[adrum]

Shortcuts is a pretty solid option for users with Apple Devices. Its available actions range from simply changing settings to running SSH commands, all packed in a user interface that is much more approachable than AppleScript or Automator.

[castillar76]

I’ve started digging into Alfred (alfredapp.com) automations recently and have had similar experiences. It’s pretty easy to create simple automations using their workflow interface, and I was pleased to discover they made it really simple to publish the resulting workflow using git. In a few minutes I was able to create a workflow to pull a highlighted value and push the user to a variety of different internal websites depending on a regex match.

I’ve poked at Automator and Shortcuts a bit and found them similarly useful. The only issue is that not every app exposes functions to them yet, so there are a number of workflows I’d like to create that won’t work until the app dev adds functions to support “tell this app to do this thing”. KeyboardMaestro works well for filling that gap, but it’s a little awkward to figure out the “click at this spot on the screen” bits.

[dmitriid]

Too bad it feels like 30 seconds for a shortcut to run, including rather useless notifications. And if the camera is involved, it's unusable until the shortcut has completed its song and dance.

I do hope they make this faster and less obtrusive.

Edit: also, no idea how to run most of them. I've installed a shortcut. Now what :)

[adrum]

There's a handful of ways to trigger a shortcut to run:

- Manually via a home screen app icon - A Share Sheet action (good for manipulating links or images, etc.) - Automation event (time/schedule based, NFC tag scanning, or a HomeKit accessory changed)

It just depends on the context and the purpose.

[dmitriid]

> It just depends on the context and the purpose.

Just looked through the Shortcuts app, it's impossible to deduce context and purpose :D

I do hope they improve this. Even as a tech person, I looked at this and went: nope, no idea what it is, it's intended purposes, or any useful use cases.

BTW. I did finally figure out that the shortcuts my Audi app added can only be used by saying their name exactly, and they will trigger via Siri :D Searching for them doesn't work. "Details" menu item (menu itself is hidden behind long tap) is unavailable etc.

[mhb]

Can I have one that turns on or off Location Services? Not the last time I looked.

[adrum]

I do not believe so. I'm longing for turning on specific VPNs and toggling auto-lock for the screen.

On-Demand VPN via WireGuard isn't quite what I'm looking for.

[mynameismon]

The Windows version to that would be Microsoft PowerAutomate, which is also rather decent