Author: Matthew Cassinelli

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Newsletter

What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue #076

Welcome to Issue 76 of “What’s New in Shortcuts!”

I took last week off after moving into a new apartment all week took longer than expected, and this week Apple announced their iPhone event coming September 7th.

That means we’re in the last two weeks of the iOS beta cycle—with iPadOS and macOS Ventura coming later—so we’re in the final stretch before the new OS features get released.

I’ve got a set of iOS 16 shortcuts for iPhone waiting, plus more on the way once the iPad and Mac are released, so I’m excited to get those into people’s hands. Plus, I’ve got a new set of member shortcuts in production — I’m pumped for this release!

Until then, here’s what’s new in Shortcuts these last two weeks:

Continue reading “What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue #076”
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iMore Offsite

Shortcuts for Mac: Scripting your desktop with Apple’s Mac-only actions

Yours truly for iMore:

When Apple brought Shortcuts to the Mac in macOS Monterey, the initial set of actions available that take advantage of Mac features were ported over from Automator.

These actions were previously available (in a similar form) in Automator for users building workflows to automate their tasks — with Shortcuts for Mac, those same functions were recreated as native actions, largely located in the Scripting category.

This piece explains how to best automate your Mac with Shortcuts actions for your controlling your apps, changing window arrangements, and adding advanced functionality using the Script Editor app actions:

Read the full story on iMore.

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Siri Shortcuts

Upgrade #421: Summer of Automation

From Relay.FM:

Before the sun sets on the Summer of Fun, Jason has rounded up three Apple automation experts–Federico Viticci, Rosemary Orchard, and Matthew Cassinelli–to discuss the present and future of user automation on Apple’s platforms. Also, Myke and Jason debate the iOS 16 music scrubber.

Earlier this summer, I had the pleasure of being a guest on the Upgrade podcast on Relay.FM, speaking with host Jason Snell and fellow special guests Federico Viticci and Rosemary Orchard for a great discussion about Shortcuts.

Listen to the full show on Apple Podcasts or see the episode details on Relay.FM.

Continue reading “Upgrade #421: Summer of Automation”
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iMore Offsite

iOS 16’s sleeper hit? Focus Filters might change how you use Apple devices forever

Yours truly for iMore:

With Apple’s iPhone event just under two weeks away and iOS 16’s imminent release soon after, we’ve started to see developers share teasers for special features like Focus Filters that are being added to their apps.

And after testing the built-in Focus Filters actions for Mail, Safari, Calendar, and Messages during the beta period, I’m convinced Focus Filters will be a powerful — but slept-on — feature once iOS 16 releases.

To help people get started so they don’t miss out on this new capability, here’s how to set Focus Filters up and customize them using Shortcuts, along with three examples of apps implementing Focus Filters to customize their app’s contents when inside a Focus mode:

Read the full story on iMore.

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iMore Offsite

Why the Menu Bar is the best way to get started with Shortcuts for Mac

Yours truly for iMore:

Part of the core macOS experience is interacting with the Menu Bar, whether it’s choosing from the current app’s specific commands from the top left or using Menu Bar apps that sit at the top right of your screen all day long.

That’s why it’s fantastic that Apple released Shortcuts for Mac with Menu Bar support, showing a small Shortcuts icon that can be clicked to reveal a list of assigned shortcuts.

This small spot is perhaps one of the best to place the most-important shortcuts you use on a daily basis from your Mac, giving you quick access to running them, editing them, and even working interactively with what you currently have open on-screen:

Read the full story on iMore.

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Newsletter

What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue #075

Welcome to Issue 75 of “What’s New in Shortcuts” — we’re probably a month or so away from iOS 16 and the App Shortcuts scene is starting to heat up!

In this issue, I linked to a few new apps with Shortcuts support you should check out, I got fantastic ideas around automation from my stream with Rosemary Orchard and the Twitter community, and I published two stories about using Shortcuts from the Share Sheet and on the iPad you can read on iMore.

