We are already a quarter of the way into 2023, and things have slowed down for me this past month. I had expected this after February, but I had not expected the reasons why. There may not have been as much “output” as I had expected, but what I did output was more certainly more effort than I had originally envisaged.
ThoughtAsylum
This past month I only managed to create one blog post. It was for a plugin for SwiftBar - an app that allows you to create your own menu bar solutions. I began by creating a little utility to let me manage TMUX sessions (ways to run persistent terminal sessions) for my web sites. But as I got into it, the scope increased to accommodate other commands, more dynamic set up, and then I tidied things up for other users to be able to make use of it. But of course, that then grew into a GitHub repository with a whole set of documentation to support its use. What had started as an afternoon project became a ‘most of the month’ project.
If you haven’t checked it out yet, I would recommend doing so. The end was result ended up being quite versatile, even if you have no current need for managing TMUX sessions.
Forums
Once again, I have been doing my best to help out on the usual forums, and hopefully it has been useful for at least a handful of people. Certainly there have been a couple of really interesting topics this past month.
Drafts
Following up on a query from February on how to have a default tag for new Drafts in a workspace, I followed up with a successful test on overriding ⌘N.
I provided some information on how to script the placement of the cursor after inserted text.
There is a popular chat about a Chat GPT action I added a few responses to. If you are interested in using Chat GPT, then this seems refer to the most popular of the available actions. As yet I have only used Chat GPT indirectly in other apps (e.g. for summarising long articles). I simply haven’t found any benefit to using it to generating content or answering questions given the propensity of the algorithm to just make up answers rather than provide answers based on facts and evidence. For me the extra effort of researching to get what is much more likely to be a correct set of details is far more useful. As for Chat GPT generated code, I’ve ended up writing code for a few people now to do what they want rather than trying to debug the code Chat GPT generates. I am looking forward to when I can use such services as generic research assistants, but alas, it is insufficient for my needs at the moment.
One Drafts user was having a problem with an action to delete completed Markdown list tasks no longer working that I was able to help them get to the bottom of.
Sometimes all it takes to help a new user is to get them to search the Drafts directory.
There was a query on having a glossary of special terms for dictation in Drafts. There is a way to do it, but it is quite hacky, and totally independent of Drafts.
A user was having problems with Drafts no longer requesting access to the iPhone microphone. I set out where they could enable this, but as often the case, there was no response as to whether this resolved the user’s issue.
I made a suggestion for how to tag quickly in Drafts?
A user made a feature request for command palette support in Drafts. I use Paletro to access most things like this across apps, and while I did create an option to create slash commands in Drafts, I did cover in my in thread response the (later) inbuilt option to search for and action various commands in Drafts.
A couple of users have apparently been having actions disappearing on sync. I made some general suggestions, but if anyone else has been experiencing such issues, it would be great to see some more details on this thread so that any sync issues can be identified and resolved.
I gave some help to a user who wanted to manage their script actions in Git. I do this with TADpoLe, my library for Drafts.
One user resurrected a four and a half year old thread to query how to sort a list of all tags by frequency. Given the frequency was included at the end, I simply suggested moving the frequency to the start and sorting accordingly. For anyone who is interested in a more advanced breakdown, I would suggest taking a look at TAD-Display Drafts Counts, which gives you details Drafts tag counts as well as a whole lot more.
Automators
I added a few of my own thoughts to a discussion on how to rename hundreds of files by changing the date format in the file name. As long as you have a method that works and meets your needs, then the how does not really matter. But if you are approaching it from a place where you can choose your options, then I believe there are some considerations that can help you decide.
I helped a user who I assume is new to Scriptable to get data from an ‘object’ by pointing them in the direction of a JSON tutorial.
I created an Apple Shortcuts shortcut to create photo albums from a list of names.
I created another shortcut for another user to allow them to send a Charty chart via (Apple) Messages.
