Siri Shortcut to Todo List Easier Than Existing Systems

May 30, 2023 ios iot macos

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I use Things for my todo list. I like it, but I don’t like the voice control. You have to say “Add I want to buy candy to my things 3” - sometimes you can leave off 3. This works sometimes - but for longer things it’s not great. What’s an alternative? I got one - and it’s way better.

First of all, note that these instructions are for Things but may actually apply to other todo lists too. Here’s what you do.

Open the Shortcuts app
Create a new one - I named mine “Take a Note”
First action: “Dictate Text” - and make sure it says stop after pause
Second action: “Create todo” - in the Things category. Not quick add or anything like that.
Use ‘Dictated text’ as the input.

Done!

Now, if I want to ramble on about candy - I can say “Hey Siri - Take a note” - she prompts for the input. Then I ramble on “I’d like to buy some candy and make sure it’s the good kind” - then after a pause, she says “ok that’s done”.

Now, “I’d like to buy some candy and make sure it’s the good kind” is directly in my inbox of things.

Much easier and I’d argue “better” than the built in functionality from the Things app.