I’m frustrated that I cannot successfully upload images to Micro.blog via Siri Shortcuts. I am aware that Shortcuts exist, but they appear to timeout with me. Maybe it is the internet speed on this island? Via apps or directly, no problem. Any hacks appreciated.

@crossingthethreshold If you share the Shortcut that ain’t working, I can take a look.

@sod Thank you so much. A couple of points before sharing the Shortcuts.

1. Since writing my original post, I have noticed that they both work on MacOS, but not on iOS.
2. The one with Humboldt is a slight update of one Humboldt creator @vincode
3. The second was shared with me as part of a Drafts app action, though it does work independently. You have to enter your Micro.blog app ID under the Text action.

Here we go:

www.icloud.com/shortcuts…

<www.icloud.com/shortcuts…>

@crossingthethreshold What do you mean Siri Shortcuts? Verbal command?

@pratik I believe that “Siri Shortcuts” is Apple’s official name for Shortcuts? I see Siri Shortcuts written a lot.

@crossingthethreshold Ah! So they run from within say, Drafts but not if you directly run them from the Shortcuts app?

@pratik No, they do run directly from the Shortcuts app, but appear not to on iOS. They do work fine in MacOS. I did wonder if it was something to do with my iPhone not picking up a strong enough WiFi signal? @sod

@crossingthethreshold Now I get it. Yup, you need different ones for iOS and macOS. I have two separate ones.

I thought the latest OS would fix that issue but apparently it didn’t.

@pratik Oh that I didn’t know. Do you mind sharing Shortcut for iOS…or maybe for both so I can figure out which one is right? I don’t know if you know, but you can access the iCloud link from the share menu when editing the Shortcut.

@crossingthethreshold Thanks for sharing. Both Shortcuts worked for me on iOS 16.1.1. Hard to tell why they are not on your device.

Regarding privacy and permission, the Shortcuts need access to your Photo library and make network requests to micro.blog. So make sure that’s the case by editing the Shortcut, hitting the ℹ️ followed by Privacy.

You can also try running the Shortcuts in editing mode. Sometimes that gives a clue as to where things go wrong.

Ensure the file you are uploading is a JPEG or PNG (not a HEIC). Also note that if you have more than one blog, the uploads might end up on one you’re not expecting it to. (The last one you selected in the web interface.)

As a last resort, try removing and re-installing the Shortcuts.

@pratik is right that it’s possible to design Shortcuts that only work on one platform or the other. But that’s not true for the two Shortcuts you’ve shared. They work fine on both macOS and iOS.

@sod Thank you for the detailed reply. I am also running iOS 16.1.1.

I just tried the Shortcut that does not use Humboldt. First I checked the Privacy section as you suggest. All permissions are allowed and relevant apps are accessible.

I uploaded a photo. It appeared to work fine. When I went to look at the image under uploads in the official Micro.blog app (not the current beta version), I saw as met with a grey square. When I tapped on it the image opened.

When I went to Upload in the web version of Micro.blog, where the image was meant to be, there was a “?”. I pressed on that and nothing opened and there was no HTML to copy.

The Humboldt Shortcut stopped short saying that there was a problem running the Shortcut.

I am about to go out, but will take another look later.

cc @pratik

@crossingthethreshold That gray square and question mark are almost certainly because you’re uploading HEIC files or another file format not supported by your browser. Try uploading a JPEG or PNG instead.

Regarding the other Shortcut: the Humboldt app may not be installed on your device.

@sod Quick reply. I just added a step to convert the photo to JPEG. There was no difference in performance.

And I do have Humboldt installed and configured.

@crossingthethreshold I can take a look if you’re okay with sharing the URL to the uploaded file. Make sure it’s something you’re okay with sharing publicly. 😅

@crossingthethreshold Sorry, was out. Do you still want me to share? I saw the conversation with @sod that may have fixed your problem

@sod This is the URL of the uploaded file. I just get a “?” with it. www.crossingthethreshold.net/uploads/2…

@pratik Nothing is working yet. I am not doubting @sod‘s kind help here, and at the same time I would be interested in seeing what Shortcuts you have used on MacOS and iOS here, if you don’t mind.

@sod This might be a silly theory, but could it be the strength of the WiFi signal that my phone is picking up vs my computer? A weaker signal than the computer, so the image is not uploading properly?

@crossingthethreshold Ok f I share it tomorrow?

@pratik Tomorrow is fine. It is late here, so that much more so with you. In your own time. Thank you

@sod Thank you ssssooo much for taking the time with this, and explaining how things work. I probably won’t get to this until tomorrow - as your day begins, ours ends here in Hawaii - but I’ll let you know I get on with corrections.

@sod I’m not feeling tired and so decided to get up and try and edit the Shortcut according to your suggestions….and BRILLIANT! It worked 🥳

I found where you said to add the converted image. Reference to the unconverted image was still there and so I replaced that.

I then went back to the Humboldt Shortcut. I saw that it converted the image to a PNG and so I thought that maybe the file size was too large and the Shortcut was just timing out. I changed the conversion to JPEG and now that one is working as well 🎉

Now I want go back to the Shortcuts and better understand how Dictionaries and the Get URL actions work. Just to learn. Hopefully some searching around will help there.

A great start to the week. Again, thank you for all of your help. I’m very grateful. 🙏🏻

cc @pratik

@pratik You might have seen from the ongoing conversation that thanks to @sod’s continued help the Shortcuts are working now, so need to share. Thank you though for the offer.

@crossingthethreshold Woohoo, well done! 🎉 If you want to learn more, Apple’s official Shortcuts User Guide is a great start. Good night!

@sod I’ve just updated the Shortcut to ask for the Alt Text for the image and then return a Markdown formatted URL. And I have bookmarked the manual to read.

@crossingthethreshold Yes, I did! Glad you got it to work. @sod is always a great resource and helpful.

BTW I may have noticed some images breaking at my end too for a post I made via Drafts and inserted in the text. But I checked and the images are in JPG on the MB Uploads page. I’ll dig in later.

@pratik Are you sure it’s an actual JPEG and not just a HEIC file with a .jpg filename extension? (That was the case with David’s Shortcut.)

@crossingthethreshold 👏 That’s awesome! Shortcuts are powerful.

@sod I think that might be the case. Dunno what changed since it’s the same shortcut I have been using and I could’ve sworn I had the step to convert the image to JPG.

@crossingthethreshold @sod Thanks to you, I spent an hour trying to tweak my shortcut so I can add a prompt for alt text. Broke my shortcut and then spent more time fixing it. But the same shortcut now works on macOS and iOS

@pratik Ooops, sorry about that, but I am pleased that you got the Shortcut working now.
cc. @sod

@crossingthethreshold Haha! Meant that in jest. So yeah I can relate to how frustrating it can be when things are not working.

@pratik It was taken that way. There are times when I find tech things not working that I wish I could have a more measured approach to fixing them, but I seem to disappear down a rabbit hole with my mind constantly thinking about how to fix the problem, even when I am elsewhere.