I created yet another shortcuts to help a user share a voice memo via a Shortcut. This one was quite fun as I got to use a little SSH trick I hadn’t used since the early years of Workflow (i.e. pre-Apple’s purchase and renaming to Shortcuts). I was actually a little surprised with how easy it was to get the whole thing working, and with such a (relatively) short and simple shortcut.
Yet another blast from the past with a question on renaming and saving a file with Shortcuts. No prizes for guessing the answer comes down to the use of the “Set Name” action.
I added a suggestion to a discussion on automating e-mail creation for Outlook, and gave a bit of background on how I have built e-mail automation in the past - though not built around Outlook.
I jumped back on the can a Stream Deck go to the previously used profile? that I provided a solution to last month. One of the other posters seemed to suggest that there was a way in Keyboard Maestro to do something that I’ve not come across before. I dug in on what they were saying and requested more detail as their description was not something I could follow. I’m still waiting on a response and doubt I will ever get one … I get the feeling that what they were suggesting is not actually possible right now.
I tried my hand at combining an OmniFocus and Outlook 365 bookmarklet. I don’t know if it worked or not as they never confirmed, but hopefully it did.
I spent a bit of time explaining Keyboard Maestro regular expressions and capture groups after a user was getting confused about how they thought it should work, and what it was actually doing.
I had a go at pointing a user in the direction of where they were getting an error with the Monday.com GraphQL API. This sort of thing is hard to do without having the shortcut, access, or output, and just a partial screenshot of a shortcut. Only with the very simplest of shortcuts can you get away with sharing just a screenshot. Usually you need the actual shortcut to see what it is doing exactly. Otherwise, the best debugging help is only ever a guess.
I gave a couple of bits of advice about queries relating to the discussion of episode 124 on image automation.
Lastly, I set out a step-by-step walkthrough for moving from a Markdown outline in Drafts to an outline in Microsoft Word. This is one I have on my list to expand some of the elements into a more detailed (and expansive) blog post. But as well as explaining the logic Word uses, and providing a solution that did everything that was required, it did highlight once again that accurate use of terminology is key when asking questions. Giving something a name, when the application has a different feature with the same name, well that means you are asking a different question, and not including examples means there’s no chance to spot any ambiguity in the phrasing of the query. But it all worked out in the end.
Other
I had some work to catch up on after being ill for the best part of a week, and some looking after of family members who had also been ill. As a result my already constrained time was constrained further and the expansion of my Ste-Mux plugin project really did expand to fill most of my available time.
Upcoming
I’m working on writing up a post on automating with my Xencelabs Quick Keys. Once again, I figured I had a pretty good handle on the scope, but in the interim, I’ve actually created a little helper app that might help some, so I’ll be rolling that into my write up too. It’s no Elgato Stream Deck, but it is highly portable and given the amount of travelling I’m doing at the moment, that’s really helpful.
I’ve also been looking at a bit of Alfred workflow-related stuff, and that may well surface this month. There’s a new opportunity with the latest beta version of Alfred for a bit of integration that I asked about some time ago and while I didn’t get exactly it, I think I have a way to workaround it. Unfortunately, there’s still no sign of my workflows making it into the Alfred gallery, but I’m checking in every now and then to see if there’s any movement. The ball is in Running with Crayons' court; though you’ll always be able to download them directly via thoughtasylum.com or related sites that i control.
Speaking of Alfred workflows, the March promise of a new workflow obviously didn’t happen, so that is also slated for this month, but it is something I created to make life a little easier while I was working on the Ste-Mux plugin.
I also haven’t forgotten about the hardware I got a few months back, but I’m working on a more practical demonstration with that, which, assuming I can get it to work, will be a nice project to share with everyone where people can actually get a good sense for real-world use.
Thank you once again to everyone who has bought me a coffee. I do greatly appreciate the generosity and the opportunity to savour a delicious coffee shop brew as I tackle my projects, posts, and queries.