Actions for Obsidian: 40+ dedicated Shortcuts actions for Obsidian (macOS/iOS)

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Yesterday it finally arrived: LAUNCH DAY :rocket::rocket::rocket: Actions for Obsidian v1.0 is available on the App Store! (macOS 13+, iOS 16+)

With over 50 dedicated Shortcuts actions, it brings your notes and Apple automations together, making Obsidian a solid first-class citizen in Apple’s Shortcuts app.

App Store screenshot

I’ve sent out a newsletter about the launch, so if you want to know more about the pricing or the trial period(s), maybe have a peek at that.

Quick summary:

  • Pay what you think is fair: one license, three different prices ($9, $12, $15)
  • 14 day trial + 20 day extended trial (“extended” = feat. purchase reminders)
  • available everywhere except Russia — ĐĄĐ°Đą живе Україна :ukraine:

Massive thanks to all who participated in the #TestFlight leading up to the release. I’ve learned a lot, and was reminded that 50% of every useful thing is documentation. :wink:

:books: So there’s a Knowledge Base now, which contains (among other things) docs and example for all 50+ actions :tada:

:rotating_light: And finally, if you’re a reviewer: Press Kit. If I can help with your review, please do hit me up!

About half a year of work went into that app, from first idea to v1.0. I’ve gained a ton of new knowledge, started a few related projects (hello, Actions URI plugin!), and had to jump through a number of hoops to get here. It was much fun (and not so fun) work. w00p!

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So nice to see this, BUT as an iPad sort of person care to offer a time frame for dropping some coin on a subscription there?:wink:

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I plan on starting the first iOS TestFlight late March, early April.

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A pity you bring politics into it.

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Obviously, I disagree.

It’s not “politics”, it’s doing my super-super-tiny part in condemning an unprovoked land war on my home continent. I can’t control who’s going to use my work but I can control who I am selling to. It’s not much, but I stand by it.

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Which word offends you?
Glory, or
Ukraine

Or is it his choice not to sell the app where he does not want too that you have an issue with?

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That, by definition, IS politics.

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Of course it is his choice since it is his app. Does not mean I have to agree with his choice, does it?

BTW, in this context you should use too to

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That was a nit

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Oh, I see :wink:

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Carlo, as a Mac and iPhone user this looks really exciting. Great work.

At the moment I use the Shimmering Obsidian Workflow with Alfred. I just wondered how the functionality compares? Or is it pretty similar, but obviously with Actions for Obsidian you don’t need Alfred and Powerpack? And, of course, Alfred is really MacOS only.

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Hi Joe, thanks for the kind words!

I don’t use SO myself so I have to judge from skimming its docs. I think Shimmering Obsidian gets you up and running in a very short amount of time since it basically brings a lot of new Alfred workflows to the table. Actions for Obsidian gives you a number of building blocks to create your own Shortcuts workflows to make Obsidian work with other Shortcuts-enabled apps on macOS & iOS. I believe you could recreate most of SO’s features using AfO’s Shortcuts actions, though.

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Before I fork out some cash, can I have a level of reassurance that you’ll continue with this long into the future?

Thanks for something that is very useful

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@gregp: Yes, you can. It’s definitely not a hobby project, my aim is to build useful software which helps people get through their days and make a living doing that.

I can’t tell you that I’ll support it until the heat death of the universe but I can tell you that I’ve set up shop for good. :wink:

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Thank you for your common sense stance. War and killing are not politics, and humanity must always make it clear that progress is not made for the sake of genocide and evil. And russians need to get used to this attitude, because you deserve it, fascism should be called fascism. In addition to the terrible fact that in the 21st century, thousands of people die in this war every day, it has put the entire world at risk. So glory to Ukraine.

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Love this. Have installed it on my iPhone and I now understand how it works.

I’ve previously developed my own shortcuts that allow me to add Obsidian notes and tasks from my Apple Watch, which is my main form of data entry when out and about. This is made easier given I’m relying on iCloud Drive for note storage/sync, rather than any of the other sync methods. Obviously, Apple Watch shortcuts won’t work with this app given it relies on the on-device integration with the Obsidian app. Any thoughts about if an Apple Watch-friendly set of shortcuts are in your future?

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@epicpilgrim — unlikely, not because I don’t want to (I do) or because I don’t have an Apple Watch (I don’t) but due to the way Shortcuts works.

An app can “donate” its functionality as a Shortcuts action. The action would run on the watch, data can be stored in iCloud, so iOS/macOS devices might pick that up later on. But Actions for Obsidian is “just” a proxy between Shortcuts and Obsidian, i.e. it can’t do much without Obsidian itself, technically it doesn’t even have access to your Obsidian vaults — it “just” posts instructions to Obsidian’s API which are processed by its companion plugin, Actions URI.

So, I’m afraid it can’t be done by 3rd party apps like mine. :man_shrugging:t2:

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It just dawned on me that I never posted here about the iOS launch of Actions for Obsidian :man_facepalming:t2:

With almost 40 dedicated Shortcuts actions, it brings your notes and Apple automations together, making Obsidian a solid first-class citizen in Apple’s Shortcuts app, just like on macOS.

App Store screenshot

Quick summary:

  • Pay what you think is fair: one license, three different prices ($9, $12, $15)
  • reduced pricing for when you want to buy for both iOS & macOS
  • 14 day trial + 20 day extended trial (“extended” = feat. purchase reminders)
  • available everywhere except Russia — ĐĄĐ°Đą живе Україна :ukraine:

:books: There’s a lot of documentation in the Knowledge Base, which contains (among other things) docs and example for all 38 actions :tada:

:construction: Here’s a roadmap in case you’re wondering what’s planned for the near future.

:rotating_light: And finally, if you’re a reviewer: Press Kit. If I can help with your review, please do hit me up!

I’d be delighted if you would check it out on the App Store and let me know what you think! :rocket:

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Awesome! I was just thinking that I wanted some shortcuts so I could trigger Obsidian tasks via RayCast, Streamdeck etc. When I get a chance I will do a YouTube video and review :slight_smile:

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Thanks! If you have questions or anything, just holler, I’m here :call_me_hand:t3:

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