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I got Shortcuts app with my iPhone (don’t have any other device) and it sounds really interesting and useful- especially to build own or amend existing ones, but it seems very complicated. I don’t know how to tell what kind of action needs to follow another in order to make it work. I don’t understand magic variables.
Is Shorcuts something most people use and understand?
iPhone SE, iOS 16
I don’t know what you earn your living doing but you definitely could make a career out of teaching this. You have perfect approach and attitude, and you know your stuff!
Thanks so very much!
I must say that the Get Numbers action was part of the original Shortcut from Gallery. I didn’t edit anything , I just tried to run it using my own figures. So you know better than whoever contributed that shortcut!👏🏻
Thanks for your prompt and understanding reply. You have given me a few resources and things to think about so I will take some time to look at these but wanted to acknowledge your reply now.
I think it’s important to add that I am 40 and for health reasons have not had opportunity/need through education or employment to grow with the natural expansion of use and transition that most have experienced with technology. So this adds to my unfamiliarity with it. I recognise that I should practice using available shortcuts and looking at the steps, a bit like learning a language purely using subtitles!
I have a general sense that I‘should’ know and understand how to use them and create them because that’s what most people are doing hence the existence of Shortcuts App.
helen ~ This is just a tip about screenshots. To make your threads here in ASC more readable, crop your screenshots before posting:
Edit photos and videos on iPhone - Apple Support
...For example:
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helen ~ Your first impressions of Shortcuts is shared by many. It's basically programming – which is an art in itself. It's not for everyone, but for those who persevere it's very rewarding – some have even developed their skills into paid Shortcuts consulting careers. As the author of the book linked below says: "Shortcuts is not self-explanatory, so it can be challenging to figure out its quirks and create effective, time-saving automations." Regarding "what kind of action needs to follow another", feel free to post back with an example of what you'd like to accomplish and where you're stuck. (Screenshots are useful here.) A couple of tips: Actions can be dragged into position after a touch & hold on the action. And, besides tapping on an action's parameter field, also try a touch & hold to possibly reveal more options. Magic Variables are explained here:
Use variables in Shortcuts on iPhone or iPad - Apple Support
Shortcuts User Guide for iPhone and iPad
Take Control of Shortcuts – PDF & EPUB
Shortcuts Directory – Curated collections of the best links about Shortcuts
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helen ~ Those are two different types of PDF and so require diiferent actions to get their text:
By the way, the "Quick Look" action is optional and mostly used to aid debugging.
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Hey! I have a specific example if help possible. I added a Read Body of Article Out, Loud Shortcut, and it hasn’t worked when I have tried to use it to read out my Note from Notes App. I have selected all input types available and when I click on the option in share sheet it shows a tick as though it’s completed the task. I have tried it on a web article and it worked. But not from a photo or file or anything else?
Please see screenshots.
Thanks so very much for your patience and trying successfully to explain to my low level of understanding. I decided to stick with this idea and put in quick look as you suggested. I searched for an action specifically for notes, one for files, for PDF… that I could follow with the speak text but nothing I chose worked. I tried for example Open file, Open Note…
I then tried for PDF -see screenshot. Is there something fundamental I am doing wrong?
Thanks for your patience and advice. I attempted to crop but with second image- the failed result of shortcut-there was not much I could crop as blank screen except header and footer.
perhaps I should give up on Shortcuts!
helen ~ You're welcome. And don't give up – what you're experiencing is the unforgiving nature of programming! ...In other areas of life we can get away with fudging, waffling, muddling along, etc. But shortcuts won't let you do that – and so you're learning that you have to take a more disciplined approach.
Your screenshot indicates that you've set the "Show in Share Sheet" switch OFF - it should be ON if you want your shortcut to run from the share sheet:
And make sure you've set PDFs as the type of content you want to receive:
Also notice that between your "Show Text in Quick Look" and "Speak" actions there's no vertical connecting line – and so the "Speak" action's Text parameter is in red. ...So, in your "Speak" action, touch & hold its red Text parameter and choose Text. The Text parameter will then no longer be red because you've indicated where to get its text from. With those two changes your shortcut should work and look like this:
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Thanks! I did understand what you explained in the context of this particular situation but I think I am far from applying more broadly. Reading through app shortcuts user guide again as I am unsure when an action requires using the shortcut input option.
meanwhile I tried some custom shortcuts from gallery with only 3 steps and they run from shortcuts app but not when on Home Screen or using Siri- this example is BMI . So I used 50 as input weight and the number to divide by is constant so didn’t have to adjust. It finishes at my input of weight and doesn’t do division (unless ran from Shortcuts App.
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Successfully ran from Shortcuts App
Result from running front Home Screen
Result from Using Hey Siri BMI
I promise this is the last question I will bother you with for some time- I am aware I require intensive tutoring 😂
helen ~ If you go thru the following instructions carefully step by step, your shortcut will then work perfectly...
First, your "Get numbers from" action is redundant – because you already have the number you asked for in the "Provided Input" variable. So delete that "Get numbers from" action.
...Then your "Calculation" action can use the "Provided Input" variable instead of "Number". To make that change, touch & hold the "Calculation" action's "Number" parameter and choose "Provided Input".
Second, that "result" of 18.1 which you see is simply an indication of what the "Round" action will pass to a possible following action. So it's useful info while you're creating the shortcut, but doesn't display when you run the shortcut normally.
To display the 18.1 result when you run the shortcut normally, add a "Show Result" action:
And that result can be made more informative by adding a "Text" action and changing the "Show Result" action to use that Text:
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Hey, I tried the Read PDF Shortcut on a PDF on local government website and it didn’t work!
It did when I downloaded the said PDF to my phone.
so I read back what you said and tried to figure out a way of getting it to read the pdf from safari by trying an Safari Action . Totally stuck 🤷🏼♀️
helen ~ I could be wrong, but it appears that you've chosen the one type of document (a Notes app note) that can't be received from the share sheet. You can confirm that that's the case: Put a "Quick Look" action after the "Receive Any input from Share Sheet" action, then when the shortcut is run from a note > share sheet, it will say: "No Items – The Quick Look action wasn't passed any items to preview."
The web article worked because you're appropriately using Safari actions. And if you want to read a file, you'll need to use Files actions. In general, when you search for apps and actions, it defaults to the Categories tab. Tap the Apps tab next to it and scroll down to Files to see all its actions. Just as an example, with a photo, you could use the Photos app's "Get Details of Images" action followed by a "Speak Text" action.
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Hi. Thanks for this thread. I’m also trying to understand Shortcuts. I would like to open an application, and send text to a waiting text box. (E.g., “search Roku”). I can get user input, but how to I send the text to the waiting application?
I’ve asked Google Bard and it is confused.
“You are correct. The Shell action is also not available in the Shortcuts app on iOS. This action was removed in iOS 15.
There is no way to type text into an open application using the Shortcuts app on iOS 15. You can use the third-party apps mentioned above, or you can update your device to iOS 16, which brings back the Type Text action”
Any pointers?
Thanks.
OK. I see passing messages to another application is not really the use case of shortcuts… What about something more widgety— can I control the appearance of the widgets on the Home Screen? Shortcuts seems to only allow a few options (1 shortcut, 4 shortcut,…).
shortcuts
