Shortcuts App Coming to Mac, Automator Will Remain Supported - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Shortcuts App Coming to Mac, Automator Will Remain Supported

by

During its announcement of macOS Monterey today at WWDC, Apple also revealed that the Shortcuts app is coming to macOS this year. The company said that a large library of pre-built shortcuts will be made just for the Mac.

image 1
Just like on iPhone and iPad devices, Shortcuts on Mac will let users quickly accomplish complex tasks with the apps they use the most. Apple said that power users will be able to use the Shortcuts Editor on Mac to customize shortcuts to match their workflows.

Shortcuts will be integrated throughout macOS Monterey, in the menu bar, Finder, Spotlight, and even with Siri. Apple also noted that users will be able to import existing Automator workflows into Shortcuts, and Automator will remain supported.

Related Forums: macOS Monterey, Apple, Inc and Tech Industry

Popular Stories

Meta Ray Ban Lens

Apple Planning to Unveil Privacy-Focused Smart Glasses at WWDC 2027

Sunday July 26, 2026 9:26 am PDT by
Apple currently plans to unveil its first smart glasses at WWDC 2027 next June, and privacy will be a focus, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. For the glasses, Apple is prototyping "a slew of new hardware and software-related privacy features" that are not available on current products, he said. He did not mention any specific features, but he noted that Apple's marketing will likely...
Read Full Article • 232 comments
iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Next Month With These 12 New Features

Thursday August 6, 2026 7:03 am PDT by
It is now August, and that means the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are just a month away. The devices are expected to look similar to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, but there will still be many year-over-year changes, with rumored features including a smaller Dynamic Island, 5G via satellite, and more. Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and a...
Read Full Article • 47 comments
Everything Apple Is Expected to Announce in September Feature

Everything Apple Is Expected to Announce in September

Tuesday August 4, 2026 3:10 pm PDT by
Apple is going to announce at least five new devices next month at its annual iPhone-centric event, though it's possible we'll also get devices that were waiting on Siri AI. Here's what's coming. iPhone 18 Pro Rumors suggest the iPhone 18 Pro is going to look a lot like the iPhone 17 Pro, but with a smaller Dynamic Island. It's getting a new Wide camera with a variable aperture for more...
Read Full Article • 66 comments

Top Rated Comments

Zedcars Avatar
Zedcars
68 months ago
Let the dumbing down commence. 🙄

Automator is great and super easy to learn. I don’t use it often but when I do I find it quite fun and saves me loads of time. It would be a great shame if it was jettisoned.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
B
brofkand
68 months ago
Automator was a huge differentiator between the Mac and Windows. I know a lot of people never used it, but it was sort of like what FileMaker Pro did for databases in terms of how it made automation and scripting easy for people who cared to learn.

Shortcuts has nowhere near the functionality, but hopefully it will get there before they kill Automator for good. It sounds like Apple learned from the iPhoto > Photos debacle.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
K
KoolAid-Drink
68 months ago
Kind of sad to see a Tiger application be deprecated. Hard to believe Automater was first released to the public in 2005.

With that said, TBH, I've almost never ever used Automater, so I don't understand it much. Hoping Shortcuts will be a simpler, easy-to-understand replacement, while preserving the power of Automater and the Mac in general.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
L
Luke MacWalker
68 months ago

As long as the underlying AppleScript subsystem remains a thing, I’ll continue to adopt latest macOS releases.

It’s very handy in specific situations, like getting around the UX quirks of Finder.


There was a session about Shortcuts and automation on macOS today. I haven’t had time to watch it yet, but I quickly read the transcript: it looks like Shortcuts has been really well thought. Support for AppleScripts and shell scripts is included, both ways: Shortcuts can launch scripts and apps, and applications and scripts can launch Shortcuts too.
There is also a translator app that can be used to convert “most” of Automator’s workflows into Shortcuts.
Shortcuts can also be cross platform (macOS, iOS and iPadOS).

As I said, I read too quickly to really get all the details, but I think we should not be disappointed. 👍😊
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
J
jwdsail
68 months ago

Automator was a huge differentiator between the Mac and Windows. I know a lot of people never used it, but it was sort of like what FileMaker Pro did for databases in terms of how it made automation and scripting easy for people who cared to learn.

Shortcuts has nowhere near the functionality, but hopefully it will get there before they kill Automator for good. It sounds like Apple learned from the iPhoto > Photos debacle.
I'd compare this more to Aperture -> Photos (or even Lightroom) .. Neither of the "replacements" work half as well for me as Aperture? I'm still looking for something that makes my life (re: digital photos) half as easy as Aperture did?

I'm not looking forward to this change. Apple always seems to kill off the parts of the Mac experience I value the most?


Sigh
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kornelis Avatar
Kornelis
68 months ago
I wonder what will happen with AppleScript. I hardly use Automator, but I made many AppleScript scripts/programs.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments