Shortcut Creator is an app that allows you to create all kinds of shortcuts on your smartphone, for example to files, folders, apps, contacts and settings. We explain here how to create smartphone shortcuts with this app.
Many actions on the smartphone feel repetitive. For example, calling a specific contact or opening a specific folder. Shortcuts make this a little easier and you can often skip a few steps. You put them on a home screen so that you have quick access to them.
What makes tools like Shortcut Creator even more powerful is that many apps have special “inputs” that you can use. Such as calling a specific contact directly with the telephone dialer, or opening WhatsApp with pre-baked text.
Shortcut Creator gives you some explanation and a few YouTube videos with examples, but you will still have to figure out a lot yourself. That is why we are happy to help you on your way!
Shortcut to folder with photos and ‘composite folders’
We start with a simple but practical shortcut to the photo folder. To do this, open Shortcut Creator and choose File & Folder in the main menu. Scroll down File Sources to the location and folder with photos, in many cases the folder DCIM on the internal memory or the external SD card. You will then see the screen where you can adjust the appearance and behavior of the shortcut.
For example, click on the icon if you want to change it, or enter behind Name a suitable name that the shortcut should be on the home screen. Below that you can choose with which file manager it should be opened. If you have not installed any additional file managers from the Play Store, you can also use the built-in file manager.
When you’re done, click on the plus icon to add it to a home screen (via the choice To Launcher) or on the play icon to try the shortcut. The plus icon also gives the choice To Collections with which you can add the shortcut to a personal collection. On your home screens you can of course also simply group shortcuts into folders, as you might already do for apps.
You will also see the option in the File & Folder menu New Composite Folder. You can actually display the (possibly filtered) content of multiple folders with the built-in file manager.
Suppose you have photos on your device on both the internal memory and the SD card, then you can add both folders, so that all photos are shown in one overview. You can also conveniently use the option for filters, with Add Filter. For example, if you only want to see the videos in those folders, you add a filter by, for example, file name (such ascontains .mp4“). Or with the option MIME type on the type of file (for videos, mostly video / mp4).
The most convenient in this case, however, is the choice for Regular Expression, which allows you to filter advanced by file name. You do not have to enter the regular expression yourself: tap the arrow behind the input field and you can have a regular expression filled in for, for example, well-known archives, documents, images, but also videos, which immediately include all known extensions. For video, for example .mp4 but also .mpg and .mkv). You can also filter by date or file size.
Call contact, use templates
Also very practical is a shortcut to call a specific contact person directly. You choose this in the menu Contacts. Then select a contact from the list and set the shortcut. Behind Action you can choose what to do when you press the icon. The options depend on the contact information View Contact (show contact person), Show Dialer (display phone dialer) and Call Contact Phone (call directly) available.
The latter option also requires the installation of Shortcut Executors via the Google Play Store. A special authorization is needed to call phone numbers directly and the makers did not want to ask for this authorization for the Shortcut Creator app themselves, because some people do not want to take that risk.
We choose Show Dialer for which no additional authorization is required. Below that you can indicate which telephone number may already be entered in the telephone dialer. Depending on your device, additional options are also available, such as “calling on the loudspeaker”. If you use this shortcut you only have to press the green call button in the telephone dialer.
If you regularly send the same text, for example to let you know that you do not have the time to reply or to come home later, you can create a handy shortcut for this via Message Template.
You enter the content of the message here. Select the app below which you want to send this. For example, if you choose WhatsApp, this shortcut will first open the relevant chat app and the contact selector in it so that you can directly select to whom the text should be sent. Besides WhatsApp you can of course also choose another message app in the list, or the option Use app chooser so that when using the shortcut you first have to choose an app from the list.
Shortcut to settings and more options
Android has handy quick settings in recent versions that you can swipe down from the top of the screen. In that window you can, for example, switch WiFi on or off or activate the airplane mode. In the absence of that, or because you find it more practical, a shortcut on a home screen is also an option.
At Shortcut Creator you can go below Settings create shortcuts to an Android settings screen. To do this, tap below Settings Shortcuts on Obtain shortcut and choose the desired settings screen (such as Battery, Sound or Location). This shortcut will then take you directly to that institution. You can also via Settings Activities and below System Actions try to reach even deeper settings screens, or below App Details create a shortcut to the information screen for a specific app.
We have not yet discussed all the possibilities of Shortcut Creator. For example, you can very easily add a shortcut to a specific website. The quickest way to create that shortcut is simply from the browser: visit the page, open the sharing menu and choose share with Create Shortcut. The relevant shortcut is then created immediately. And with Command Executor you can create shortcuts that, for example, set the volume or brightness to a certain level, or turn off Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.
Trying it out is the motto, you may discover even more useful shortcuts yourself!
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