📲 Share text to your notes from other apps

Much of our online life now happens on our mobile devices. We do work, message loved ones and gather information, all on our mobile devices.

This email will show you how to set up a shortcut that lets you forward in-app text to your notes from things like WhatsApp, Slack, Email, browser windows and more.

1. Install the custom shortcut and Data Jar app.

Get the pre-set shortcut from this link and add it to your shortcuts. We’ll need to make a few edits in a moment, but this pre-built shortcut does 90% of the work for you.

You will also need Data Jar, a free app that let’s you store simple variables for things like shortcuts. You’ll notice it comes with some sample variables you can either delete or ignore.

2. Generate a Reflect access token

You’ll need to get a Reflect access token from our API OAuth page here.

If you haven’t generated credentials through our OAuth page, it’s quite easy. You’ll need to login and create a client.

Give it whatever name you choose, set the domain to reflect.app and the redirect URL to https://localhost:3000/oauth/redirect .

You will then be able to generate an access token.

3. Add variables to Data Jar

Add 2 variables to Data Jar:

1. graphId → set as your Reflect graph name

2. accessToken → the copied token you get after clicking “Generate access token” from step 2.

⚠️ NOTE: when adding variables to Data Jar, it’s important you write them exactly as they are shown in the shortcut with correct capitalization: graphId and accessToken .

4. Test the integration

You should now be able to run the shortcut from iOS.

1. Select some text (email is an easy one to use)

2. Swipe over and tap “Share”

3. Scroll down and select “Forward to Reflect”

The first time, you’ll need to allow the shortcut to access Data Jar. You’ll then be able to choose what you want to do with the text: append to daily note or create a new note.

Some apps also let you share text or messages via the iOS share icon. You’ll find the shortcut in this list as well.

If you still have questions, I just published a full video walkthrough of this process here.