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In this tip video, you learn how activating a Focus mode can automate the changing of your Apple Watch face, and how a Personal Automation in Shortcuts can trigger a Focus mode. Rose guides you through these two real-world examples that will surely inspire you to create your own with Focus mode as their main ingredient.

Faced with the gargantuan task of digitising thousands of photos, Don decided to make this project-based tutorial to assist if you are ever faced with such a task. The secret is the speed and quality of scanning along with capable automation tools to make the whole process easier.

In this screencast, Don takes you on a tour of his chosen method along with the tools he uses along the way, from scanning his images all the way to a final import into Photos.

In this tip show, Rosemary shows you how to use Signals for HomeKit, an iOS app that allows you to send a signal to yourself and others via your smart lights. You learn how to create custom Signals and the app integrates with Personal Automations and Shortcuts.

The number of home automation devices being released with HomeKit support is increasing but there are still lots of them that don't work natively with Apple's automation protocol. Help is at hand with Homebridge, a free open-source application that allows you to add non-supported devices to HomeKit.

This week, Don takes you through the installation and configuration of Homebridge on a Mac. He also reviews his home setup and shows you how Siri can control non-HomeKit devices.

In this tip show, Rosemary introduces you to some new Shortcuts Actions in Overcast, the popular podcast player. You learn what options they support, and how you can integrate them with actions from other apps inside Shortcuts. Rose also goes over a few real-world examples.

In this week's tip, Rosemary covers recent updates to the Shortcuts app. This includes the Set Wallpaper action, Home Screen Launchers, and getting the details of emails and messages which can prompt you to run a shortcut.

Not a lot has changed in Calendar and Contacts in Big Sur, other than the expected visual refresh. With that in mind, Don shows you some lesser-known features from both of these core macOS applications, and adds a little Automator trick as a bonus!

In this tip show, Rosemary shows you the changes brought to the Home app on iOS 14. Automating your HomeKit-friendly devices has become a lot smoother, with more useful options to make your smart home, well, a lot smarter.

In this show, Rosemary demonstrates where to find automation in iOS 14, how to customize, and how to use it. From Siri Suggestions to Reminders, and of course the Shortcuts app, automation is everywhere, and this year it's better than ever.

In this show, Rosemary shows you what you can do with Toolbox Pro and Charty, two companion apps for Shortcuts on iOS.

Toolbox Pro simplifies some commands and allows you to do things that otherwise would not be possible in Shortcuts. Charty allows you to create a variety of beautiful charts and plot your data using Shortcuts.

Rosemary shows you in this week's tip how to retrieve tasks using the custom OmniFocus actions in Shortcuts. You also learn how to install and use Omni Automation plugins.

We all know custom keyboard shortcuts are a boon to productivity, but it's such a faff to set them up via System Preferences. Time-consuming and prone to typos, the traditional way of setting up custom keyboard shortcuts can present some friction.

CustomShortcuts by Houdah Software is a free, easy-to-use utility that greatly simplifies the process. No need to navigate System Preferences, as auto-exposure of available menus per application plus auto-completion, makes the creation of custom keyboard shortcuts a breeze.

In this tip video, Don takes you through that process using CustomShortcuts, using a few practical examples.

In this episode, Rosemary introduces you to Integromat, an online automation service which allows you to connect multiple apps and services.

As well as getting an overview of the system and its various options, you learn how to create scenarios and use the companion Integromat iOS app, which allows you to receive notifications.

We've previously seen the power and flexibility of shortcuts and automation on iOS. With NFC tags you can take your automation to the next level. NFC tags are small, discrete and inexpensive "stickers" that can be used as triggers for shortcuts in iOS. With an iPhone XS or newer, you can run a shortcut just by tapping it on an NFC tag.

Don takes you through the simple process of assigning an NFC tag to a shortcut with two real-life examples: Firstly, switching smart LED lights in your home on and off, and then opening the charge port on a Tesla Model 3, with a simple tap of the iPhone.

In this screencast, Rosemary opens the door to another level of personal automation with Pushcut for iOS. From simply adding options when setting a HomeKit scene, to diving all the way into the deep end with an automation server, Rose provides plenty of automation ideas to tickle your fancy.

Pushcut works by sending notifications to let you run your automations. You can connect these to times or locations (or even to web services like Zapier or Integromat) to trigger shortcuts based on other events.

In this episode, Rosemary shows you the new Shortcuts application for iOS and iPadOS. There are a lot of changes in this greatly improved version of the app, now part of the iOS and iPadOS operating systems. They range from home and personal automation, the addition of many actions to automate common tasks, as well as much broader support for third-party apps.

Rose also shares two of her custom shortcuts and shows you, step by step, how to build them from scratch.

As a Mac user, there will invariably be tasks you perform on your files and folders that are repetitive in nature. Wouldn't it be nice to have some way to automate those actions so you can focus on more important work?

Hazel is a popular utility that can monitor folders and files, and then take action based on rules you set up.

In this week's Foundation screencast Todd introduces you to the latest version of Hazel. He goes from installation and setup to the anatomy of a rule, as well as the various settings Hazel gives you. Todd then walks you through building a task made up of several pieces that work together to create a more complex and efficient workflow.

In this video, Lee introduces you to HomeRun, a HomeKit-friendly application for your Apple Watch. It allows you to customise and activate Scenes at the tap of a button, as well as automate complications to change their actions depending on the time of day.

TextSoap is a fantastic application that allows you to transform and manipulate text in many different ways. If you find you're constantly editing or fixing the same badly formatted text over and over again, TextSoap can save you hours.

Pre-loaded with many different pre-defined text cleaners, you can access the power of TextSoap through clipboard integration, a menu bar app, macOS services or even AppleScript.

TextSoap also allows you to create your own custom cleaners, with virtually unlimited flexibility.

In this tutorial, Don takes you through using the many different facets of TextSoap 8

One of the problems with Shortcuts on iOS is finding a use for them!

This week's tip video demonstrates some real-life examples that Don used on a recent holiday. If you've ever cruised, you know just how expensive Internet access can be, and what a palaver it is, switching Wi-Fi on and off, accessing the ship's webpage and messing about with Mobile Data settings.

Why not create some shortcuts and add them to your Today View as Widgets? Or even trigger them using Siri?

This tip video explains all...