yes you could use the require feature but some times I jsut want to script something on the mac bacause its much better in handling copy paste and so on… then you could use your iPhone to create a “real” action from it without the need to type on the tiny iPhone.
Since i got my ipad this is not necessary that much but still good to know!
If you just want to test what you scripted on your mac - and not create an action right now - use sth like this: http://actions.getdrafts.com/a/1DK to evaluate the script.
I find use cases emerge, sometimes months or years after I first acquire the software. So the “don’t push it” message is right.
I am breathlessly looking forward to actions on Mac OS like the rest of us. If it never comes, obviously, it would be a super massive disappointment and might start me looking for a different way to structure my workflow. But for now it really is a help to have a way to start my note when working in Mac OS. When I’m ready to perform actions, my phone or iPad is always at hand so it’s not a huge deal for now. I would say without the Mac OS beta I probably would not be depending on Drafts nearly as much as I am. I just need to open any device and be able to use my apps. Just has to be that way for me. So, here’s someone who feels a strong use case.
Also actions!!! I’m ready any day!!!
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In its current incarnation, it can serve this purpose. Assign a keyboard shortcut to the quick add window and it is in fact as you indicate. What happens next is TBD. But you can certainly make it a place to hold that text.
For me, I fall soundly into the camp of “all I really need is text sync” and have felt this way for a while. With a keyboard and a mouse (or trackpad) at hand, moving text where it needs to be is so fast anyway, the lack of actions is hardly a dealbreaker for me at the current time. Also, the presence of the contextual menu helps a little, in that some text will automatically be able to do things when selected (e.g. URLs can open), and possibly more depending on what you have installed and what services it makes available to the OS.
Also, it’s worth noting that automation on the Mac–while around for far longer than on iOS–is stagnating while on iOS it’s flourishing. “Necessity is the mother of invention” is the short version, but since the Mac is more “flexible” in this regard anyway, it feels like less of a need-to-have at the moment. Yes, there’s Automator, and you can still use AppleScript, but the barrier to entry is and always has been higher. And it’s not the “scene” that it is on iOS.
Would I love my entire action list from iOS available on the Mac? You bet I would. But the differences between the platforms are still so glaring in some ways (and app consistency/parity is still not where it probably should be) that it would be tough to carry the same user experience over to the Mac right now. Perhaps when the fabled Marzipan something something arrives, things will coalesce around a unified solution.
For now, I’m just delighted I can bring text between the platforms without AirDrop.
This is so true! I’m a bit embarrassed to admit, but I have way more automated through iOS than I do through my Mac. The paradigms around iOS automation make more sense to me. Because of that, automating on the Mac is something I do only when I have to. But automating on iOS is something I love doing, figuring out, and sharing with others.
I’ve seen Drafts become the gateway drug to iOS automation for so many people.
Just yesterday I built the text basis for a presentation in split screen on an iPad - while moving from place to place in Oxford.
I did not have my Mac with me.
Today I have my Mac and can transfer the text from Drafts into my presentation software.
That saved my bacon. So I consider it a good use case.
(Sure there are other ways of getting text out of an iPad. But this is the route I chose this time - using the Drafts family.)
There are several ways to look at it.
- Think of Mac app as an action for the iOS app. I used to have an action called “Send to Mac” on my iOS Drafts and that is no longer needed.
- Capture and editing on Mac enable you to consider drafts as a single starting point, not X on iOS and Y on Mac. Not being able to use automation does not mean you cannot do something about it, it’s just not better nor worse in terms of convenience than notes, Evernote, Bear etc. Before Mac app, Drafts is better on iOS and worse on Mac than those alternatives, and that make customers hesitant to be “all in” on the iOS app.
- Drafts is best positioned as a “starting point” for sure, but it has grown to become something far more than that. With more information organization, management and discovery power built in with each major version, it is clearly trying to replace apps like simplenote for many(who don’t use Windows, Linux or Android). Even if you think it’s not as good as Bear as a markdown notes app, but hey, many people consider it good enough and don’t want to learn and subscribe to more apps.
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