W |

WRITE IT DOWN BOOKS

Part 25:

Troubleshooting Solutions For Calendar And Reminder Shortcuts And Automations

Step 1: Watch this.

You have probably seen the troubleshooting solutions I give at the end of each shortcut (see below), but this video goes a little deeper.

Step 2: When shortcuts go awry.

I have been using shortcuts and automations for a few years now in other areas of my life and trust me when I say this: THEY CAN AND WILL RANDOMLY STOP WORKING. It’s ok. They will work again. Here are some common things that happen. I also have a video if you prefer to watch than read.

1. An update is ready.

2. An update is coming. Seriously, this can be frustrating, but anytime something isn’t working as expected and there is no software or app update, there will be one in a day or two. Every. Single. Time.

3. An update has occurred and you just need to tap a button to say it’s ok to run a shortcut.

4. You forgot to choose “Always Allow” when prompted in an automation.

5. You changed the name of the shortcut and it doesn’t match the link name, or there is a typographical error. The name of the shortcut MUST MATCH the name in the link.

6. Just turn it off and on again. I don’t know why, you just need to do it.

7. Try again tomorrow. :-)

Updates

July 2024 – No current updates.

January 2025 – I want to remind you that when you are using your Apple Calendar on your iPad, other calendars (Gmail, Outlook, etc) can be imported into your iPad settings and then you would select that calendar’s name in the corresponding tutorials. This is an image of Adding a Calendar Account looks like on your iPad. This is under Settings / Calendar / Add Account

November 2025 – With the new ios26 windowing system, apps are not sliding over like they used to. You used to be able to toggle a button to have an app “slide over” and sit on another app. You may need to look at the settings in each shortcut to determine a particular placement of your window. This will really only apply to specific shortcuts that you create. All of the calendar reminders above do still work the same. however, if you ever run into an issue with windowing, that setting would be the place to look. See examples below.

🛑 GOODNOTES USERS 🛑

November 15, 2025 

Recent updates to Goodnotes is causing a linking bug. The shortcuts themselves work, but when you go to add the link to your Goodnotes document, the link is not being recognized and being forced into a url and subsequently broken.

This is not affecting any shortcut links you made prior. They all work perfectly.

Here is what you can do in the meantime while we wait for a Goodnotes update:

FOR PRIOR USERS: If you have previously done one of these shortcuts, and it is still working normally, simply duplicate the link in Goodnotes and where it says “name=AddEvent” in the link (AddEvent for example) you can replace the AddEvent with your newly created shortcut name (ViewEvents, AddReminder, etc).

FOR NEW USERS: All of the shortcuts can be added to your dock and run from there. Part 18 of my series will show you how to do this. By keeping it in the dock, you will have access to it wherever you are on your iPad, including all of your Goodnotes documents. (This actually is quite handy and, in my opinion, better than placing the shortcuts in your actual Goodnotes document.)

I will send a ticket to Goodnotes about their link issue, but keep in mind they are quite busy, my last support ticket took over a month to come through with a fix in an update.

I hope this helps!

Erika

back to overview