With iOS 12’s Shortcuts app, power users can easily automate repetitive tasks by chaining multiple actions together. Your shortcuts are managed and organized in the Shortcuts app, but displaying them to the user as a list via another shortcut is quite challenging. This is whereEasy Foldercomes into play. This awesome shortcut, create byReddit user “e10withadot,”acts as a virtual folder to which you can add any number of shortcuts, then easily pick one to execute via a popup menu at run time.
Easy Folder: a folder for your shortcuts
Welcome to Easy Folder, an easier way to create shortcut “folders” in the Shortcuts app.
These aren’t real folders—Easy Folder just saves a text file to a folder in your iCloud Drive (“Shortcuts.txt”) with a list of shortcuts to present to you via a menu.
Easy Folder in action
Rather than make copies of actual shortcuts, Easy Folder simply updates the text file that it uses to create a menu of available shortcuts. If you like, you can also edit Shortcuts.txt in TextEdit or another text editor to manually add or remove shortcuts from the menu.
The text file lists the shortcuts that Easy Folder displays at run time
To get the shortcut, visit thedownload page on iCloudon your iPhone or iPad with iOS 12 or later, then tap the blue button labeledGet Shortcut(if asked whether to open the file in the Shortcuts app, tapOpen). This will import Easy Folder into your library in the Shortcuts app.
Tap theLibrarytab at the bottom of the Shortcuts app and hit theEasy Folder tileto execute the shortcut. Upon launch, tap theEditbutton and hitAdd, then select any shortcuts from your library that you’d like to see listed in Easy Folder’s menu.
Selecting shortcuts for quick access via Easy Folder
Upon relaunching Easy Folder, you’ll now be presented with the shortcuts you chose in the previous section. Choose one from list to launch it without stopping Easy Folder’s execution. This is a great way to access your frequently used shortcuts from within Easy Folder.
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To remove a shortcut from EasyFolder’s list, chooseEditfrom the menu, tapRemoveandselect any shortcutsyou’d like to remove from the menu and hitDone. Doing so updates the Shortcuts.txt file in your iCloud Drive accordingly.
When running Easy Folder again, you’ll notice that any removed shortcuts are delisted from the menu (don’t you worry, any shortcuts removed from Easy Folder are found intact in your library in the Shortcuts app).
The Easy Folder menu after removing the shortcut Where Was This Taken?
TIP:Easy Folder is also accessible from your Home screen, Share menus and widgets.
Customizing Easy Folder
Easy Folder can be customized to your liking like any other shortcut.
Open theShortcuts app, tap theLibrary tabat the bottom, then tap thethree dotsin the upper-right corner of the Easy Folder tile (be sure to hit the three dots or you’ll execute it).
Tap Customize Shortcut to change Easy Folder’s internal folder name
To change the internal folder name where this shortcut saves its Shortcuts.txt file, simply customize the save path under the Create Folder action. Alternatively, tap the settings icon in the top-right corner (it looks like two switches), then tapCustomize Shortcut.
NOTE:Changing Easy Folder’s name prevents you from opening the Easy Folder shortcut itself via the menu unless you tapAddand re-add Easy Folder to the list again.
Like with any other shortcuts on your iPhone or iPad, you can adjust some handy global options for Easy Folder by hitting thatSettingsbutton near the top-right corner.
Adjust the following to your liking by tapping theSettingsicon near the top-right corner:
Adding the shortcut to your Home screen
If you select the optionAdd to Home Screenas described in the previous section, the Shortcuts app will pass Easy Folder’s unique URL to Safari. Now all you need to do is hit Safari’Shareicon, then choose the optionAdd to Home Screen, provide acustom namefor the icon and hitAdd.
You can manually delete Easy Folder’s icon from the Home screen, but doing so only removes the icon. If you’d like to remove this shortcut from your iPhone or iPad permanently, you will need to manually delete it from your library through the Shortcuts app.
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