# BART | Shortcuts Library

> a full-featured Backup, Archive, and Restore Tool

## What this shortcut does

This version of
BART
has been tested with iPadOS 14.5 and 14.6 beta 2.
Unfortunately, with
iOS 14.5
(and thus far persisting with the early
iOS 14.6 betas
), Apple introduced a new bug that generates an error when some shortcuts are written to the local iCloud Drive. If your
backups
and
archives
generate an error (specifically
An error occurred in the destination for the data.
), refer to the
iOS 14.5 Write Error
section below.
2021-05-17 UPDATE
: At least when tested with my long list of shortcuts, it appears that Apple has addressed this issue. Starting with
iOS 14.6 beta 3
(18F5065a), I no longer see this bug. To confirm that your shortcuts are
clean
, try running
Identify iOS 14.5 Problematic Shortcuts
on your updated system. If you do not see an error, your set of shortcuts have been successfully written to iCloud.
Overview
BART
is a shortcut that can back up, archive, and restore shortcuts in the
Shortcuts
app
Library
, also known as
My Shortcuts
. It is designed to be full-featured, yet simple and fast to use. In fact, most of the information below can be easily discovered by simply running the shortcut*. However if you prefer to read instructions and/or learn some of the finer points of
BART
, the following is for you.
* There are a few significant exceptions. For example, running
BART
from another shortcut, a very powerful yet easy to use feature, is not discoverable (unless you peer into the actions of the
BART
😀 ). Therefore, even if you have used the interactive features of
BART
, you'll find some very useful information beginning with the section
Running BART From Another Shortcut
.
A video overview of
BART
is available here. Changes for
Version 2.0
are highlighted in this video.
So what's the point?
Short answer:
It's always good to back up your work!
Long answer:
Stuff
happens! On occasion, the iOS
Shortcuts
app will display an error indicating that the database is corrupt. If
iCloud Sync
(one of the
Shortcuts
app settings) is set, the
Shortcuts
app attempts to recreate
My Shortcuts
after the error dialog is dismissed. Depending on the circumstances, this restoration can range from a
complete recovery
to a
complete loss
of all of the shortcuts in
My Shortcuts
. If not a
complete recovery
, shortcut backups are indispensable. Backups are also valuable during more common and frequent events, e.g., if a shortcut is mistakenly modified or deleted.
In addition to shortcut
protection
, backups can be employed to
manage
shortcuts. For example, a user might find a group of shortcuts that are useful occasionally, but not want to clutter
My Shortcuts
with these rarely used shortcuts. Such shortcuts could be
archived
and
restored
when needed.
BART Main Menu
This section includes a short description for each
Shortcut Operation
on the
BART
main menu.
Save Snapshot of My Shortcuts
saves a copy of all shortcuts in
My Shortcuts
to the
snapshot
folder: /iCloud Drive/Shortcuts/
BART/Snapshot/
. All files previously in this folder are deleted before the shortcuts are copied to this folder. This is the fastest and simplest way to
back up
My Shortcuts
.
Back Up Selected
saves copy of one or more selected shortcuts in
My Shortcuts
to the
backup
folder: /iCloud Drive/Shortcuts/
BART/Backup/
. Shortcuts files in the folder
are written over
if the selection includes shortcuts with the same names.
Shortcuts previously backed up to the
backup
folder and later deleted from
My Shortcuts
are
not
automatically deleted from the
backup
folder. Thus over time, the
backup
folder will likely contain a superset of shortcuts from
My Shortcuts
.
Archive All
creates a zip archive of the shortcuts in
My Shortcuts
and saves the file to the
archive
folder: /iCloud Drive/Shortcuts/
BART/Archive/
. The archive is named based on the date/time and #
x
(where
x
is the number of shortcuts in the new zip archive). For example, the following archive would include
102
shortcuts: 2019-12-10-073522_#102.zip.
Archive Selected
creates a zip archive of one or more
selected
shortcuts in
My Shortcuts
and saves the file to the
archive
folder: /iCloud Drive/Shortcuts/
BART/Archive/
. The archive is named based on the date/time and either: a) #
x
(where
x
is a number
2
to
n
indicating the number of contained shortcuts), or b)
shortcutname
(if only
one
shortcut is selected). For example, the following archive would include
102
shortcuts: 2019-12-10-073522_#102.zip and the following would include one shortcut named
xyz
: 2019-12-10-073522_xyz.zip.
Restore
(from a selected folder)
displays a list of
specified
folders that contain shortcut files. Once the user selects one of the folders, a second selection list is displayed with all of the shortcuts within the folder. If the user selects one or more of these shortcuts, they are restored to
