this video is sponsored by short form
last year I made a video introducing the
shortcuts app on the iPhone I'll link to
it in the description of this one I
would recommend that you watch that
video first if you're brand new to
shortcuts and then come back to this one
I think the problem though is that
actually building shortcuts yourself can
be quite confusing but the shortcuts app
has something called the shortcuts
Gallery which is full of super useful
shortcuts that Apple themselves have
designed the problem with that is that
most people don't have the time to
browse through them all so I thought I'd
do it for for you in a new series that
I'm provisionally calling shortcut
showcase stick with me to the end of the
video because I'm going to be sharing
eight shortcuts that you can get going
with immediately that will unleash the
productivity power of your iPhone okay
let's get into it when you create a
reminder in the reminders app if you
then tap on the I or info button next to
it you have the option to add subtasks
so if the task was pack for the weekend
for example you might decide to add a
load of subtasks like clean t-shirts
toothbrush deod in camera whatever you
decide that you're taking with you
there's a shortcut that makes this
process really easy especially if you're
wanting to work with a list of text open
the shortcuts app head to the gallery
and search for batch ad reminders tap
add to add the shortcuts to your
shortcuts app there's a couple of ways
that you can run this the first is to
Simply open the shortcuts app and tap on
the shortcut the first thing you'll be
asked to do is to give the reminder
itself a name so in this example that
would be pack for trip and then tap done
then on the next screen you can either
type your list in or copy and paste it
in from elsewhere when you're finished
tap done and while it looks like nothing
has happened if you then open the
Reminders app you'll see in the
reminders list your reminder is there
complete with all of the subtasks that
you just added there's another way that
you can do this and that's directly from
a list of text so here in this email for
example I've got a list of items that
someone has sent over to me that I want
to turn into a reminder I'll select the
text first then tap the right arrow
until I get to share which I'll then tap
on I'll then scroll down and choose
batch add reminders give the reminder a
name and choose always allow if you're
prompted to the shortcut will run
creating a reminder consisting of all
the text that you just
highlighted if you've got multiple
things that you want to search on Google
at once say you're comparing things in a
list I've put car models in for this
example but you can use what you like
there's a nice little shortcut that will
make this easy for you open shortcuts go
to the gallery and search for search
list on Google add that shortcut to your
shortcuts app tap on the shortcut to run
it you're then going to either type the
Search terms in pressing return after
each one or copy and paste them from a
list that you've got stored in another
app it doesn't matter how you do it so
long as they end up going in like this
when you're ready tap done your browser
of choice will open displaying one of
the searches but if you've got Safari as
your default browser like I have you
just need to swipe left or right at the
bottom of the screen to move between the
search Pages a really handy little tool
if you're in the process of researching
multiple items at once and you want to
quickly jump from a written list to a
set of Google searches in a video about
shortcuts it seems fitting that short
form have very kindly agreed to sponsor
today's video short form is a service
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which you can see here on screen and
you'll find in the description of this
video if you go to the shortcuts app and
then gallery and search for read body of
article out loud you can add this handy
little shortcut to your phone now this
particular shortcut is going to run from
a share sheet not from the app so what
I'm going to do is navigate to an
article in Safari I've got this Tech
article up and then I'm going to tap on
the share button down at the bottom of
the screen and scroll down until I see
read body of article out loud tap that
button and if you're asked to Grant
permission make sure you allow all
otherwise this won't work once that's
done your phone will begin reading out
the body of the article in a pretty
awful but very usable tone of voice
let's say that you've captured a load of
screenshots on your iPhone and you now
want to send those screenshots as a
single image to someone rather than
having to attach and send them one at a
time open the shortcuts app go to the
gallery tap on search and look for
Combined screenshots and share add it to
your shortcuts app by tapping the plus
button now here's how this one works
rather than selecting screenshots
directly from your photo library the
shortcut is going to work backwards and
select however many screenshots you tell
it to select starting from the most
recent in your photo library so here in
this example I've got a few screenshots
mixed in with some regular photos and
also a video but the way this shortcut
will work is will start with this
screenshot here and then combine it with
however many screenshots I tell it as it
works backwards so let's tap to run the
shortcut and where it says number of
screenshots I'm going to use the plus
button to make this three I'll then
choose done and the shortcut will run
and create an image with the three
screenshots sat side by side if you tap
on where it says image up at the top
your phone will show you the file type
and give you quick access to saving this
to your files or to your photo library
or printing and if you tap on the share
button you've got the usual share sheet
options relevant to your device you also
have the same share button down in the
bottom left of the previous screen as
well as a markup button if you wish to
Mark the image up before sending it on
by the way if you prefer to have content
like this in a written format there's a
PDF to accompany this video and you can
access it by joining my membership
program where for a small monthly fee
you'll get access to all video PDFs
moving forward plus the growing library
of old ones just follow the link in the
