Append to selected file (from list of running files – a la Merlin Mann's "runx" file scheme)

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1

Like Merlin Mann*, I have a series of “running files” to which I’m constantly adding content:

  • runx movies.txt
  • runx restaurants.txt
  • runx gift ideas.txt
  • runx books I’ve read.txt
    …

I could use the “Append to Running Lists” action, but I’d like prefer to have separate files that I can also access from my Mac.

I could set up an action for each of these (variations on “Append to iCloud Journal”: “Append to Movie List”, “Append to Gift Idea List”, etc.), but it would be great if I could have one action that prompts me with buttons for each of them (about 10, say), so that I can pick the destination and have the [[draft]] text appended to the corresponding file in the background.

Any ideas for how to write an Action that allows the pathname/filename to be determined from a list of options?

*Credit to Merlin Mann: first explained on MacPowerUsers MPU Ep 23: Workflows with Merlin Mann

2

You can use a Prompt to create the selections. Specify buttons for the prompt with a pipe separated list like:

movies|restaurants|gift ideas

Then, in the step after that appends to a file (iCloud Drive, Dropbox, whatever you are using), use the [[prompt_button]] tag in the path, like:

/runx [[prompt_button]].txt

(That assumes the default “prompt” key for the prompt step)

That should get you what you want.

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