My Shortcuts
.
By default, the folder list contains three folders in /iCloud Drive/Shortcuts/:
BART/Snapshot/
BART/Backup/
BART/Develop/
Any other folder in
/iCloud Drive/Shortcuts/
can be added to the list by adding it to a
List action
within
BART
. This could be useful for users that have used another means to backup and/or organize shortcut backup files.
Note: All folder entries are case-sensitive!
Restore
(from a zip archive)
displays a list of zip archives in the
archive
folder: /iCloud Drive/Shortcuts/
BART/Archive/
. If a user selects one of the zip archives, the file is
unzipped
into a new subfolder in the
unarchive
folder: /iCloud Drive/Shortcuts/
BART/Unarchive/
. For example, if the user selected 2019-12-10-073522_#102.zip the archive would be unzipped into the following: /iCloud Drive/Shortcuts/BART/Unarchive/2019-12-10-073522_#102/. After the archive is unzipped, a second selection list is displayed with all of the shortcuts within the subfolder. If the user selects one or more shortcuts, they are restored to
My Shortcuts
.
Restore
(from an unarchive folder)
displays a list of subfolders in the
unarchive
folder. If a user selects one of the subfolders, a second selection list is displayed with all of the shortcuts within the subfolder. If the user selects one or more shortcuts, they are restored to
My Shortcuts
.
This restoration operation would be used to recover a shortcut that was previously archived (using
Archive All
or
Archive Selected
) and then subsequently unzipped using the
Restore
(from a zip archive)
operation.
Restore One
(from a file browse)
will open a file selection dialog to allow the user to select a shortcut file. The selected shortcut will be restored to
My Shortcuts
.
This restoration operation would likely be used infrequently as it is intended for files that were backed up prior to using
BART
. This method has the advantage of being more flexible in that the shortcut file can be located anywhere, not limited to
/iCloud Drive/Shortcuts/
. The disadvantage of this method is that only one shortcut can be selected per file browse.
Help
displays this information.
Segregating Saved Files by iOS Device
By default, all files created by
BART
are saved exactly as described in the above sections. This is appropriate if:
only one iOS device is being used, or
if multiple devices are being used and iCloud Sync is ON for all devices (that use
BART
).
Conversely in cases where multiple iOS devices are being used and
iCloud Sync
is not being used, it is recommended to segregate the
BART
files. This change can be made when
BART
is first downloaded or at anytime later using
Settings
->
Customize Shortcut
.
If
segregation
is selected, the BART root folder becomes: /iCloud Drive/Shortcuts/BART/
device_name
. For example, if the device name is
My iPhone
, the folders mentioned in the previous section would be subfolders of
/iCloud Drive/Shortcuts/
:
BART/My iPhone/Snapshot/
BART/My iPhone/Backup/
BART/My iPhone/Archive/
BART/My iPhone/Unarchive/
BART/My iPhone/Develop/
Shortcut and Workflow Files
Shortcut files saved to
iCloud Drive
by
BART
include a
shortcut
extension (e.g., xyz.shortcut).
The
Shortcuts
app is an updated version of
Workflow
, a third-party iOS app that Apple acquired in 2017. Although similar, this app included
workflows
, not
shortcuts
. Workflow files included a
wflow
extension and, like shortcut files, can be restored using
BART
.
Restoring Shortcuts
With iOS 13.x, the
Shortcuts
app cannot restore/import a shortcut file directly from
iCloud Drive
. (This limitation did not exist with the iOS
Workflow
app, but may have been added by Apple for security reasons.) Therefore to restore/import a shortcut, the shortcut file must first be uploaded to iCloud (in a public area established by Apple that is reserved for shortcuts). Once uploaded, a shortcut file can then be restored/imported within Safari by opening an iCloud link (to the uploaded shortcut file).
BART
automates the process described above. However once the link is opened in Safari, a user must complete the final step by selecting blue
Get Shortcut
button that appears on the shorcut's Safari page. Because of a limitation with the
Shortcuts
app, this final step cannot be completed if a shortcut is still running. Due to these constraints, only one shortcut can be automatically restored/imported
for each run
of
BART
(or any similar restoration shortcut). Therefore if the user selects more than one shortcut to restore, the first one will be restored during that run of
BART
; shortcuts 2 to
n
will be queued up and ready to be restored, one at a time, with each subsequent run of
BART
.
Optional Management of iCloud Folders
