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Populus

macrumors 603
Original poster
Aug 24, 2012
5,987
8,450
Spain, Europe
Hi.

THis is a question about Siri Shortcuts (MacRumors Admins, there should be a Shortcuts subforum, it's amazing when you start sharing shortcuts among the community), but because it involves the use of a Smart keyboard, I posted it on the iPad subforum.

My question is: Is there a way to easily invoque a certain Siri Shortcut with an actual keyboard shortcut? A customizable keyboard combination that activates the Siri Shortcut you want.

I know it is possible to activate them from the Spotlight screen, but it requires too many steps. It would be awesome if we could make them more automatic. Like, you press cmd+O+W and your iPad starts posting the piece of news you had saved on X folder. Or just starts taking a video for 10 seconds and then uploads it to the cloud. And so on. All with just a keyboard shortcut.

Is it possible? If it is, how? And if its not, is there a quicker way to activate the most used shortcuts?

Siri Shortcuts is awesome, and it would be mind blowing if Apple didn't limit the actions you can perform. But yeah, I know, we can't pretend iOS to be as versatile as MacOS.
 

Populus

macrumors 603
Original poster
Aug 24, 2012
5,987
8,450
Spain, Europe
Well, to be honest, I've never used Siri (voice assistant) to activate a Siri Shortcut. I think it's a too powerful feature to rely only on Siri, or voice commands. It's like if Automator was limited to voice commands, nope, is a much powerful tool.

So, whenever I've used a Siri Shortcut, the easiest way to activate it on an iPad Pro (remember this is an iPad Pro topic, as it's the only iOS device with an actual keyboard) is pressing CMD + space bar, which shows the spotlight search. Then, type the first letters of said shortcut name, and touch it, and accepting.

This is mildly comfortable, and mildly quick. But I want something more automatic, as Siri Shortcuts are potentially the replacement of the awesome Mac tool Automator.

At this point I think it's not possible to call a Siri Shortcut using a key combination on the Smart Keyboard Folio on the iPad Pro. Hopefully this will be a possiblity some day. But I think it's possible to have a direct access to said Siri Shortcut on the homescreen. I haven't tried it yet, because right now I don't have an iPad Pro to test this, but it would be awesome to know quicker ways to activate Siri Shortcuts that doesn't involve talking to an iPad in front of other people. I mean, I'm still not used to it.
 

theonekcrow

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2009
870
154
Indiana
So, whenever I've used a Siri Shortcut, the easiest way to activate it on an iPad Pro (remember this is an iPad Pro topic, as it's the only iOS device with an actual keyboard) is pressing CMD + space bar, which shows the spotlight search. Then, type the first letters of said shortcut name, and touch it, and accepting.

Actually, this applies to any iPad as keyboard shortcuts are also available to any iPad that is connected to an external keyboard via Bluetooth as well. (Though I know you clearly noted it as an iPad Pro issue, just wanted to make sure that it was aware to all users that can support Bluetooth Keyboards and iOS 12.)
 

Populus

macrumors 603
Original poster
Aug 24, 2012
5,987
8,450
Spain, Europe
Actually, this applies to any iPad as keyboard shortcuts are also available to any iPad that is connected to an external keyboard via Bluetooth as well. (Though I know you clearly noted it as an iPad Pro issue, just wanted to make sure that it was aware to all users that can support Bluetooth Keyboards and iOS 12.)
Exactly, you're right. I didn't think of it in that way.
 
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