How can I extract open tasks from several notes?

thomas_h

Hello,

I've got a Smart Folder for my current projects. Inside every project is a section "Inbox" with tasks.

These tasks are the next steps to progress the project.

I'm looking for a way (e.g. shortcut) to get a list with an complete overview of the notes title (name of the project) and the next steps in one note.

Is this possible?

James-Ashby

thomas_h I don’t know if you can get there with a shortcut for Notes but you can get close using a combination of Notes and Reminders. You can create a reminder by highlighting text in a note and sharing to Reminders using the pop-up share option. The result will be a Reminder with the title of the originating Note and the highlighted text in the Reminder’s note field. The Reminder will also include a link back to the originating note. You can use tags and smart folders in Reminders to show subsets of Reminders created in this fashion.

thomas_h

@James-s

Hello,

thanks for the input. If this would work automatically, it would be a good solution.

Garbonzo

If you just need a list of notes with incomplete checklist items, you can add the filter containing only Checklists - Unchecked, and that will give you all the notes which have a checklist item that are incomplete.

![](blob:https://forum.myforevernotes.com/4b24a559-cfbe-41fc-a454-d5d82fd2acfe)

thomas_h

@Garbonzo I'm already using this Smart Folder.

My idea is to get (e.g. in a daily note) ONE note which collects the project names and the next steps in ONE note together.

Shaun

I would love that as well. You can’t get it with shortcuts as far as I can tell. I tried to “vibe code” some AppleScript to accomplish that goal and that failed miserably as well.

Actually, I think with the new iOS 26, a roundabout may be possible. Just thought of it as typing, so not fully formed idea.

Apple has new shortcuts including Apple Summary, part of which grabs your reminders and gives an output. I bet you could edit it to automatically append the output to your daily note.

You’d have to go into reminders to still check off the task there so shortcuts wouldn’t do it again the next day, but I think that would work.

I’ll try later on it if I have time today.

Shaun

Actually, works really well. Any of my old tasks in Reminders app are put into my notes section. I'll probably try to shrink the weather information there I don't care that much about all the information, but I'm impressed. I'll probably have this run every morning at 5am or so. The shortcut timed out for me for On Device and on Private Compute, so I am using my ChatGPT subscription, which for as much I use it, is very much worth it to me.

I'm attaching the iCloud share link for the short cut (I basically combined the Morning Summary on the Gallery Apple provides and part of the shortcut to Open the Today's Note @Matthias provided us.

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/b559e1ec1a8c44fea2dcc10687403423

Swampcat

Shaun

Can’t figure out what the next to last step is. The shortcut just chokes on the “unknown.” I think I can fix if, if I only knew what it calls. Running iPad os 18.6.2

thomas_h

Really good solution.

In my case, however, I look directly into the Reminders.app for my ‘important’ tasks.

I use checklists in Notes.app to define the next steps of my projects. These in turn can lead to tasks in Reminders.app.

My idea was to have all the next steps of my projects in one overview.

Shaun

https://youtu.be/m6o_sZrvZb8?si=AkFRy4EAgWynUIhY

That video might be helpful in creating a shortcut that allows that. Seemed interesting and I might play around with it.

thomas_h

Definitely a very good approach that can certainly be used for other things as well.

Unfortunately, notes.app does not allow this:

- Read the title of a note

- Read tasks

CatarinaDK

Could this be what you are looking for @thomas_h ?

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/eab2c4e475f44bdb9196383790af0aa2

thomas_h

CatarinaDK Thank you very much this really seems to be exactly what I am looking for.

I've never seen such a complex shortcut before, let alone understand it.

CatarinaDK

thomas_h

It’s a bit slow but it works here with my (only) 553 notes, and probably slower when more notes. The shortcut is a bit like my Start My Day shortcut, just with a a different outcome 😉

thomas_h

CatarinaDK

I've noticed something here that I can't understand.

If the folder selection is a ‘normal’ folder, the shortcut works.

However, if the folder selection is a ‘smart’ folder, only the note with title is created.

CatarinaDK

thomas_h

A smart folder is based on tags and therefore not a normal folder - so you have to set it to tags and then tags again. List all your Smartfolders below each other, with the corresponding tags

thomas_h

@CatarinaDK

OK, I could have thought of that myself. 🙈

Nevertheless, it is strange that you can select the SmartFolder if it is then ignored.

What I have noticed is that the headings are formatted differently.

Not so important to me, as this overview is only temporary, but I wanted to let you know.

And again: thank you very much for this comprehensive shortcut.

CatarinaDK

thomas_h

Your welcome 🤗

Yes it it is strange that one can select it, but the outcome is nothing.

Thanks for the feedback about the formatting - it’s strange though- because the only formatting for the heading is ## for heeding - would you mind trying to ad one more # (it makes the heading smaller - just so see if all the headings stays the same?

thomas_h

Whether ‘##’ or ‘###’ the result remains identical.

Very surprising.

CatarinaDK

thomas_h

It have to be a bug - because it doesn’t make sense. I’m sorry that it doesn’t look good but at lest it works. Maybe it one day works 😉

CatarinaDK

thomas_h

OK, I have fund another way - it works here with me 😉

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