Plus, Shane Whatley shared a great NFC automation trick for AirTags, and John Voorhees shared a tip Mac users will want to know for their scripting shortcuts — here’s what’s new this week:

Continue reading “What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue #075”
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iMore Offsite

The best ways to get started with Shortcuts on iPad

Yours truly for iMore:

The iPad has always provided the best experience for Shortcuts. From the much larger screen, to the drag-and-drop experience based on multitouch, and the natural opportunity for automation on a hand-held device, using Shortcuts on an iPad feels like the ultimate expression of the app.

But if you’re not familiar with good use cases for Shortcuts or don’t have a workflow based on the tablet, finding the best methods for working via Shortcuts on iPad might not immediately be obvious coming from a traditional computing experience.

That’s why we’re here to explain how multitasking, bookmarks, templates, and processing information are great opportunities for automation on your favorite iPad and how you can use Shortcuts to switch in and out of apps to get things done quickly, accurately, and without too much OS overhead:

Read the full story on iMore.

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iMore Offsite

Why everyone should be using Share Sheet shortcuts

Yours truly for iMore:

Shortcuts for iPhone, iPad, and Mac is one of Apple’s most versatile apps — it connects actions you take on your device together, connects apps and the content inside in new ways, and the variety of ways to run shortcuts from across the system makes it a multitool like any other.

One of the more powerful ways to use the Shortcuts app is by sharing from an app into a shortcut using the Share Sheet, which takes the content and uses it as the “Shortcut Input” at the start of your shortcut.

This powerful tool allows Shortcuts users to initiate their shortcuts from inside other apps, allows users to interlink their apps and content together in their workflows, and provides a key use case that allows users to get a lot more value from learning how to build Shortcuts — here’s how to take advantage of the Share Sheet in your shortcuts:

Read the full story on iMore.

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Newsletter

What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue #074

Welcome to Issue 74 of “What’s New in Shortcuts” — this week I shared my Pro Apps Shortcuts Wishlist, how to best use Shortcuts on iPhone, and worked off the CardPointers’ developer’s tweets to explain how App Shortcuts in iOS 16 will look.

Eve also updated their Motion sensor to add luminosity-based Home Automations, a new Playpen app for parents launched in beta, and your NATO alphabet needs just got resolved.

Plus, I’m livestreaming with Rosemary Orchard this Friday — you should join us Friday for the stream.

Continue reading “What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue #074”
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iMore Offsite

12 ways to get the most out of Shortcuts for iPhone

Yours truly for iMore:

The best automation is the one you have with you, and that means Shortcuts for iPhone is the biggest opportunity for people to take advantage of Apple’s automation platform.

When building Shortcuts for iPhone, users should try to think about automation opportunities that work well for a small screen, can be carried around with you, and take advantage of the device-specific features.

With that in mind, here are four areas (with 12 example shortcuts) that are good to focus on in your own adventure:

Read the full story on iMore.

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Livestreams Offsite

Shortcuts Live with special guest Rosemary Orchard

Join me and special guest Rosemary Orchard on Friday, August 12th at 10am PST to talk everything Shortcuts, especially her recently-updated book Take Control of Shortcuts (2nd edition).

Rosemary is the cohost of Automators on Relay FM with David Sparks, iOS Today on TWiT with Mikah Sargent, and her independent show Nested Folders with Scotty Jackson — she has a depth of knowledge about automation, smart homes, productivity, development, and everything in-between.

Come say hi in the chat and ask us questions as we talk all about Shortcuts!

Get notified here when the stream goes live.

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iMore Offsite

Five apps Apple could automate to win over pro users

Yours truly for iMore:

Apple’s Shortcuts app is the best way to automate processes across its devices and develop professional workflows to get things done.

With iOS 16, Apple is adding many more actions for its own apps and improving its Shortcuts support with deep new actions. However, these updates have been limited to more everyday apps like Safari, Mail, and Reminders — but Apple’s pro-level apps haven’t received similar updates.

