Stephen Millard's July 2023

Updated 08142023-202238

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Forums

Given the limited time I had this month, it feels like I've been more active than usual on my usual online forum haunts, and in particular, the Shortcuts influx on the Automators forum was definitely tangible, so much so, that I have split out the conversations I was involved in to a subsection.

As a side note, these are not the only forums I use. I have a handful of others that I drop in on every day or two, but I'm definitely more of a lurker on those right now. After all, I do have a day job and some semblance of a life to fit in.

Drafts

• A query on how to open a draft in a new tab via an action was an easy answer - I do like the availability of good documentation with Drafts.
• With a pointer to some other documentation, one user was able to create some Drafts script to open a draft in a new tab via an action.
• I made some suggestions around open a draft in a new tab via an action; a topic that has surfaced at least a couple of times in the past.
• One user wanted to create an open a draft in a new tab via an action for quick access on their iPhone - looking at existing similar actions, the action steps documentation, and even the list of available steps yields a leading candidate.
• One user had an issue "open a draft in a new tab via an action" - i.e. when the letters have diacritics. Fortunately, I had an action in one of my libraries capable of doing exactly that.
• There was open a draft in a new tab via an actionwhere I learnt something new.
• A returning user to the forum resurrected a topic on open a draft in a new tab via an action, and started a related, new topic on on open a draft in a new tab via an action. Over the course of many responses, they were provided with numerous ways to export their drafts, including a way tailored for them (by yours truly), but they insisted that they knew what a "standard" export from Drafts should be. A strange stance given I had provided numerous variations that different people could think was standard, but their position was apparently the only one that could be considered "standard", and that was not covered by the actual standard export options available (which actually were in so many ways more open, encompassing and standardised). The topics in concert make for an interesting read, and you can probably see where I simply stopped engaging.
• Another resurrected post on open a draft in a new tab via an action got into a discussion about breaking drafts down into smaller tangible elements. Where does one draw the line? I am a huge proponent of PKM and like many, I have been evolving my PKM practices since I was a child. But some of the thought leaders and platform builders in this space have a lot to answer for in my opinion with their 'bleeding edge' ideas that simply hold no merit as they are really just redefining terms in a cycle. Something I do have some notes to write up my opinion on at some point.
• There was a query about open a draft in a new tab via an action, but was left open ended after I queried about the actual format.
• There was a brief discussion of why someone's open a draft in a new tab via an action. There is definitely a need for people to understand, syntax, themes, Markdown conversion, and HTML preview. I think more than a few people simply never stop to consider this and expect a Microsoft Word-like WYSIWYG editing experience - which is very purposefully not what is available.
• Workspaces also seem to be a sticking point for many users. A pretty typical open a draft in a new tab via an action came rip again this last month. Workspaces are saved filter searches where you can also apply default application options (theme, syntax, etc.) What would you use them for? Well, different types of work of course.
• I was able to provide an answer on open a draft in a new tab via an action. Again, reading the documentation is helpful, and interestingly, I use the setup for creating this very part of these posts as I use an Apple Shortcut to process my forum activity for a month before passing a processed set of information back into Drafts for me to expand upon.
• A new user asked for some help on open a draft in a new tab via an action. I had a basic idea for the simplest way to do what she was asking, but I will own up to taking a guess at one aspect, trying it out, and it worked beautifully, and so I posted as an option. I think she may have chosen a more manual option in the end (why?), but without more details, I couldn't tell for sure she had or why she had.
• Someone asked for a open a draft in a new tab via an action as they want to reuse a draft (not sure why) after dictating to it. You may be surprised to learn that there were a few options offered by the community.
• Someone had a query about open a draft in a new tab via an action I pitched in with a relatively simple suggestion for.
• Do you want to open a draft in a new tab via an action? It looks to be possible.
• The open a draft in a new tab via an action highlighted to me once again of how there is often a barrier between a user and their ability to accurately describe what they want.
• One user wanted to open a draft in a new tab via an action.
• The open a draft in a new tab via an action continues, and once again, it looks like people are not reading the topic first and just posting the same sorts of issues (which the thread explains what you have done wrong). I don't know if it is the fault of users, or Open AI's product/license naming.
• As noted last month, I also open a draft in a new tab via an action.
• I do feel that at some point I need to write a post explaining some useful differences when it comes to text. I often find it frustrating to have to explain to IT staff what the difference between a text delimiter and text separator is, and if I had a post about the differences between lines (and line breaks/new lines/line feeds/carriage returns/etc.), paragraphs (and paragraph separation), pages (and page breaks), and apparently a horizontal rule, that could have been a little help in helping to determine open a draft in a new tab via an action.
• I helped a user modify a open a draft in a new tab via an action - one day maybe I'll try this ChatGPT tool, but to date it doesn't seem to do anything that I can't do more reliably with my own brain and existing tools - though I'm reliably informed its ability to translate between languages is worth checking out.

