The home screen widgets available on iPads running iPadOS 13 are very handy, and if you’ve delved into the Shortcuts app at all, having a selection of those within reach (ha ha) can be extremely helpful.
Shawn Blanc thinks so, too, yet has had the same problem as me with the Shortcuts widget.
Now, by default, the order of the shortcuts that appear on your Shortcuts Widget are the same as those in your primary Shortcuts Library within the Shortcuts app. Showing all the Shortcuts that you’ve ever created and which were toggled to “Show in the Widget”.
If you find that you have too many shortcuts in your Home Screen Widget, it can be a bit overwhelming. You may realize you don’t need all those shortcuts to be right there all the time.
This is something that has bugged me for quite a while, and I’m embarrassed to admit that I just discovered the solution to it yesterday.
It turns out there is a hidden-in-plain-sight way to organize the Shortcuts widget, but unless you’re a master at escape rooms, finding the clues to access the feature is not at all obvious.
To edit and organize your Shortcuts Widget:
- Tap the top-right carrot arrow in the Shortcuts widget to expand it completely.
- Then, at the bottom, you’ll see the option to “Customize in Shortcuts”.
Tap the “Customize in Shortcuts” button and you’ll be taken to the Shortcuts app with a special settings window that is specifically for the Shortcuts Widget.
From here you can now rearrange the order of the Shortcuts that are displayed in the Home Screen Widget and you can quickly select the check marks for which Shortcuts you do and do not want to show up in the widget.
This helped me prioritize which of my Shortcuts I want to be at the top of the list, without having to resort to a lot of frustrating rearranging via the main grid view in Shortcuts.