The WWDC 2026 Keynote mentioned several changes to the Shortcuts app in macOS Golden Gate, and I’ve listed them below. All but one of these are from a terse listing of new features at 6:20 of the keynote video.
- Natural language shortcut creation
- Redesigned Shortcuts Editor
- Store data in shortcuts
- Else if support
- Screenshot and notification automations
- Expanded Get What’s On Screen capabilities
- Group conversation support
- Faster shortcuts and actions indexing in Spotlight
Two items are of special interest to me, and the first is else if support. The second is the ability to store data in a shortcut across multiple runs of the shortcut. I normally don’t install early beta versions of macOS, but I would certainly like to try out these new features.
2 Likes
The good solution for saving and restoring data in shortcuts for me is Data Jar:
Works on macOS ipadOS and iOS.
I installed the first public beta of macOS Golden Gate and thought I’d report on a few of the new Shortcuts features.
The ability to store data in shortcuts is implemented by way of Store Content, Get Stored Content, and Delete Stored Content actions. The items that can be stored include text, lists, dictionaries, folders, and files. The pane that allows you to view and edit stored content is nicely done IMO.
The If action now supports otherwise if markers, which are added by way of the action’s context menu (see screenshot). Both if and otherwise if markers support multiple test conditions. This is great. 
The most significant change to the Shortcuts app is natural language shortcut creation. To test this, I had Shortcuts create the shortcut detailed in item 1 below and then had Shortcuts make the edits in items 2 and 3. The instructions I gave to Shortcuts (including the unintentional typo in item 3) were:
-
Merge PDF files selected in a Finder window
-
Notify me if a selected file is not a PDF
-
Save the merged PDFs to my desktop with the name “Test PDFs” with a date stampe appended to the name
The created shortcut was:
A few comments:
-
The shortcut did not work as written, because the folder in the Save action needed to be my Home folder. This may have been done for security reasons and was easily changed.
-
I would want the shortcut to stop if a selected item is not a PDF, but that’s not what I requested.
-
Given that this is public beta 1, I think the results were quite good. I especially like the ability to edit a shortcut.
In prior versions of macOS, you created an automation by highlighting Automation in the Shortcuts app sidebar and clicking on the plus sign. The new method is to:
- open the actual shortcut in the Shortcut Editor;
- select Automation in the Editor’s right pane; and
- select and add the desired automation to the shortcut.
Unfortunately this and a few other automations don’t work, but that’s another topic.
A new Shortcuts feature noted in the WWDC presentation was expanded get what’s on screen capabilities.
Prior versions of macOS have a shortcut action with the name Get What’s on Screen. That action still works in Golden Gate but it’s deprecated.
Somewhat confusingly, a new action with the name Get What’s on Screen is available in Golden Gate.
Neither the old nor the new Get What’s on Screen actions work all that well. The new action will do a lot more, and I suspect it will be a worthwhile update in time.
I did some additional testing of the natural language shortcut creation feature. The requests I made and the results were:
Open Safari and Resize and Move Window
Request: Open the Safari app and adjust the window size so that it takes up approximately two-thirds of the screen
Result: Worked fine but the window location was off-center
Request: I also want the Safari window centered on the screen
Result: Perfect
Open System Settings to Desktop & Dock
Request: Create a shortcut that opens the System Settings and select Desktop & Dock in the sidebar
Result: Works great
Open System Settings to Software Update
Request: Create a shortcut that opens the System Settings and show the Software Update pane
Result: The shortcut was created but an error was reported that the URL was missing a hostname
Note: I requested additional shortcuts that open particular System Settings and many did not work correctly
Open Finder Window and Highlight Desktop in Sidebar
Request: Open a Finder window and select Desktop in the sidebar
Result: Shortcuts asked for clarification as to local or cloud Desktop, and I responded local
Result: The shortcut was created but Desktop was selected in the main Finder window pane
Request: I want Desktop selected in the sidebar
Result: Shortcuts responded: Shortcuts can’t select specific items in the Finder sidebar You could try: “Open the Desktop folder in Finder”
Request: Open the Desktop folder in Finder
Result: Works great
Find Duplicate Files
Request: Find all duplicate files in my Home folder
Result: Shortcuts requested clarification, and I manually selected my Home folder
Result: The shortcut was created but failed because the request exceeded the maximum allowed length. I changed the folder to one with a smaller number of files, but I received the same error message. Also, file name and size were used to find duplicate files.
Request: Use a files hash to find duplicate files
Result: See screenshot below. BTW, I have enabled the Shortcuts setting to allow sharing of large amounts of data. There is a Cloud Pro model, but I don’t have access to that.
The Add Item to List action is apparently new to Golden Gate. The added item can be anything that a list can contain including text, lists, dictionaries, and files. The added item can be inserted at the beginning or end of the list, or at a specified index. A few comments:
-
Adding a list to a list concatenates the lists.
-
Adding a dictionary to a list stores a JSON.
-
Adding any item to a list creates a new list.
-
Negative index numbers are not supported, but some simple math with Count and Calculate actions will accomplish the same thing.
If multiple additions are made to a list, it might be a good idea to use manual variables to avoid erroneous references.
Also, a Scan QR or Barcode action that works on an image or file received as input became available in Public Beta 2 of macOS Golden Gate. This action was available in Public Beta 1, but it wouldn’t work on an image or file received as input.
I tested the new Shortcuts automation feature that performs some action when a notification is received. The automation triggers are the name of the app and a specified string in the notification’s title, subtitle, or message. This appears to work well, although it seems there should be any-are-true and all-are-true qualifiers.
In the following example, Script Editor sends a notification, and the shortcut displays a dialog when the notification has specified text in its title and message (both have to be true). I tested this with the Shortcuts app not running, and the dialog was displayed as expected.
Another new automation runs a shortcut when a screenshot is taken. This works if the screenshot is taken with a shortcut or with the screencapture utility. The automation options are clipboard, files, and photos.