As mentioned above,
snapshot
,
backup
, and
archive
files are saved to
/iCloud Drive/Shortcuts/
subfolders, specifically
BART/Snapshot/
,
BART/Backup/
, and
BART/Archive/
, respectively. In addition,
BART/Develop/
houses copies of shortcuts that are modified using the
Develop
operation.
In general, the contents of these folders are managed automatically by
BART
, but in some cases the contents can be managed manually using the iOS
Files
app or the macOS
Finder
. Specifically:
Shortcuts no longer needed but previously backed up to
BART/Backup/
can be manually deleted.
Shortcuts files (*.shortcut), and even old Workflow files (*.wflow), can be manually added to
BART/Backup/
. These shortcuts (or workflows) can be restored using the
Restore
(from a selected folder)
operation.
As an alternative to the above bullet, old
Shortcuts
app (or
Workflow
app) backups could be managed in a separate folder(s) within
/iCloud Drive/Shortcuts/
. Files in this folder(s) can be restored using :
Restore One
(from a file browse)
.
Restore
(from a selected folder). In this case, the
/iCloud Drive/Shortcuts/
subfolder(s) would need to be added to the folder list using the
List
action within the shortcut. This list appears near the top of
BART
and includes a preceding comment.
Note: All folder entries are case-sensitive!
Unneeded zip archive files in
BART/Archive/
can be deleted when they are no longer needed.
Unneeded copies of shortcuts in
BART/Develop/
can be deleted when they are no longer needed; however, older copies will be
automatically
purged per the
Copies
value when using the _Develop__ operation. See
Protection While Developing or Modifying Other Shortcuts
for more information.)
Older zip archives that include
shortcuts
(or even
workflows
), that may have been created by some other means, can be manually added to
BART/Archive/
.
BART
could then be used to process these archives just as it does for the archives that it creates.
Unarchive subfolders in
BART/Unarchive/
can be deleted (e.g., BART/Unarchive/2019-12-12-131131_#109). Also, shortcuts no longer needed can be individually deleted from these subfolders.
Note: Shortcuts files can be copied
from
BART/Snapshot/
, but since this folder is automatically managed by
BART
, the folder contents should not be modified.
Running BART From Another Shortcut
BART
can be optionally started from another shortcut. This is also known as running
BART
in
Input
mode. This mode is useful because routine tasks can be automated and run consistently and quickly without user interaction with the
BART
main menu.
Before continuing, download these simple, example shortcuts:
Snapshpt ➤ BART
Archive ALL ➤ BART
Back Up ➤ BART
Archive ➤ BART
Snapshpt ➤ BART
and
Archive ALL ➤ BART
can be used as is. For the other two,
Duplicate
them to create a copy that can be modified for your use. For example, copy
Archive ➤ BART
and name it
Archive (My Stuff) ➤ BART
. Then open
Archive (My Stuff) ➤ BART
and continue reading.
To run
BART
in this mode, the
calling
shortcut needs two actions:
Dictionary
and
Run Shortcut
.
This
Dictionary
information is used by
BART
to determine the desired
Operation
(in lieu of user interaction with the
BART
main menu). Depending on the
BART Operation
, the
Dictionary
action must have
one
or
two
Dictionary Items
: [
item 1:
Key =
Operation
] or [
item 1:
Key =
Operation
;
item 2:
Key =
Shortcut
].
The following
one-item
BART
Operations
are supported:
Dictionary
[
item 1:
Key =
Operation
, Text =
Snapshot
]
Dictionary
[
item 1:
Key =
Operation
, Text =
Archive All
]
And the following
two-item
BART
Operations
are also supported:
Dictionary
[
item 1:
Key =
Operation
, Text =
Back Up
;
item 2:
Key =
Shortcut
, Text =
shortcut_name
]
Dictionary
[
item 1:
Key =
Operation
, Text =
Archive
;
item 2:
Key =
Shortcut
, Text =
shortcut_name
]]
As mentioned above, the above
Dictionary
action must precede the
Run Shortcut
action (specifically
Run[BART]
).
Note 1: In the second group of
BART Operations
, a third key [Key =
Shortcuts
] can replace the second key [Key =
Shortcut
]. This must be employed when
backing up
or
archiving
more than
one
shortcut with a single
Dictionary
/
Run[BART]
pair. In this case, the
Dictionary
item
must be an
Array
, with Key =
Shortcuts
, and the
shortcut_names
are entered as separate
Text
array
items
.
Note 2: If the
Dictionary
includes
Shortcut
(Text Key for
1
shortcut_name
) and
Shortcuts
(Array Key for
1 or more
shortcut_names
), all
shortcut names
will be used by
BART
.
Shortcut Automation
The shortcuts mentioned in the previous section,
Running BART From Another Shortcut
, are great candidates for the
Shortcuts
app
Automation
, also known as personal automation in the Shortcuts User Guide. As an example in the two following videos,
Archive ➤ BART
