At a recent doctor appointment, as the medical tech ran through my history he asked if I’d had my flu shot. I had, and he updated his records. He asked if I’d gotten my Covid booster. I had, but I couldn’t recall the date. He asked if I had a photo of my Covid card. Actually, I had a PDF of it in Obsidian on my phone. I noticed that it took me a little longer than I was comfortable with to pull it up.
Later that evening, I wrote a post called “Hey Siri, Let’s Nap” in which I discussed some practical use I’d find found Apple’s Shortcut feature. After writing that post, I got to thinking: it would have been much easier in the doctor’s office if I could just have said, “Hey Siri, show my Covid card.” Could this be done with a Shortcut?
It turned out it could, and with a very simple one at that.
The next day I created the shortcut. It is a very simple shortcut that has a single step:
The Shortcut uses the Open File action to open the PDF of my Covid vaccination card that I keep in the attachments folder in Obsidian. It opens the PDF using the Notes app (on my Mac) and in the Files app on my iPhone. It works like a charm. Whether or not my phone is locked, if I say, “Hey Siri, show my Covid card,” my phone thinks for about 2 seconds and then up pops the PDF of my vaccination card on the screen. Here is what it looks like when it pops up on my phone:
It has occurred to me that I could setup similar shortcuts for Kelly and the kids so that they can easily access their Covid cards if they need them. It also got me thinking about other uses to which I could put Siri shortcuts to access things quickly when I need them and don’t want to go fumbling through my phone to find them.
I’m really beginning to dig this Shortcut feature.
Written on January 14,2022.
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And now I’ve learned about Shortcuts!
Michael, I knew about shortcuts when they first came out, but it took me a while to figure out some practical uses for them. I use the “let’s nap” shortcut I wrote about a few days ago every single day.