Shortcuts App Coming to Mac, Automator Will Remain Supported

Monday June 7, 2021 11:42 am PDT by Mitchel Broussard

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.

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.

Popular Stories

Three Years of 80% Charge Limits on iPhone: The Results

Tuesday October 6, 2026 12:59 pm PDT by Juli Clover

Since 2023, Apple's newer iPhones have had an 80 percent charge limit for those who want to extend battery lifespan. Charging to 80 percent instead of 100 percent is supposed to put less stress on the battery, improving longevity. For the last three years, I've used that setting on my iPhone. I started with the iPhone 15 Pro Max, then did the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and most recently, the iPhone...

• 392 comments

Apple Releases MagSafe 3 Charging Cable Firmware Update

Monday October 5, 2026 5:59 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

For the first time since February 2023, Apple has released a firmware update for the MagSafe 3 charging cable for the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. Specifically, Apple last week released firmware version 3.2.0 for the USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable. The previous firmware version for the cable was 3.1.12. It is unclear what is included in the latest firmware, as Apple does not publish release...

• 116 comments

Sources: Apple Planning Two Sets of Product Launches in October

Monday October 5, 2026 7:24 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman recently reported that Apple plans to unveil an all-new home hub, a new HomePod mini, and a new Apple TV 4K on Tuesday, October 13, and MacRumors has since learned about another launch slated for later in the month. Apple is planning to unveil additional new products in the final week of October, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. While we do...

• 51 comments

Top Rated Comments

Zedcars

70 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)

brofkand

70 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)

KoolAid-Drink

70 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)

Luke MacWalker

70 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)

jwdsail

70 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)