Drafts-Insert Creation Date

I want to be able to insert the date when I create a Drafts note. I want to do this from the MBP keyboard and the iPad Magic Keyboard OR using the built in Draft keyboard so I can click to insert the date. How can I do this in Drafts?

I don’t use Drafts, so I cannot test the following script, but the official actions directory of Draft’s website have the script you might want:

Thanks. I should have thought of that. :slight_smile:

I was thinking there was something I could add to the toolbar.

As I mentioned on another post on this same topic, you can do it with TextExpander. It already has a bunch of built-in shortcuts for many date formats. If you’re not using TextExpander, you’ll find it invaluable for many things beyond just inserting dates. @MacSparky has extolled the virtues of this app, probably for as long as it’s been around.

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@Bmosbacker, using Drafts action for dates as well; especially on iOS. But you know I’ll suggest using Alfred again :sweat_smile: since it works on other apps as well. Setup a Snippet with {date:yyyy-MMM-dd}.

you could make this action a button for the extended keyboard :smiley:

and you can modify the template at your liking.

@tonycr thanks for the suggestion. I do use TE extensively but primarily on the MBP Unfortunately, on the iPad one cannot invoke TE using the Magic Keyboard; one has to lift the iPad off the keyboard and use the screen keyboard to use TE. That is fine on the iPhone but not on the iPad; it is easier to just type the date. :slight_smile:

I agree, Alfred is great but the particular use case prompting my question has to do with inserting the date on the iPad using the Magic Keyboard. I failed to be clear, my bad! :slight_smile: On the Mac, both TE and Alfred are great for things like this.

My bad, didn’t read properly your ask for iPad . Then action would be best. Not a TE user.

I have to agree. I’ve seen a lot of talk about not being able to use TE with an external keyboard. Hopefully, Smile Software will address that sooner rather than later.

As a side note, you can open the screen keyboard without having to remove the iPad from the Magic Keyboard. I just checked this on Drafts. Hit the keyboard icon on the bottom right of the screen. Move to the TE keyboard and leave it as the active keyboard all the time. Use the TE keystroke, get what you need, then hit the keyboard icon again to close it. Go back to the Magic keyboard. Next time you need a TE shortcut, the TE keyboard will be waiting to be called. It took longer to say it than to do it.

not to quote myself, but you can assign a keyboard shortcut to the action posted before =)

@tonycr I didn’t know I could do that, awesome! Thanks a million. That tip just saved me a lot of aggravation!

You’re quite welcome. If my knowledge can help just one person a day, I’m a happy guy. Hopefully, thanks to forums like this, one’s person’s knowledge can propagate to many. As @MacSparky said on a recent podcast (and probably many others), it’s like ripples on a pond.