Apple-Owned Workflow App Updated With New 'Mask Image' Action

Workflow, the automation app that Apple acquired back in March of 2017, was today updated to version 1.7.8, introducing a new Mask Image action, and a long list of other bug fixes and improvements.

As MacStories points out, the Mask Image action added in today's update is a feature Workflow users have been wanting for several years. The new action, which applies a mask to an image and cuts it into any desired shape, is designed to make it easier to simplify image editing workflows that require image masking features.

By default, the masking feature offers rounded rectangle, ellipse, and icon masking options, but custom masks can also be used.

The new Workflow update also introduces new fields for the Add Things To-Do action, it makes items reorderable in the dictionary action, and it adds support for opening workflows to the URL scheme. Extracting text from PDFs has also been improved, as has drag and drop handling. Multiple bug fixes are included, as outlined before:

Workflow names are now case-insensitive

Fixed a crash when running the Edit Image action

Fixed Todoist and Slack authentication when using a Google account

Fixed an issue where icons from Search App Store and Get My Workflows were saved as JPEG, not PNG

Fixed an issue where the Encode Media action may not delete temporary files properly when encoding to MP3

Fixed an issue where the Custom X-Success URL parameter of the Open X-Callback-URL action did not work

Fixed an issue where variables could not be added to arrays in the Dictionary action

Fixed an issue where booleans could not be added to dictionaries inside dictionaries in the Dictionary action

Fixed an issue where a duplicate workflow could appear after searching for a workflow

Fixed an issue where Workflow could crash when deleting many workflows at once

Fixed an issue where double-tapping a variable button cleared the variable

Fixed an issue where the Tweet and Post on Facebook actions did not work from the Today Widget or Apple Watch

Fixed an issue where passing the output of Scan QR Code to Open URL did not work properly

Fixed an issue where workflows could not be edited after being opened via 3D Touch

Performance improvements to workflow running

VoiceOver improvements

Other bug fixes and minor additions

Since purchasing Workflow in March of 2017, Apple has continued to provide regular updates to the Workflow app, allaying fears that it would be discontinued and abandoned.

The last update to the app, introduced a long list of bug fixes for third-party app actions, was released in November of 2017.

Workflow can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Tag: Workflow

Top Rated Comments

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dannys1

7 months ago

Every time an update comes out for this i’m reminded that it’s a brilliant app I still haven’t found a use for.

Then people post their ideas in replies and I think they’re great. Try a few out, totally forget about them and never use it again.

I dunno, I guess I’ll just never get Workflow to work in my “workflow” and probably because I use iOS as little as I can.

Rating: 6 Votes

Stella

7 months ago

Workflow is screaming to have integration with Siri. Must be coming soon.

Create easily your own Siri workflows

Rating: 6 Votes

petsounds

7 months ago

That's pretty much me right now as well. My work is done on my Mac. I use iOS for focused tasks that can be completed by one app. I transfer stuff between apps sometimes, but generally if I have a more complex task it's quicker to just open my Mac. If I was able to use an iPad for what I do, maybe I'd find it useful there.

In a perfect world where Siri wasn't terrible and it was connected to Workflow, we could say something like, "Siri, translate this PDF into French and send that in an email to Julie at Apple" and it would chain together its own workflow to try to act on requests. That would be very compelling, but I fear we're a long way away from that day.

Rating: 5 Votes

MrGimper

7 months ago

That's pretty much me right now as well. My work is done on my Mac. I use iOS for focused tasks that can be completed by one app. I transfer stuff between apps sometimes, but generally if I have a more complex task it's quicker to just open my Mac. If I was able to use an iPad for what I do, maybe I'd find it useful there.

In a perfect world where Siri wasn't terrible and it was connected to Workflow, we could say something like, "Siri, translate this PDF into French and send that in an email to Julie at Apple" and it would chain together its own workflow to try to act on requests. That would be very compelling, but I fear we're a long way away from that day.

"Here's a list of french paedophiles called Julie who like Apples I found on the web", replies Siri.

Rating: 3 Votes

BasicGreatGuy

7 months ago

I need to spend some quality time with this app. It is very intriguing.

Rating: 2 Votes

smirking

7 months ago

I dunno, I guess I’ll just never get Workflow to work in my “workflow” and probably because I use iOS as little as I can.

I completely concur. I had Workflow on my phone for like three years and I finally accepted that I'd never find a practical use for it and deleted it last year. If I'm doing something that requires a complex workflow, I'll pull out my laptop. My idea of workflow on an iOS device, is limited to "swipe, tap, press."

Rating: 1 Votes

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