description of this video that says
become a channel member you can tag
notes in the notes app it makes it
easier to search for them later on the
problem is the tagging function is a
relatively new feature and it is
possible that you like me might have
been using the notes app for a long time
if that's the case going back through
and tagging old notes can be a real pain
and that's where this shortcut comes in
really handy go to the shortcuts app
head to the gallery search for bulk tag
notes add it to your shortcuts then when
you're ready open the shortcuts app and
tap on the shortcut the way this works
is that you'll set a criteria for what
you want the shortcut to tag initially
and you do this by inputting a word or
phrase in the box that shows when you
tap done the shortcut will come back
with a list of notes that you can tag
they'll all be selected by default tap
to uncheck any that you don't want to be
included in the bulk tagging when you're
happy with your list choose done then in
the box that shows up on the next screen
input the tag that you'd like to insert
you don't need to include a hashtag icon
just the word will do tap done and the
process will run in the background when
finished if you head into notes and call
up one of the notes that you ran the
process on you can see that your tag has
been added down at the bottom of the
note now so far I've done this with
relatively small quantities of notes you
can of course do it with as many as you
like just keep in mind that if you're
doing this with huge quantities the
process may take longer for you than it
did for me in this video but this is a
really quick way of getting your notes
tagged in no time first photography is
one of those iPhone features that I
think a lot of people forget exists
basically when in the camera app if you
tap and hold the shutter button and in a
quick motion swipe to the left and
continue to hold your camera will take
burst photography the same as you see
Paparazzi and nature photographers doing
with their high-end cameras the end
result is a burst of photos and you can
see it's a burst because when you view
the photo after you've got the word
burst and the number of photos up at the
top left down at the bottom it says
select and you can use that to work
through your photos and pick out the
ones that you want to keep but here's
another thing that you can do with your
burst photos open the shortcuts app go
to the gallery and search for convert
bur to GIF tap to add it to your
shortcuts then in the shortcuts tab tap
on the shortcut itself to run it your
phone will display only the burst from
your photo library choose the one that
you'd like to run the shortcut on your
phone will then display the gift that
it's just created tap done and you'll
then get a prompt asking you what you'd
like to do with it you can either save
it to your camera roll or you can share
it I mentioned in a recent video how you
could use the files app as a kind of
hack for zipping photos that you could
then send on to someone well if you're
sending by email which you most likely
are there's an even easier way and
that's to use this shortcut head to the
shortcuts app go to Gallery search for
zip and email add it to your shortcuts
app the way that this particular
shortcut runs is via the share sheet
which actually makes this one even
easier to run so with the shortcut added
what we can now do is head to the photo
library and select a few photos I'll
then tap the share button down in the
bottom left of the screen then scroll
down and choose zip and email in a Flash
the app will zip the files for you and
then add them into an email ready for
you to add some text to and hit send
what's also good about this shortcut is
that it also works in the files app not
just the photos app so you can also use
this to zip a bunch of PDFs together or
spreadsheets or whatever you might be
working on in the files app and then
email them out in fact I even got this
to work in Dropbox so you should be able
to make use of this no matter what file
app you use if you have large passages
of text that you prefer to have read to
you rather than having to read it
perhaps an article or a document that
you've been sent and you want to listen
to it in the car or while you're on the
treadmill maybe there's a shortcut that
will allow you to turn any text into
spoken audio the audio quality isn't
amazing but it is usable so here's how
you do it head to the shortcut Cuts app
go to the gallery and then search for
turn text into audio tap the plus to add
it to your shortcuts app this one works
very simply you're going to find the
passage of text that you want to use
select it and then copy it to your
clipboard then go to the shortcuts app
and run the shortcut tap and choose
paste to paste the text into the box
here and then choose done the audio file
has been created and if you tap the
share button in the bottom left i' then
recommend that you save this audio file
to your files app by choosing save to
files you can then come back to it later
on by accessing it in the files app and
of course you can play the audio when
you're ready but here's a really cool
method for using this let's say that
you've got a magazine article as in an
actual written article and you'd like to
turn that into spoken audio run the
shortcut like we did before and then tap
into the text box but with nothing on
your clipboard you won't get the paste
option but you will get an option to
scan text in hold your phone until
you've got the text lined up and when it
shows in the Box tap insert your phone
will use live text to insert the text
and you can then create an audio file
like we did before although I believe
you do need an iPhone 10s or newer for
this particular hack to work so there
you go the first shortcut Showcase with
eight awesome shortcuts that you can
start using on your iPhone right away
what do you think which was your
favorite drop me a comment and let me
know while I get to work finding eight
more for a future video oh and if you
were playing a drinking game where you
take a shot each time I say the word
shortcut like someone suggested in a
comment in my previous video I really
hope you're okay and as ever if you
found this video useful do please
consider leaving me a like and
subscribing to my channel for more
content like this in the future see you
on the next video