Creating new contacts in Apple’s Contacts app takes entirely too much mousing, clicking, and typing. This Keyboard Maestro script combines the power of Keyboard Maestro with a little bit of AppleScript to automatically create Apple Contact cards. If you dig this, there is an offer code to get $5 off the Keyboard Maestro Field Guide, “KMMAY2020”. Enjoy.
I frequently receive email from Mac Power Users listeners with feedback on some topic we discussed during the show. If the email is something that I may want to mention on the future feedback show, I copy that email into a running Google document that we then use when planning the feedback shows.
I’ve been doing this for years manually which, for a guy who likes to brag about his automation prowess, is kind of bananas. So today I took 10 minutes and wrote a quick Keyboard Maestro script to automate this process going forward and I thought I would share it. I’m adding this to the Keyboard Maestro Field Guide but also wanted to put it out on the web for anybody else that may need something similar.
I’ve just released the first free update to the Keyboard Maestro Field Guide. This new version includes ten new videos covering all the significant new features in Keyboard Maestro, version 9. New videos include a full explanation of the Elgato Stream Deck and how to use it with Keyboard Maestro, support for the Catalina Music app, automating optical character recognition, working with multiple editor windows, combining items on the clipboard, dark mode and additional palette themes, how to tag multiple files automatically, and how build your own Pomodoro Timer. My favorite is one that lets you apply multiple tags via Keyboard Maestro script.
If you already bought the Keyboard Maestro Field Guide …
Great news! This is a free update. Log into your course. Anything with a (1.1) in the title is new.
If you haven’t bought the Keyboard Maestro Field Guide yet …
Why not? A lot of course graduates are crushing Mac automation with Keyboard Maestro. You should too! To further entice you, I’m giving you the discount code HOORAYKM to get $5 off. Hurry, though. That code expires in a week.
As always, you can stream or download the videos. Also, I am about to start doing monthly seminars for Field Guide customers to cover specific titles. The first one will be with Keyboard Maestro Field Guide customers. If you are already a customer or about to become a Field Guide customer, keep an eye on your email in the next week for further details. Space will be limited.
It’s always fun checking in with my pal Chuck Joiner. You can watch or listen to us on MacVoices talk about how I had to rebuild the newest Shortcuts Field Guide since Apple rebuilt Shortcuts. Among other things, I also give some examples of what you can accomplish with Shortcuts to make your iPhone and iPad work for you.
I’m pleased to announce the release of the new iOS 13 edition of the Shortcuts Field Guide.
The new Shortcuts Field guide was shot entirely new with the new Shortcuts for iOS 13. Apple changed a lot and it is all covered in this field guide:
Over 6 hours of downloadable video tutorials
New materials for both beginners and advanced users
New Downloadable Shortcuts
So much Automation
As a blog reader, you get a limited-time $5 discount with the code “BLOGSHORTS”.
If you’d like further explanation, read on …
Mobile Automation Is within Your Grasp.
Apple continues to put the gas down on iOS automation. The iOS 13 version of Shortcuts represents a significant improvement over the prior version. Best of all, anyone can do it. Shortcuts does not rely on scripting languages but instead a common-sense approach to Automation. Here are just a few possible things you can do with Shortcuts in iOS 13:
Get an automatic weather report for the location of tomorrow’s appointments
Block schedule an entire week
Put your iPhone into focus mode when you connect to a coffee shop’s WiFi
Build simple apps, like a self-creating packing list customized for you
Automate your meetings
Automate sending a message when you are running late with an accurate, automatically generated ETA.
These are just a few examples of what you can do with Shortcuts, and all of these examples (along with many others) are included among the many video lessons in this course.
With Shortcuts, you can automate just about anything. In addition to teaching you all of the mechanics of Shortcuts, this course includes many walkthroughs of automation workflows you can use, download, or alter to automate your own iPhone and iPad.
There are 107 lovingly crafted screencasts totaling over six hours of content. Each tutorial includes a full transcript and closed captioning. Where appropriate, the tutorials also include downloadable Shortcuts that you can install and run alongside the video.
Course Outline:
1. Introduction
Learn the basics of Shortcuts, including installation and interface. This section covers basic application concepts and how it organizes your Shortcuts. Also, build your first Shortcut.
2. Shortcuts Key Concepts
Shortcuts is a simplified type of programming, and there are several basic, key concepts you’ll want to know to get the most out of it. This section covers those basics, including the Shortcuts programming model, variables, magic variables, conversational shortcuts, share sheet-based shortcuts, and more.
3. Triggers
With Shortcuts, there are a lot of ways to kick off your automation. It can be something you physically trigger, such as a button on your screen, or something automated, like at a specific time or when you connect your phone to WiFi (or CarPlay!) or tap your phone against an NFC sticker. It’s brilliant. This section includes sixteen videos explaining every possible Shortcuts trigger.
