Adding document files to Home Screen on ipad

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Currently there is no option in the Files app to add a bookmark link for files or folders to the Home Screen. However, you can do this yourself using the Shortcuts app.

Links to files or folders use an URL scheme. For iCloud Drive all URLs prepend with the following:

shareddocuments:///private/var/mobile/Library/Mobile%20Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/

Added to that are the path to a file or folder after the prepend. For instance, if you have a first level folder named "PDFs" the URL would be:

shareddocuments:///private/var/mobile/Library/Mobile%20Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/PDFs

If there is a file in the PDFs folder named "Artist Creates Surreal Montage Puzzle Art by Mixing up the Jigsaw Pieces" the URL would be:

shareddocuments:///var/mobile/Library/Mobile%20Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/PDFs/Artist%20Creates%20Surreal%20Montage%20Puzzle%20Art%20by%20Mixing%20up%20the%20Jigsaw%20Pieces.pdf

Note a few important details:

- For folders the URL ends with the last character of the folder name. There is no "/" separator .

- For files the URL must end with the file extension, e.g. ".pdf".

- Folder names and filenames are case-sensitive.

- Spaces aren’t allowed between words, so the escape character "%" is followed by the ASCII value (in hexadecimal) for a space. So "%20" is required between words in the URL.

To create a link to the first level PDFs folder on iCloud Drive for example, first open the Shortcuts app. Tap "+" to add a new shortcut and add the Open URLs action. Add the prepend followed by the folder name. Tap the More (…) icon at the top. Tap Add to Home Screen. Type in a shortcut name and if desired, tap the existing icon to select a photo. Tap Add. This adds a bookmark to the Home Screen.

Next, add details before saving the shortcut in the Shortcuts app. Type in a shortcut name and select a glyph for the icon and a color by tapping the existing icon. Tap Done. Tap My Shortcuts to exit. Locate the bookmark added to the Home Screen and tap it. If everything was done correctly then it should take you to the PDFs folder.

An example for a file:

Folder links will open in the Files app where the folder is located. File links will open the file. However, when you tap Done to dismiss the open file you will be in the Recents folder by default, not the folder the file is in. I see no workaround for this limitation.

You can make things a little easier by using the shortcut actions of a third-party app such as Toolbox Pro. There are shortcuts out there that you can try which may do most of the work for you such as FS Bookmarks or Stifmeister, but may come with caveats such as requiring other components. An example using the Get File action to pick a document and Toolbox Pro's Get File URLs action:

Shortcuts User Guide

Hello Sir1Pocket,

Let’s see if we can help out with your iPad today.

If we understand you are looking to have access to files easily on your iPad. 

Have you tried using the Files app? You can move it to the Home Screen. Take a look at Use the Files app on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch and see if this will work out for you.

Let us know if you have any questions.

Cheers!