Thanks for another great Bear shortcut. I appreciate the fact that you comment your code! As someone trying to learn Shortcuts, your comments help as much as your excellent videos and articles. Thanks for generously sharing.
Thank you so much Robert! Do you have any idea why in between all my highlights in Bear there is a divider, followed by a '*' without any additional text, followed again by a divider? It's a bit annoying for the reading flow and I can't figure out what causes it.
Hey Franz. I also noticed this just a few days ago. I've just fixed it and updated the download links. Feel free to give it a try, it should work but let me know if it doesn't.
I've also added a note and a simplified version of the Shortcut for Sequoia users, but since you were already able to get it running I assume you are not on Sequoia. Anyways, let me know if any issues. Best
If you are on Sequoia or iOS 18, Bear does have a bug with the new version of Shortcuts, which I'm hoping will be resolved soon. That doesn't show the "dictionary failed" issue though, it just freezes the Shortcut. The only way that I have found to replicate the "dictionary failed" problem is if I trigger the Shortcut without actually being on a book (while being in my Daily Review, for example). The url format that the Shortcut expects should be something like: https://readwise.io/bookreview/44284078 ... otherwise you get the error.
hi Robert - I haven't used before today. I downloaded the new shortcut. Both macOS and IOs. It happens if I run the shortcut directly from the shortcuts app. When I run it from the sharesheet it works fine. Is this meant to only run from the Readwise website (vs the native app) and only using the share sheet?
Hi Mike, as it is outlined in the video and in the instructions: "the shortcut can receive Safari websites as input, which means you can directly share from Readwise website on your phone or desktop. Alternatively, you can copy the URL and trigger the shortcut manually—it will grab the URL from your clipboard" . I have just updated the Shortcut so that it also takes shared urls from Arc, but haven't tested sharing from other browser or methods. As far as I know this won't work on the Readwise native app, I just checked the app on my phone and doesn't even have a share button for the entire book.
For this you'll have to dig deep into the Shortcut itself and find a way to grab the cover_image_url from the JSON that is returned from the RW API, then download that and attach it to your note. It's not a priority for me at this point so I don't have plans to implement it, but here's the API docs that guided me a bit while building this: https://readwise.io/api_deets
It sounds like the new bug that is affecting the Shortcuts app. Are you using the latest version of the Shortcut (listed above, updated on 08.21.24)? Does it happen when downloading books from Readwise? Does it happen only when updating? Does it happen on iOS or Mac? Was it working before, but recently stopped working? More info would be helpful. I also added a note in the Download section to help out with this. Just now I went ahead and tested downloading a book with the Shortcut, then making a change on RW, and updating within Bear and it all went well on my side.
Hi Mo, just now I have shared another version of the Shortcut in the article's link, could you check? This should solve your problem. This version should work for both: users that are affected by a recent bug introduced by Apple, and those that don't. I previously made the mistake of thinking everyone was affected, but maybe not. Let me know if you are still having issues. I'm so sorry for this inconvenience!
Thanks for another great Bear shortcut. I appreciate the fact that you comment your code! As someone trying to learn Shortcuts, your comments help as much as your excellent videos and articles. Thanks for generously sharing.
Happy to know it helps! I also like it when I find Shortcuts that have comments :)
Thank you so much Robert! Do you have any idea why in between all my highlights in Bear there is a divider, followed by a '*' without any additional text, followed again by a divider? It's a bit annoying for the reading flow and I can't figure out what causes it.
Hey Franz. I also noticed this just a few days ago. I've just fixed it and updated the download links. Feel free to give it a try, it should work but let me know if it doesn't.
I've also added a note and a simplified version of the Shortcut for Sequoia users, but since you were already able to get it running I assume you are not on Sequoia. Anyways, let me know if any issues. Best
I am still having the same "dictionary failed" problem. I haven't ever run the shortcut before.
If you are on Sequoia or iOS 18, Bear does have a bug with the new version of Shortcuts, which I'm hoping will be resolved soon. That doesn't show the "dictionary failed" issue though, it just freezes the Shortcut. The only way that I have found to replicate the "dictionary failed" problem is if I trigger the Shortcut without actually being on a book (while being in my Daily Review, for example). The url format that the Shortcut expects should be something like: https://readwise.io/bookreview/44284078 ... otherwise you get the error.
hi Robert - I haven't used before today. I downloaded the new shortcut. Both macOS and IOs. It happens if I run the shortcut directly from the shortcuts app. When I run it from the sharesheet it works fine. Is this meant to only run from the Readwise website (vs the native app) and only using the share sheet?
Hi Mike, as it is outlined in the video and in the instructions: "the shortcut can receive Safari websites as input, which means you can directly share from Readwise website on your phone or desktop. Alternatively, you can copy the URL and trigger the shortcut manually—it will grab the URL from your clipboard" . I have just updated the Shortcut so that it also takes shared urls from Arc, but haven't tested sharing from other browser or methods. As far as I know this won't work on the Readwise native app, I just checked the app on my phone and doesn't even have a share button for the entire book.
separate question: how can I pull the book cover art into the note?
For this you'll have to dig deep into the Shortcut itself and find a way to grab the cover_image_url from the JSON that is returned from the RW API, then download that and attach it to your note. It's not a priority for me at this point so I don't have plans to implement it, but here's the API docs that guided me a bit while building this: https://readwise.io/api_deets
Hi. I’m getting an error message. Conversion Error
Get Dictionary Value failed because Shortcuts couldn't convert from Rich text to Dictionary. Any ideas what is going on?
It sounds like the new bug that is affecting the Shortcuts app. Are you using the latest version of the Shortcut (listed above, updated on 08.21.24)? Does it happen when downloading books from Readwise? Does it happen only when updating? Does it happen on iOS or Mac? Was it working before, but recently stopped working? More info would be helpful. I also added a note in the Download section to help out with this. Just now I went ahead and tested downloading a book with the Shortcut, then making a change on RW, and updating within Bear and it all went well on my side.
Hi Robert when I run the new update I find myself with this error:
Obtain the value of the dictionary failed, because Raccourcis was unable to convert RTF Format into Dictionary.
Any clue please?
Thanks
Hi Mo, just now I have shared another version of the Shortcut in the article's link, could you check? This should solve your problem. This version should work for both: users that are affected by a recent bug introduced by Apple, and those that don't. I previously made the mistake of thinking everyone was affected, but maybe not. Let me know if you are still having issues. I'm so sorry for this inconvenience!