4. Actions
Once you have figured out all of the triggers, you will want to start making your iPhone and iPad dance. Just like triggers, Shortcuts is capable of so many actions including the ability to control applications; control settings; add notifications; type text; get directions; create and modify calendar events, bulk adjust photos; make a better share sheet; automate mail; and so much more. There is so much that Shortcuts can do. This section includes 28 videos showing off all of Shortcuts’s tricks.
5. Advanced Concepts
Shortcuts is a lot more powerful than you may think. Once you work through the basic concepts, triggers, and actions, it’s time to dig in on advanced concepts like nesting, programming logic, URL schemes, Base64, regular expressions, and more. This section demystifies some of Shortcuts’s more powerful tools so anyone can use them.
6. Useful Shortcuts
Here you will find a laundry list of useful shortcuts. This section includes 32 screencasts of helpful walkthroughs and downloadable scripts to get more out of your iPhone and iPad. You can download and start using these scripts immediately, or use all of the knowledge that you will have picked up to customize these scripts and make them your own.
7. Conclusion
Learn about more Shortcuts resources.
Here is the course, by the numbers:
Over 6 hours of streaming or downloadable video
107 separate videos, 7 separate sections
Many downloadable shortcuts
Heaps of dangerous knowledge, tricks, and hacks to make your iPhone and iPad dance
The Shortcuts Field Guide is Now Available for Purchase.
Want a preview? How about a 40 minute preview …
I’m closing in on finishing the new Shortcuts Field Guide. It is coming out great. Here’s one of the over 100 videos that will be included with the course when it gets released next week.
Last month saw the release of the latest major update to Keyboard Maestro. Version 9 adds several new features, including multiple editor menus, a method for extracting text from images, and dark mode. That’s just the start. They also added support for the Elgato Stream Deck, which is pretty fun. I’m going to be doing a free update to the Keyboard Maestro Field Guide adding videos on the version 9 features just as soon as I get done shipping the new Shortcuts Field Guide, which is imminent.
Here’s a small Keyboard Maestro script that I use just about every day to create contacts on my Mac with Cardhop. The problem this is designed to solve is Basecamp project email addresses. Every new Basecamp project I create has a specialized (and nearly unreadable) email address attached. Any email I copy or forward to that address gets added to the project. Handy. Right?
But the process of creating a new contact card for each project is tedious, particularly with the Apple Contacts app that requires much clicking and typing. So I made this script that queries me for the project name and then grabs the magic email address from my clipboard to create a contact in the Basecamp Projects group in my contacts database. Cardhop’s quick entry system makes all the difference.
You can download the script here:
And see the script in action in the below video. Note there is a discount code for the Keyboard Maestro Field Guide at the end of the video.
Also, here’s a screenshot of the script.
I’ve got some news on my upcoming plans for Field Guide releases.
Following WWDC this year, and after getting my hands on the new iOS and iPadOS beta installations, it was plain to see that Siri Shortcuts, now called “Shortcuts”, is a lot more than just a fresh coat of paint. The team at Apple fundamentally changed (and improved) Shortcuts so that this year we will be getting something way more powerful and useful than we had last year. Rose Orchard and I talk about this at length in the latest episode of the Automators.
This new version looks and acts differently than the previous version. It quickly became apparent that I cannot simply update to the existing Siri Shortcuts Field Guide, so I’m starting from scratch with a brand new Shortcuts Field Guide, iOS 13 Edition. It’s already in production and coming out great. I’m on track to release the new edition on iOS 13 launch day. It will be a separate purchase, but I will have a discount for folks who bought the prior edition of the Siri Shortcuts Field Guide.
Like Shortcuts, Apple has also substantially improved Photos and photo management since I released the original Photos Field Guide, so I’m making an entirely new edition of the Photos Field Guide as well. Like Shortcuts, I’m doing the new Photos Field Guide entirely from scratch, and it will feature all the latest and greatest features. My outline is very ambitious in that I also hope to cover capturing photos and videos with your mobile devices in addition to managing and editing them. This one will ship after iOS 13 and Catalina are released, but not too long after.
This is the first time I’ve pre-announced upcoming Field Guides. If you are interested in either of these titles and have topics you would like me to cover or questions you would like me to answer, now is your chance to become a part of the process. Send me a note. I can’t promise I will reply to every email, but I will definitely be reading all of them. I would love your help in making the next Field Guides even better.
The response thus far has been pretty amazing for the Keyboard Maestro Field Guide. Thanks to everyone that purchased it. I really enjoyed making it and I’m happy it is resonating. I’m already hearing about some cool automations that customers have created and incorporated into their daily lives.
If you are thinking about buying the Keyboard Maestro Field Guide, now’s the time. The introductory price ends this weekend.
