RoutineHub • Copy And Paste A Shortcut

Copy And Paste A Shortcut

This Shortcut greatly improves your workflow by allowing you to copy and paste between shortcuts

Description

This Shortcut greatly improves your workflow by allowing you to copy and paste between shortcuts.

Latest Release Notes

0.932 - Aug. 5, 2020, 5:41 a.m.

Added device system compatibility check.
Bug fixes

Past versions

Feedback

@Peasouper

Nice straightforward copy/paste of selected actions (not just a whole shortcut as the name implies) to another shortcut or to a new shortcut. Before pasting into another shortcut you must have already added a comment action showing +++ to the target shortcut at the paste location.
Reply · 6 months, 3 weeks ago

@Crunchewy

How do you select something to be copied within the shortcut you are copying from? Or did I misunderstand what it was saying? I can use it via running this shortcut and selecting the actions to copy, but that can be a bit obtuse. If there's actually a way to select what I want to copy within the shortcut I'm copying from then that would be helpful. I mean some way to mark out a block within my shortcut.
Reply · 6 months, 1 week ago

@robric18 Author

Yes it is very easy to select the parts of the shortcut you want to copy but it takes a bit of work before running the shortcut. Go to the shortcut you want to copy from. Put a comment before and after each section you want to copy. In each of those comments place three stars (like this ***). Anything contained within those comments will be copied. Be sure not to leave a hanging star comment or it will pick up everything after that comment.
Reply · 6 months, 1 week ago

@robric18 Author

Pro tip, if you want to paste the copied content in multiple locations, place the paste comment (a comment with three plus signs, like this +++) in each location you want to paste the copied items. It will paste the copied text anywhere in the shortcut where you place those comments.
Reply · 6 months, 1 week ago

@Crunchewy

That's great! Thanks!
Reply · 6 months, 1 week ago

@Crunchewy

Also the current version number listed here (0.5) is not the same as the version it says in the comments in the shortcut (0.8), and also not the same as the current version specified in the auto-update section of the shortcut (0.9).
Reply · 6 months, 1 week ago

@robric18 Author

Thanks for noticing this. It has been fixed.
Reply · 6 months, 1 week ago

@Crunchewy

Almost - the version number in the dictionary (in there as a text item) in the shortcut says 0.9, not 0.8. It says 0.8 in the comments in the top, but that's not what it's comparing with when it checks routinehub.
Reply · 6 months, 1 week ago

@robric18 Author

Okay now it is corrected.
Reply · 6 months, 1 week ago

@JimmyCrackCornAndIDon.tCare Member

Not sure if i’m missing something but, I’ve placed *** In a comment before and after the actions I am trying to copy, then I placed +++ in a comment in a new shortcut and ran copy and paste, which worked, but when I checked the new shortcut that I pasted the actions into, there’s nothing there. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Reply · 5 months, 2 weeks ago

@robric18 Author

The shortcut creates a new shortcut with the name you select. Are you looking at that new version?
Reply · 5 months, 2 weeks ago

@JimmyCrackCornAndIDon.tCare Member

I’m an idiot. I didn’t realize you had to create a link and download the merged shortcut as a new one. This works great! Thanks so much!
Reply · 5 months, 2 weeks ago

@daidardi

#bug https://imgur.com/gallery/2LbyUhK
Reply · 3 months, 2 weeks ago

@TheGoodDude

When updating, I suggest opening the iCloud URL that is listed in the “Get Contents of URL”, not just the RH link. That will open directly into Shortcuts to install the update, instead of having to go through the RH page.
Reply · 3 months, 2 weeks ago

@dastefster

The update URL for the current version is still directing to v0.91
Reply · 3 months, 2 weeks ago

@robric18 Author

This has been fixed with version 0.93
Reply · 3 months, 1 week ago

@Ajhad

I seem to be doing something wrong. Whenever I use the copy and paste functionality it breaks my shortcut. Everything looks as it has copied correctly but the shortcut no longer runs. If I remove all of the added stuff then it starts to work again. If I recreate everything manually it also works. Any ideas? Further testing has led me to believe that the copy and paste does not work on if statements and choose menus. I am trying to narrow down what else.
Reply · 3 months, 1 week ago

@robric18 Author

I’m guessing it has to do with the UID of certain actions you are copying. Or not copying complete actions (such as part of a copy). There are certain times where copying actions with the same UIDs into a shortcut will mess up this shortcut. If that’s happening the shortcut unfortunately won’t work (there is another shortcut which can deal with those appropriately).
Reply · 3 months, 1 week ago

@Ajhad

That makes sense. Thanks.
Reply · 3 months, 1 week ago

@Ajhad

Would it be possible to add a prompt to copy and delete the previous code? This would allow someone i.e. me to move actions in the shortcut a lot easier than the current options. From what I have seen. I think the issue is because I was copying and pasting into the same shortcut or at least a duplicate of the shortcut. My guess is that the issue would not happen if the original action was deleted. What do you think? Currently, I have a shortcut that is over 300 actions long.
Reply · 3 months, 1 week ago

@robric18 Author

That’s actually a pretty good idea - I will try to add cut as an option in an upcoming update. Have you tried deleting the original text and seeing if it runs (or replacing the actions from the original text)?
Reply · 3 months, 1 week ago

@Ajhad

Yes, I have. It has some weird behavior. The original actions will run without issue but the duplicate actions will not run and simply hang the shortcut. The weirdest thing is that when removing either the duplicate or original, it deletes both references. Remember not all actions are affected. But, once the offending ones are removed the shortcut works just fine.
Reply · 3 months, 1 week ago

@Ajhad

As a side note, I have an idea for how to implement the cut vs copy. Of course you can add an option in the menu but another way to do it would be to have the placeholder comments be “—-“ instead of “***” that way it would be automatic with no menu options. Just a thought.
Reply · 3 months, 1 week ago

@robric18 Author

Ajhad, were the shortcuts you were working on ones that you were trying to copy/paste within the same shortcut?
Reply · 1 month, 1 week ago

@Ajhad

Yes. I was attempting to duplicate sections of the shortcut. My shortcut was over 300 actions long so it would be helpful to be able to duplicate sections. But, also, it would be super helpful to move sections of the shortcut in the shortcut itself.
Reply · 1 month, 1 week ago

@FifiTheBulldog

I recommend adding a prompt to the menu where you choose which shortcut to copy from. It’s not immediately obvious whether that menu is to select the source shortcut or the target shortcut. A prompt like “Select Source Shortcut” would be helpful.
Reply · 3 months, 1 week ago

@robric18 Author

Good idea Fifi. I plan to make this and some other revisions to increase user friendliness in the next update.
Reply · 3 months, 1 week ago

@alexmack

I seem to be at a loss.... So if I run the shortcut, and then chose to create a new shortcut with what I’ve selected... no problem. But if I follow the guidelines to paste in an existing shortcut, the newly downloaded version shows no changes.
Reply · 3 months, 1 week ago

@jeffersondizzle

Suddenly not working for me any more. It isn't recognizing the +++ comment to insert the copied commands.
Reply · 2 weeks ago