You can use Things with Apple Shortcuts to create workflows that enhance your productivity. This page will help you get started.

Sometimes there are actions you want to perform which are repetitive, or complicated, or simply not possible in Things’ interface. Apple’s Shortcuts app makes it possible to automate these actions and perform them quickly.

Below, you can download some example shortcuts that demonstrate what’s possible, learn how to run them, and find information on how to get started building your own.

Shortcuts Gallery

We’ve built a few shortcuts to demonstrate some of the actions you can perform with Things. Tap one to add it to the Shortcuts app on your own device, then run it to see it in action.

These shortcuts require minimum versions: Things 3.17 and macOS 13, iPadOS 16, or iOS 16.

Create

Add an Errand

Create a new to-do with your Errand tag already applied.

Add To-Dos From Text

Quickly convert multiple rows of text into to-dos.

Remember to Call

Create a reminder to call someone from your Contacts app.

Shop for Essentials

Create a list of essential groceries with just a few taps.

Duplicate Template Project

Make a copy of a template project and put it in Today.

Add Follow-Up To-Do

Create a follow-up for the selected to-do, with a link back to it.

Save My Location

Save your co-ordinates to revisit later. Handy when exploring new places.

Save This Song

Shazam a song and save it to Things for later.

Calendar Integration

Prepare for Events

Create to-dos for events on your calendar with a reminder to prepare.

New Timeblock Event

Use a Things project to block time on your calendar.

Add Birthday Reminders

Have Things remind you of upcoming birthdays.

Do Weekly Review

Split your screen between Things & Calendar for a weekly review.

Get Insights

Show Today’s Reminders

View all items in Today that have reminders set, in time order.

Show Urgent Deadlines

View your most pressing deadlines.

Show Dusty Projects

Quickly identify projects that have fallen by the wayside.

Worked on This Week

View all the items you’ve modified in the past 7 days.

Recently Created

View all the items you’ve created in the past 7 days.

Run Year Review

Generate an overview of all projects completed in a given year.

Modify

Bump Work Items

Quickly clear remaining work items from your Today list.

Run Inbox Rule

Set up a rule to process your Inbox. Useful in conjunction with Mail to Things.

Adjust Completion Date

Adjust the date a to-do was completed on.

Move to This Evening

Move to-dos with reminders after 6 PM to This Evening.

Helpers

Search Things

Quickly search for items in Things.

Get Link to Item

Copy a link to an item you’ve selected in Things.

 

Run Your Shortcuts

You can run a shortcut from directly inside the Shortcuts app, but there are more convenient ways to do it. Here are the best methods:

Widgets

On iPhone or iPad, you can add a Shortcuts widget to your Home Screen or Lock Screen. A widget can display a single shortcut, or the contents of one of your Shortcuts folders.

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You can also add a Shortcuts widget to your Mac’s desktop or Notification Center if you’re running macOS 14 or later.

Menu Bar

On Mac, one of the best ways to run a shortcut is via the menu bar. You can pin a shortcut to your menu bar from its settings in the Shortcuts app.

Shortcuts in the menu bar on macOS
Dock

On Mac, you can add a shortcut to your Dock. Simply right-click the shortcut in the Shortcuts app, and choose Add to Dock.

macOS Monterey Dock with a custom shortcut icon
Keyboard

On Mac, you can give your shortcut a keyboard shortcut and use that to quickly run it. Set this up inside the Shortcuts app.

Adding a keyboard shortcut to an Apple Shortcut on macOS Monterey.
Spotlight

You can run shortcuts by searching for them in Spotlight. On iPhone or iPad, simply pull down on the Home Screen to start a search. On devices with a keyboard, hit ⌘ Cmd Space and then type the name of your shortcut.

Using Spotlight to trigger a shortcut.

It’s a bit more complicated to invoke Spotlight while inside an app on your iPhone: Swipe down from the top left side of your screen, then swipe right, then swipe down again to reveal Spotlight and search for the shortcut. It’s clumsy, but it works!

Voice

You can run shortcuts with your voice. Say “Hey Siri” followed by the name of your shortcut.

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Note that you can also set up an Automation to have your shortcuts automatically run themselves (iPhone, iPad, and Vision only). For example, every day at a specific time, when you wake up in the morning, when you get an email from a particular person, and so on.

Please note that Things doesn’t currently support running shortcuts directly on Apple Watch.

Build Your Own Shortcuts

Things’ integration with Shortcuts is quite powerful, providing more than a dozen actions for you to use in your own custom-built shortcuts.

If you’re entirely new to Shortcuts, the best way to get started is to download the example shortcuts from our gallery and peek inside them to see how they work. You can then dive deeper with our technical documentation. Be sure to also check Apple’s documentation for Mac, iPad, and iPhone.


Please note that the Shortcuts app is made by Apple. If you have any problems with that app, please contact Apple for assistance.