is used to demonstrate how a full archive can be executed at 11:30/pm everyday.
Configuring BART Automation
Running BART Automation
Protection While Developing or Modifying Other Shortcuts
BART
Input
mode
operations
are discussed in a section above:
Running BART From Another Shortcut
.
BART
includes one additional
operation
:
Develop
. This operation, however, is unique in that it is
not available
when running
BART
interactively.
Develop
is used to save a copy of a shortcut to the
develop
folder (/iCloud Drive/Shortcuts/
BART/Develop/
) and then open the shortcut in the
Shortcut
app editor. Then, if needed (e.g., if a large block of actions is mistakenly deleted during the editing session), the saved copy can be restored using
BART
interactively (using
Restore from selected folder
).
Before continuing, with the following shortcut, download,
Duplicate
, and open your copy:
Develop ➤ BART
Note that this is an example that specifies three shortcuts:
Brush Teeth Timer
,
Log Water
,
Tea Timer
, selected in the example simply because they are available in the
Shortcuts
app
Gallery
. In the
Dictionary
action:
item 1:
Key =
Operation
, Text =
Develop
item 2:
Key =
Shortcut
, Text =
Log Water
item 3:
Key =
Shortcuts
(an
Array
),
item 1:
=
Log Water
item 4:
Key =
Copies
, Number =
n
item 5:
Key =
Notify
, Number =
0
or
1
(for
No
or
Yes
)
BART
combines the single name in
Shortcut
key with the one or more names in
Shortcuts
key. After the keys are combined, if the list contains more than one shortcut name,
BART
will generate a
Choose from List
so that the shortcut of interest at that particular time can be selected. This is helpful if there is a set of shortcuts that are regularly opened in the
Shortcuts
app editor.
If only one shortcut name is specified, then
BART
will copy the shortcut and open it in the editor, i.e., the
Choose from List
will not appear.
PRO Tip: One can specify commonly edited shortcuts in the __Shortcuts__ key. Then in a case where there will be many editing sessions with one shortcut, the __Shortcut__ key could be used and the __Shortcuts__ key could be renamed to __xShortcuts__. That way, the __Choose from List__ would be bypassed during the focused work on the single shortcut.
The
Copies
key defines how many copies of a shortcut will be retained in the
develop
folder. If this key is not specified, the default value (defined in
BART
) will be used. Older copies in excess of this setting will be automatically deleted from the
develop
folder.
The
Notify
key determines if
BART
will generate a notification when the shortcut is copied. If this key is not specified,
BART
will use its
Suppress Notifications?
Configuration Parameter to determine if a notification should be generated.
iOS 14.5 Write Error
With iOS 14.5, Apple introduced a new bug that generates an error when some shortcuts are written to the local
iCloud Drive
:
An error occurred in the destination for the data.
The data couldn't be written because of a error in the destination for the data.
If this error is observed during
BART
bakups and archives, download and run
Identify iOS 14.5 Problematic Shortcuts
. When all of the problematic shortcuts are identified, the names will be written to a file named
Shortcuts • Error Saving.txt
(folder:
/iCloud Drive/Shortcuts/
Identify iOS 14.5 Problematic Shortcuts/
). Once this file is created,
BART
will use it and exclude the problematic shortcuts.
Since entries in
Shortcuts • Error Saving.txt
will not be saved by
BART
, you might want to manually back up these shortcuts using Copy iCloud Link and saving the links (https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/
shortcut ID
) for use in the event it becomes necessary to restore one of the problematic shortcuts.
If/when Apple addresses this bug,
BART
will be modified to ignore
Shortcuts • Error Saving.txt
.
Shortcut Testing
BART
, Version 3.0, has been tested with the following:
iOS 14.6 beta 2
iPhone 8 Plus
iPad Pro 10.5"
Shortcuts
app Libraries exceeding 1000 shortcuts
Shortcut Development and Acknowledgments
BART
is available exclusively at
.co
. Versions obtained elsewhere might be out-of-date.
The framed screenshots were created using the shortcut
Apple Frames (iOS)
from the MacStories Shortcuts Archive.
The menus in this shortcut use Apple SF Symbols that were encoded using another shortcut
SF Symbol for vCard Menu
. That shortcut uses the
Create Icon
action included in the premium version of Toolbox Pro.
BART
checks for updates of itself every 7 days using
Embed-a-Update
(Version: 1.1.2, Updated: 10/13/19).

## Compatibility

iPhone, iPad, Mac

## Required apps



[View this page](https://shortcutlibrary.app/shortcuts/bart)

[Download Shortcuts Library on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/app/id6759494377)