Brief Summary
This video showcases 11 useful new shortcuts for iPhone and Mac, covering a range of functionalities from automatically adding Shazam songs to playlists and extracting URLs from Instagram captions, to creating daily reminder lists and performing email merge. It also includes shortcuts for managing phone settings, saving shopping items, converting photos to PDF, managing daily tasks, and even a bonus shortcut from Apple for managing interruptions.
- Automatically add Shazam songs to a playlist
- Extract URLs from Instagram captions
- Create daily reminder lists
- Perform email merge
- Manage daily tasks
Shazam Song to Playlist
To automatically add Shazam songs to an Apple Music playlist, use the Shazam action followed by "Find Product on the iTunes Store," ensuring you select "Apple Music ID." This allows you to add the identified song to a specific playlist of your choice. After setting up the shortcut and choosing your desired playlist, running the shortcut will automatically identify the song and add it to the selected playlist.
Instagram Caption Link
To open URLs from Instagram captions that are not directly tappable, a shortcut can be created to take a screenshot, extract the text, and open the URLs. The "Open Instagram URL" shortcut takes a screenshot, extracts text, identifies URLs, and opens them in the browser. This shortcut can be assigned to the action button or back tap for quick access, and it doesn't save the screenshot to the photo library, preventing clutter.
Daily Reminder List
To automatically create a new, dated reminders list every day with specific tasks, a shortcut can be set up to generate a list with the current date in the title. The shortcut includes a text block where you can add the reminders you want to include as individual tasks. This can be automated to run every morning, creating a new reminders list with the specified tasks for that day.
Email Merge
To perform a mail merge for sending mass emails, a shortcut can be created to utilize a .csv file containing names and email addresses. The .csv file should have columns for "name" and "email." The shortcut will ask for a subject line and then use the data from the .csv file to compose an email for each person on the list. The shortcut can be configured to either show a compose sheet for each email or send them automatically.
Auto Text Responder
To set up a vacation auto-responder via text for people not in your contacts, a shortcut can be created that automatically replies to incoming messages when a specific Focus mode is enabled. The shortcut checks if the sender is in a specified contact group and, if not, sends an auto-reply text message. This is automated by creating a new automation that triggers when a message containing a space is received, running the shortcut with the sender's phone number as input.
Toggle Cellular + Low Power
To toggle cellular data and Low Power Mode simultaneously, a shortcut can be created with a menu that offers options to turn cellular on or off. When turning cellular on, the shortcut also enables Low Power Mode, and when turning cellular off, it disables Low Power Mode. This provides a quick way to manage both settings together, even though direct automation for cellular data is not available.
Save Shoping Item
To save shopping items from Safari to a note, a shortcut can be created to generate a PDF of the webpage, extract the item name and URL, and append it to a specified note. The shortcut creates a PDF of the current page in Safari, extracts the name of the item and its URL, and adds this information to a designated note, such as a shopping list. This allows for easy saving and organization of items you might want to purchase later.
Multiple Photos to PDF
To convert multiple photos into a single PDF, a shortcut can be created to select photos, combine them into a grid, and then generate a PDF from the combined image. The shortcut uses the "Select Photos" action to choose multiple images, then combines them into a grid with specified spacing, and finally creates a PDF from the grid. The resulting PDF can then be saved or shared as needed.
Daily Tasks and Brain Dump
To manage daily tasks and brain dumps, a shortcut can be created to check for an existing note for the current day and either create it or add to it. The shortcut checks if a note named "Today's Tasks" with the current date exists. If not, it creates the note. It then presents a menu to add tasks, read tasks, add a brain dump, or read the brain dump. The brain dump is recorded via dictation and appended to the note.
Change Phone Line
To change the phone line used for making calls when having multiple SIM cards, a shortcut can be created to set the default voice line to a specific cellular plan before calling a contact. The shortcut uses the "Set Default Voice Line" action to choose the desired cellular plan (primary or secondary) and then calls a specified contact. The phone line can be set to be chosen each time or hardcoded for specific contacts.
Apple Made a Shortcut!
The "Hold That Thought" shortcut, featured in an Apple newsroom article, helps manage interruptions by capturing the current screen and prompting the user to record what they were doing and what they were about to do. The shortcut takes a screenshot, waits five seconds, and then asks the user what they were doing and what they were about to do. It saves this information, along with the screenshot and clipboard contents, to a "Hold That Thought" note.
