Workflow – Automation for everyone!

Workflow is a relatively new app for the iPhone and iPad that offers iOS users the ability to automate tasks from their home screen or from any place that has a share button that brings up the standard sharing options. What many do not know is that Workflow is an extremely accessible app. Here is how it works.

Creating a workflow

Workflows are actions added together to accomplish a task. When you create a new workflow, you drag actions from a list into your workflow, and the Workflow app guides you through this process. The developers even added very specific VoiceOver hints and tips to help blind users accomplish this without vision. Once you add an action, you can use the app to configure how the action works. Workflow has so many possible combinations that it would take a very long time to list them all here and what they do, so I urge you to download the app and give it a shot.

Running workflows

There are two types of workflows. One can be ran either within the Workflow app, or from the home screen. The other type is called a share extension. If you create one of these types of workflows, then you can run it from anywhere there is a share button with a standard share screen.This means that workflows may be run from within Safari, or even within the Photos app

Example

Many VoiceOver users who do take photos would like the ability to give a photo a name. While Workflow can not exactly do this, it can help you organize your photos. The first example is where you can use two actions. The first action is to select a photo from the camera roll. Once that photo is selected, you can save it to a certain photo album. The next workflow also has two actions, and allows you to select a photo, and then save the file somewhere else, like to iCloud Drive or to Dropbox. At that point you can go to that app, and rename the file so you know what image you just took and saved.

Conclusion

The examples above are just a very very small sampling of the Workflow app’s capabilities. While the app is not free, it is a great investment for all users on the iPhone and iPad. This app will help you save time and it will allow you to do things with your iOS device that were impossible before this app came around. Let us know what you think and what workflows you create. We will post our workflows here in the Quick Tips blog.

Leave a Reply