Templates In Bear

I know you can use shortcuts to make templates which is what I currently do. Has there been any thought to built in templates within bear? Having to leave the app every time I want a template is awkward and kills any inertia I have while working inside bear.

Hello, we thought about having in-app templates but at the moment we don’t have real plans for them and I’m unsure they’ll be ever part of the main app. Shortcuts provide a great resource for advanced customizations such as templates and you trigger them using a keystroke or from the menu bar if you don’t want to leave the app.

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Can this be done on iOS or iPadOS? Everything I’ve been able to find is for macOS only.

Yes. I have a Daily Note shortcut for Bear (which works as a template) that I use on iPhone and iPad.

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Here is my workaround:

I created some template notes. I reach them in node ā€œnotesā€ or ā€œuntaggedā€ (it is important that these template notes are not tagged) where they are pinned. To use them as template i just a) duplicate them and b) tag them and remove the pinned status

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Are you able to trigger it within Bear or do you have to go out of the app to trigger it?

Ah, good question. Sorry I missed that detail. That’s external in Shortcuts.
I also use the method @krssno describes.

Unfortunately, on iPad you can’t associate Shortcuts with keystrokes but I use the Shortcuts widget which I can trigger by swiping down to the lock screen and right.

P.S.
The iPad Shortcuts keystroke idea sounds good and I’ll send a feature request to Apple.

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@MrMentos You might know this allready, but alternatively, you could use the native text-replacement feature that part of MacOS and iOS to create a template. With this method you can stay within Bear, and you don’t even have to leave the current note you’re working on to look for a template-note. Should you be interested, here’s how it works:

  1. In Bear, create a template note, including formatting and tagging.
  2. In Bear, select the contents of the note (CMD-a) and copy (CMD-c).
  3. Go to the Apple menu and choose System preferences > Keyboard > Text replacements.
  4. In the new window, klick on te + sign to add a new line.
  5. Paste (CMD-v) the copied text into the right field (green arrow) and fill in the keystroke you’d like to use (red arrow). In my case; typing ā€˜boeksam’ triggers a template to a book summary.
  6. Hit ā€˜save’, return to Bear, test the feature and watch the magic unfold.

Be aware: setting this up only works on MacOS. For some reason the text replacement menu on iOS does nor accept a multi-line text input. Once set up though, this will work on every device. (Text replacements are synced! :beers:) Also, this of course will not work with images.

The beauty: With this method you can leave your fingers ons the keyboard without leaving the current note or switching to other applications. Zero friction. :surfing_man:t3:

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Today I learned something. Didn’t know MacOS could do multiline text replacement! Thanks for the heads up :smiley:

Wow! Thanks! Didn’t ever thought about that.

I knew it could do single line but not multiline. Thanks for sharing :slight_smile:

I do the same. Works great.

I encourage other Bear users to build some Shortcuts to augment Bear’s features.

Regarding having to leave bear to trigger a shortcut. You can trigger shortcuts via url. Bonus you can make into a hyperlink and it looks like a button. I have a note with multiple templates shortcuts. Works like a charm and even works on Mac.

- [Make Journal Note](shortcuts://run-shortcut?name=Journal%20Template)
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