Basic actions

If you’re new to Shortcuts, these actions are the least complex and should be self-explanatory based on the title or description.

Some of these are deceivingly staightforward too – as just one piece of the puzzle, the utility may not be clear, but Related Actions can help show how to use each in context.

These actions aren’t “just for beginners” either – some simple actions are the most-used.

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Get Clipboard
Passes the contents of the clipboard to the next action.
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Copy to Clipboard
Copies the result of the last action to the clipboard.
Toggle Alarm
Enables or disables an alarm in the Clock app.
Start Timer
Starts a timer in the Clock app for the specified amount of time.
Get All Alarms
Gets all the alarms in the Clock app.
Select Phone Number
Prompts to pick a phone number from your contacts and passes the selection to the next action.
Phone Number
Passes the specified phone numbers to the next action.
Get Contacts from Input
Gets contacts from the result of the previous action, including vCards, event attendees, email addresses, phone numbers, and locations.
Get Phone Numbers from Input
Returns any phone numbers found in the output from the previous action.
Select Contact
Prompts to pick a person from your contacts and passes the selection to the next action.
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Stop shortcut
Stops execution of the current shortcut and dismisses the shortcut on screen. No more actions will be run after this action.
Date
Passes the specified date and time to the next action.
Get Dates from Input
Returns any dates found in the output from the previous action.
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Get Device Details
Gets information about the current device.
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Set Flashlight
Turns on or off the flashlight near the device’s camera.