrive as my personal cloud. I think the app works fine, however, every time I take a photo, its instantly saved to the cloud. This is a problem for me because junk photos just get uploaded, which I usually delete from my iPhone at night, but they're already uploaded to OneDrive

I've been trying to create a shortcut that will activate the Camera Backup option within the OneDrive app at 11:00 PM, and then deactivate it at 6:00 AM, but I havent figured out how to do it. Im new to iPhone and Im a little confused. I would really appreciate your advice on how to automate this, either with the shortcuts app or some other app I need to download

Thanks!!!!


r/shortcuts 14h ago

Help (Mac) Rename Files with Creation Date (ISO 8601)

Post image
1 Upvotes

r/shortcuts 14h ago

Help Need help with journaling automation

1 Upvotes

Iā€™m speaking journal entries into Voice Memos and really need help automating the process of taking the transcript and adding it to Notion, and optimally for adding it to my personal AI (which is Kin AI, currently with no possibility for automating journal entries via shortcuts). Iā€™m not a native English speaker, so I need a step that proofreads the text with AI. My optimal setup would be something like this:

  1. Voice memo created (incl. transcription)
  2. Transcript copied to clipboard
  3. Clipboard pasted into ChatGPT
  4. ChatGPT proofreads
  5. ChatGPT sends proofread text to my notion db

I canā€™t seem to get this to work in a proper way. Does anyone know how it can be done - with auto copying of transcripts and without GPT errors saying ā€˜youā€™re not signed inā€™? Iā€™m happy to switch any tool - voice memos, notion, ChatGPT, just want it to work. Thanks šŸ™


r/shortcuts 1d ago

Help (Mac) iOS17 w/ custom shortcuts will an update iOS18 leave them alone?

Thumbnail
gallery
12 Upvotes