Automators

• One user open a draft in a new tab via an action. Since I'm the creator ofopen a draft in a new tab via an action (an Alfred workflow for launching Keyboard Maestro macros), I stepped in. It is a strange one as no one else has reported such a failure, and the initial information he shared based on my directions does not point to anything in the content causing it, yet it must be as that is the only local factor given the diagnostics. With my move activities dying down it is something I'll be returning to in August.
• I provided a bit of command line know open a draft in a new tab via an action. There was a follow up in August (effectively a previously unspecified requirement), but I reckon the original question was answered … and I have provided a suggestion for the additional requirement.
• It may be beta season for macOS, but open a draft in a new tab via an action is not yet, and may not be entirely obsolete for some time to come … if you believe me that is.
• There was a somewhat strange little discussion on open a draft in a new tab via an action - I didn't see how the original request would help, so I made a suggestion based on something I'd seen done in an office I worked in 20 years ago.
• I made a suggestion of a shift in the approach for a request open a draft in a new tab via an action.
• I added some additional information about FastScripts to the open a draft in a new tab via an actiondiscussion thread.

Shortcuts

• I gave a new forum poster a hand with open a draft in a new tab via an action, and then a bit of a pointer on a key instruction they had missed when posting about a open a draft in a new tab via an action.
• There was a bit on open a draft in a new tab via an action.
• I made a suggestion for a bit of a workaround in open a draft in a new tab via an action, once again utilising Shortcuts.
• I explained how the combine action in Shortcuts works in terms of open a draft in a new tab via an action.
• One user asked for open a draft in a new tab via an action, but it was one of the strangest standalone posts I've seen.
• One forum poster was open a draft in a new tab via an action. I suggested a way to handle days, and noted the quantity of alarms they will end of generating with their approach - it will add multiple alarms each day ad infinitum.
• I suggested a open a draft in a new tab via an action (call out to open a draft in a new tab via an action) solution to open a draft in a new tab via an action.
• I provided a set of guidance to someone wanting to open a draft in a new tab via an action.
• I used a bit of internet-fu to help a user looking to access a shortcut in an older post on open a draft in a new tab via an action.
• I created an example shortcut for someone wanting to open a draft in a new tab via an action.
• I made an API suggestion for someone open a draft in a new tab via an action.
• A query from March jumped back to life about open a draft in a new tab via an action, which required a bit of direction around the Shortcuts user interface.
• I explained why linked local CSS content would not work for open a draft in a new tab via an action.
• There was a discussion of open a draft in a new tab via an action.
• I made some third party helper application recommendations for open a draft in a new tab via an action.
• I had an extended discussion with a user on open a draft in a new tab via an action. I' think we reached an OS version dependent solution, but there was a bit of additional discussion besides. I'm hoping that the next major release smoothes off the numerous rough edges we have on Shortcuts today.
• I had a security-related note on using Gizmo Pack as an open a draft in a new tab via an action. I really should have added Airtable as a suggestion too.
• A open a draft in a new tab via an action was resolved with the help of Apple support, though if the user had read the linked detail of my first response, then they could have resolved it exactly how I'd suggested to another user in the past. The moral of the story folks is always read the answer to the question if you actually want to know the answer.
• There was an interesting query about open a draft in a new tab via an action. This was an interesting question, for which I think I give a pretty effective example solution. If you take a deeper look at just one shortcut from this list, this is probably the one you want.
• I made some suggestions about some options for open a draft in a new tab via an action and other options.
• And, as usual, someone needed a nudge after they posted a problem about open a draft in a new tab via an action. First rule of Apple beta club - always report your problems to Apple … no one else has access to fix the issue, and by agreeing to be part of the beta, you are agreeing to do just that.

Other

As noted above, July was very much about my house move. Breaking down and packing technology is certainly a time consuming activity, and it was also something I did with trepidation. For the next few months at least, I will be working out a temporary office space. This is because we plan to convert our garage into an office space. To do that we will need to clear it of a lot of content that is being stored there temporarily, then content that will be intended to go there, and then convert it. Only then will I really be able to unpack all of my technology, and in the interim, I'll be gaining some new technology as I can finally apply a bit more home automation than I could in rented accommodation.

As July closes, my life is starting to calm down a little.Towards the end of July I moved house, and this is obviously quite a stressful undertaking with a family, job, and all the other wonderful elements of daily life that need to continue. We have moved from a rented place we had been in for many years to a home of our own, so whilst the move in took several days, it has taken easily twice that again to do a deep clean of the old house and sort out some issues. As a result, the expectation going into July was that I would be quite limited in my flexible time for helping people and creating stuff as I had more then enough of my own tasks and challenges to fill anyone's day.