Count Characters for Micro.blog Timeline shortcut

Use Apple Shortcuts to count the number of rich text characters in a post so it can be edited to be within the Micro.blog timeline’s limit.

This shortcut converts Markdown text to Rich Text and then counts the number of characters. If it is over the character limit to be displayed in full on the Micro.blog timeline, it allows you to edit the text to be within the limit to avoid truncation. If the edited text still has too many characters, it will rerun this shortcut until it is within the limit, or you can choose to continue anyway.

It is best used as a function that is run from another shortcut.

Run This Shortcut

You can run this shortcut from its URL (such as from within a note, calendar event, or to-do item):

shortcuts://run-shortcut?name=Count%20Characters%20for%20Micro.blog%20Timeline

Latest Release Notes

Version 1.1 - Updated 2023-11-08

• Added an option to continue with post containing too many characters to be displayed in full on the timeline. Feel free to publish posts that are as long as you want! Just note that it will be truncated on the timeline.
• Included the character limit in some prompts as a reminder of what to aim for. (Example: 787/600)
• Changed the icon to use the calculator glyph.
• Download version 1.1

Thanks for checking out this shortcut! It’s part of the HeyDingus Shortcuts Library. If you’re sharing my shortcuts or modifying them (or see a bug or have a feature request), I’d love to hear from you — please give me a shout! And maybe consider a donation if you find this shortcut fun or useful. Thank you. ✌️