This piece covers five first-party apps that “pros” use to get their work done and some starter actions that Apple should add for each of them:

Read the full story on iMore.

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Newsletter

What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue #073

Welcome to Issue 73 of “What’s New in Shortcuts”!

This week we saw the second Public Beta of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS — which meant an awesome new Shortcuts action called Find Tabs for Safari, plus more for Mail and Reminders too.

I streamed for over an hour as I played around with the new actions, so make sure to jump through the chapters and see what we built off the chat’s ideas.

I also published a few strong opinions on iMore, Rosemary released her second edition of Take Control of Shortcuts, and I learned about a new Easter egg in the Shortcuts app…

Continue reading “What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue #073”
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iMore Offsite

Shortcuts gains powerful Find Tabs action for Safari, more in second public beta

Yours truly for iMore:

On Thursday, Apple released iOS 16 public beta 2, which includes a set of new actions for the Shortcuts app that work with Safari, Mail, and Reminders.

These actions include Find Tabs, Find Tab Groups, Find Bookmarks, Open Bookmarks, Find Reading Lists, Open Reading List Items, Search Mail, Open Mailbox, Open Smart List, Create Reminders List, and Search Reminders.

Read the full story on iMore.

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Links

Rosemary Orchard releases second edition of “Take Control of Shortcuts”

As part of Take Control Books, Rosemary Orchard has updated her book Take Control of Shortcuts to the second edition, now covering iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey now that Shortcuts has expanded to the Mac.

Here’s the description of the book from their website:

Automation is no longer just for advanced computer users! Apple’s Shortcuts app lets anyone with an iPhone, iPad, or Mac automate day-to-day tasks, from the simple to the complex. This book is a complete introduction to Shortcuts, covering every aspect of building, installing, debugging, running, syncing, and sharing shortcuts. It also includes step-by-step recipes for creating numerous useful shortcuts yourself.

Take Control also notes that the book will be updated for free during the iOS 16 cycle for anyone who purchases this edition, so that means you’re covered for everything new this upcoming year as well.

If you don’t already know Rosemary, you should familiarize yourself — she’s the host of Automators, iOS Today, and Nested Folders, plus she’s an all-around amazing person.

She’s taught me so much and anyone who uses Shortcuts should get her books & listen to her shows — congrats on the launch, Rose!

Get Take Control of Shortcuts for $14.99.

Categories
Shortcuts

Shortcuts shows too much personal information and that needs to change

I am writing this post because I am frustrated with the fact that Shortcuts shows personally identifiable information about me when live-streaming about the app, when Apple could easily change the interface to show the same information without exposing me and my girlfriend to personal safety problems.

To fix this Apple needs to overwrite personally-identifiable information in Shortcuts with generic placeholders that the user can understand from context, and they need to add the ability to remove Suggestions.

Every time you go into Shortcuts and try to pick a location, it will show your Home Address in the view — please just change this to say “Home” and do not input the address into the Location field, Home is plenty.

When you first open Shortcuts to a blank shortcut, in the bottom right there are often “Suggestions” based on your recent activity. However, there is no way to remove this information, meaning that recent contacts will always show up there and your friends & family have no choice but to have their names, images, and sometimes phone numbers appear on-screen. I’ve had Apple PR contacts of mine appear in this view when producing public content, for example.

Any suggested actions in the Shortcuts app should also be able to be removed — in my Reminders suggestions, the app is currently recommending that I make a shortcut with my most-recently added reminder, which includes information I do not want on-screen and cannot remove before trying to record my screen.

I originally sent this feedback to Apple on July 24, 2019 as FB6809181. It’s now been three years and I’m basically lucky this hasn’t been a bigger issue so far.

I really hope Apple takes this post to heart and adds these small but significant changes to the Shortcuts app in iOS 16.0 — I really don’t want this to become a much larger and much more personal issue by having my family’s privacy violated because I choose to share about this cool app I like to use.

