Apple Shortcuts

Apple Shortcuts connects Craft to the information and actions you use in other apps. Build a meeting document from a Calendar event, send dictated text to today’s Daily Note, or turn text from another app into a structured document with a title generated from its content. Choose the inputs, the Craft destination, and the steps to run. Save the workflow as a shortcut and run it again whenever you need it.

​

What is a shortcut?

A shortcut is a workflow made from one or more actions. An action performs one step, such as getting a Calendar event, dictating text, or creating a Craft document. Actions can pass their results to later actions through variables. For example:

1. Dictate Text turns speech into text.
2. Craft’s Add to Document uses that text as its Content and adds it to today’s Daily Note.
3. Show Notification displays a confirmation after the Craft action finishes.

The dictation and notification actions belong to Apple. Add to Document belongs to Craft. You connect them in the Shortcuts editor.

​

What can you build with Craft?

Shortcuts can collect information from other apps, format it, and send it to a chosen place in Craft. A workflow can also create or organize several items in one run. A Craft template supplies reusable content and structure. A shortcut can fill that structure with information collected at the time it runs, such as the day’s meetings or a file selected in Finder.

​

Craft action groups

Search for Craft in Shortcuts to see the actions available on your device. Shortcuts groups them into these categories: For document workflows, start with the Document actions in the action reference. A document returned by one action can be passed to another, so you can create a document, add content to it, and rename that same document.

​

Getting started

Open Apple’s Shortcuts app, create a shortcut, and search for Craft to add an action. Select your Space, configure the action’s inputs, and use variables to connect it to other steps. Start with the Voice inbox example, or browse Useful Shortcut Examples. See the action reference for parameter types, defaults, and return values.

​

Running your shortcuts

Run a shortcut from the Shortcuts app, or ask Siri to run it by name. You can also configure entry points that suit the workflow:

• iPhone and iPad: add a shortcut to the Home Screen or enable Show in Share Sheet to receive supported content from another app.
• iPhone: assign a shortcut to Back Tap, or add a Shortcuts control to Control Center or the Lock Screen where supported.
• Mac: enable Use as Quick Action and Finder in the shortcut’s details to run it on selected files. You can also assign a keyboard shortcut.

Some actions need permission to access the microphone, location, photos, files, or another app. A shortcut launched while the device is locked may require unlocking. Craft actions aren’t supported on Apple Watch. Run shortcuts that use Craft actions on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

​

Built-in Siri phrases

Craft also provides phrases you can say to Siri without building your own shortcut. English examples include:

• “Open Quick Entry in Craft” or “Open Quick Capture in Craft”
• “Create a document in Craft” or “New document in Craft”
• “Create a task in Craft” or “New task in Craft”
• “Open today’s note in Craft”
• “Open tasks in Craft” or “Open upcoming tasks in Craft”
• “Open Craft” or “Open Calendar in Craft”

Siri may ask for parameters such as the Space or document title. These phrases are separate from the OS 27 Siri Actions listed in the action reference.

​

Run in the background

Most Craft actions that create or change content have an Open App option. With Open App off, the action runs in the background: Craft stays out of the way and the shortcut moves on to its next step. Turn it on when you want to see the result in Craft right away.

​

Existing shortcuts and legacy actions

Some new actions have the same name as the action they replace. If a shortcut shows an error, replace the action even if its name looks unchanged. To repair a shortcut, add the replacement action before removing the old one. Copy its settings, reconnect variables from earlier steps, and reconnect any later actions that used its result. Remove the legacy action, then run the shortcut on a test document. Check both the destination and the saved content.

​

Apple Intelligence and Siri AI

On a supported device, Apple’s Use Model action can process text and return a result for a Craft action. For example, organize pasted text into a note, or generate a title from imported text and pass it to Rename Document. This is separate from invoking Craft Assistant. Apple’s Describe a Shortcut can’t add Craft actions yet. Add Craft actions manually in the Shortcuts editor. Apple Intelligence availability depends on your device, language, and region. See Apple’s Shortcuts guidance. For asking Siri to work directly with Craft documents and tasks, see Siri AI.