How to Automate Your Workflow with Kan Do and Apple Shortcuts

If you manage complex projects across your Apple devices, you might have hit the limits of the built-in Reminders app. Reminders is fast and features a great column view, but it falls short when you need rich text notes, multiple links, or file attachments for a single task.

That is exactly why Kan Do was created. It is a lightning-fast project management app that blends the speed of a native Apple app with rich markdown notes and robust Apple Shortcuts support. By the end of this guide, you will know exactly how to set up your workflow and automate it.

What you'll need

• An iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Vision Pro.
• The Kan Do app. It is a one-time $3 purchase on the App Store with no subscriptions.
• The Apple Shortcuts app installed on your device.

Step 1: Organizing your boards

In Kan Do, your workflow is split into high-level categories called Spaces with specific Projects nested underneath them.

1. Open the main navigation menu. You will see default smart lists like Inbox, Today, Upcoming, and Flagged.
2. Tap the plus icon to create a new Space for broad areas like Work or Personal.
3. Create a Project inside that Space.
4. Open your new Project. You can view your tasks as a Kanban board with columns, or toggle to a standard list view using the layout button at the top of the screen.

Step 2: Supercharging tasks with rich media

This is where Kan Do pulls ahead of basic task managers. You can attach rich markdown text, PDFs, documents, and images directly to every individual task.

1. Tap on any task to expand the detailed note screen.
2. Type your notes using markdown syntax, or use the styling menu to add Bold, Italic, or a Task checklist.
3. Drag and drop a PDF or image directly into the note. It saves instantly and syncs to all your devices via iCloud.
4. Tap Add Link at the bottom to attach multiple URLs. This is perfect for referencing YouTube channels, sponsor read documents, or specific web pages.

Step 3: Automating task creation

Kan Do features deep integration with Apple Shortcuts. This allows you to completely automate how work gets added to your board.

1. Open the Apple Shortcuts app and search for Kan Do.
2. Select the Add Task action and add it to your shortcut.
3. Tap the action to configure the details. You can specify the exact Space, Project, and Column where the new task should land.
4. Assign extra details like Tags, a Due Date, or set the Priority.
5. Pass a URL or Image variable into the action if your shortcut pulls data from the web.

When you run this shortcut, your new task drops perfectly into the designated column on your board without you ever needing to open the app manually.

Step 4: Navigating and completing tasks

Beyond creating tasks, you can use Shortcuts to jump around the app or quickly clear out your inbox.

Add the Open Project action to a shortcut and select a specific project like Videos or Reports. Running this will instantly launch Kan Do and drop you right into that specific board.

You can also use the Complete Task action. If you set this action to ask each time it runs, it will display a pop-up list of your most recent tasks. You can select an item from the list and mark it as complete from anywhere on your device.

A few things to keep in mind

• Reminders import limits: You can pull existing tasks from Apple Reminders into Kan Do by opening settings and tapping Import from Reminders. However, due to system API limitations, this import will not pull over any images or URLs attached to your original reminders.
• The visual divider hack: If you want visual dividers in your columns, simply create a new task and type a few hyphens for the title. It acts as a perfect visual break that you can drag up and down your list to separate groups of tasks.

You're all set

Kan Do gives you the organizational power of a heavy-duty project manager with the native speed of an iOS app. Everything stays perfectly synced across your Apple ecosystem. Build out your columns, drop in your PDFs, and start writing some custom shortcuts to put your workflow on autopilot.