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Livestreams Membership

Shortcuts Live: Working with Safari Tabs in iOS 16 Public Beta 2

Tune into the latest episode of Shortcuts Live, where I streamed for a little over an hour covering the new Find Tab action that I discovered in iOS 16 public beta 2.

Tune into the latest episode of Shortcuts Live, where I streamed for a little over an hour covering the new Find Tab action that I discovered in iOS 16 public beta 2.

Join me from just after the launch of iOS 16 public beta 2 to build Shortcuts live — this stream, we’ll cover the new Find Tabs and Reading List actions that I just discovered in the betas, plus the Reminders actions that just reappeared after disappearing after the first developer beta.

The Safari actions are pretty exciting, so come share your ideas in the chat and we’ll come up with some great use cases together!

Here’s a list of the chapters:

  • 00:00 – Start of stream
  • 05:45 – Markdown list of current tabs
  • 12:52 – Filter Links That Don’t Contain Specific Website
  • 15:17 – Find Bookmarks & Reading List filters
  • 20:13 – Find Tab Groups
  • 22:00 – Find Tabs from Specific Tab Group (doesn’t work, but we covered Focus Filters & Scripting)
  • 35:37 – Add to Reading List, Instapaper, Pocket
  • 38:15 – Set Playback Destination / Speaker Groups
  • 39:45 – Stream Deck teaser
  • 42:12 – Saving Links to Clipboard
  • 45:58 – Auto-Lock
  • 48:32 – Open Tab & Choose From List
  • 49:53 – Search Tabs
  • 53:25 – Quick Note
  • 57:20 – Quick Note with Link
  • 1:00:04 – Get Article Details From Tabs
  • 1:03:21 – Mail app
  • 1:04:45 – Reminders Smart Lists
  • 1:07:11 – Reminders Templates
  • 1:10:47 – Add Tabs As Rich Reminders
  • 1:12:43 – End of building / Revue discussion
  • 1:15:27 – Wrap-up / Logging shortcuts
  • 1:24:00 – Actual Goodbye

If you’re watching the replay, you can still leave comments and I can respond to them afterwards!

This content is marked as members-only – you’ll need a membership to access it.

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iMore Offsite

Apple isn’t doing enough for new Shortcuts users — here’s how they can fix it

Yours truly for iMore:

When it comes Apple’s Shortcuts app, many new users are caught off guard. They hear about the potential, but the app is very complicated. When presented with a blank slate, many often don’t go further figuring it out.

For such an important app in Apple‘s ecosystem, the company needs to do a lot more to onboard first time Shortcuts users and get them familiar with the app and how to build in it. Here are three areas the company could improve on and why those matter for newbies:

Sometimes you need to call it like it is — I’ve written about some of these before, but I want to see a lot more so new users can get further quicker.

Read the full story on iMore.

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Newsletter

What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue #072

Welcome to issue 72 of “What’s New in Shortcuts!” — this week is a quieter mid-summer period where we didn’t see any news, but there’s always new shortcuts ideas popping up on Twitter.

Plus, I published a few stories for iMore, showed off my Focus Modes on TWiT, and got deep into some design changes that I’ll be showing off in a few weeks:

Continue reading “What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue #072”
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iMore Offsite

Here are 7 ways to get started with Shortcuts for Apple Watch

Yours truly for iMore:

The Shortcuts app for Apple Watch is a small but powerful way to access the vast array of capabilities from the apps on your device, all from the convenience of a few taps on your wrist.

Some of the ways Shortcuts on Apple Watch can be most useful, however, are not immediately obvious — there’s a lot of potential in Shortcuts, but honing in on the best use cases and avoiding too much complexity is important for a good Watch-based experience.

This piece covers seven areas where you can build Shortcuts for Apple Watch that are worth exploring, have powerful actions to take advantage of, and work well when running from your favorite Apple Watch:

Read the full story on iMore.