Actions For Mac

When the iOS Shortcuts app was added to macOS in Monterey, it opened a whole new set of possibilities. It allowed you to automate complicated tasks using a very intuitive syntax, making repetitive tasks a lot less cumbersome.

Actions is a free, open-source app that seeks to take things even further by adding a large set of new actions for you to use. It makes the Shortcuts app a lot more versatile, and it is also available for iOS and iPadOS.

The app doesn't need to be running for the new Actions to be available. There is no user interface. Just open Shortcuts, create a new shortcut, and look for the Actions app in the right sidebar. You will find all the new options there.

You can also install the app on your iPhone or iPad, and it comes with some iOS-specific actions as well. Similarly, some actions are only available on macOS. These are all clearly labeled, so you aren't going to mix them up.

There are far too many new actions to list, and new ones will likely be added in future updates. Among others, they allow you to manage lists, format data, obtain various types of info, check hardware or software states, generate random data, and transform text.

If you use Shortcuts to make your workflow more efficient, grabbing Actions is pretty much a no-brainer. It doesn't harm your experience in any way, even if you don't need the new actions at the moment, but it provides new options for when they might be necessary.

Basically, if you have ever used the Shortcuts app, or are considering it, you should get Actions as well. It enables you to do more things with shortcuts, and it is completely free.