Hello, Productivity Friends!

My name's Carlo, and I'm the author of the app Actions for Obsidian for macOS & iOS. You're receiving this email because a while ago, you've signed up for updates about the app on my website.

First things first: I wish all of you a really solid 2023! 🎉

Today I'll tell you about the new onboarding flow in Actions for Obsidian ("AfO" from here on out) and the open beta for this here mailing list subscribers, i.e. you! (Spoiler: it starts today.)

New Onboarding Flow

The #1 feedback I got from the first testers was: "When I try to run a Shortcuts action, Obsidian slams a humongous dialog into my face, what's up with that". Ouch. 😬 Yes, the first time Obsidian wants to call back to a Shortcuts action, it'll ask you for permission. As it should, because privacy! Unfortunately, for 90% of the testers, the dialog was so big that it didn't fit the screen. 😳

So, I've just released a new macOS build to the TestFlight users. It introduces a new, simple onboarding flow for guiding the user through the steps of enabling Community Plugins, installing and enabling the related Actions URI plugin, and making sure Obsidian can communicate back to AfO (gently). I think it's pretty good.

It's the most prominent button when starting the app, and with a bit of luck, everyone will see it. 😅

Open macOS Beta (for the Mailing List)

If you want to give AfO a spin, you now can join the macOS beta! There are 200 open spots, in addition to the existing testers.

Please don't share this link around, it's our secret. (Sssshhh!) While anyone can sign up with that link, I'd like to keep these spots reserved for you guys. You subscribed to this here mailing list, you're special to me. 🖖🏼

What about iOS?

It's coming, but not at the same time as the macOS app. AfO itself runs fine on iOS, but iOS as a platform has some quirks and limitations that I need to find out how to work around first. As they say: The devil's in the details.

But I'm on it, and I will keep you posted.

Thanks for reading!

If you have questions or ideas for actions or tutorial videos, please email me or say Hi on Mastodon: @actionsdotwork@pkm.social.

Thanks again for your interest in my work, it means a lot to me 🙏🏼

Talk to you later,
– Carlo

PS: This is the second email to this list. I'm aiming for a bi-weekly schedule. Should you decide it's not what you want anymore: there's an Unsubscribe link at the bottom of each email!