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Shared iCloud Plug-In Folder on iPadOS

In the following scenario, all plug-ins for all of the installed Omni applications will be kept together in the same folder on your iCloud Drive. Each of your Omni applications can identify this commonly shared folder and a linked plug-ins source directory. Because of the metadata in each plug-in, only those applications targeted by the plug-ins will load and display them.

Installing/Managing Plug-Ins Stored on iCloud Drive

The following describes how to create a new folder on the iPad, which will become the linked source folder for the Omni Automation plug-ins used by the Omni applications installed on your iPadOS device.

The Files app on iPadOS:

The Files app in iPadOS

 1  The current location in the Files app is set to iCloud Drive which will display the files stored off-device in the iCloud Drive.

 2  The Favorites sidebar category displays aliases to folders you want to access easily.

 3  The top-level contents of the iCloud Drive volume.

 4  The New Folder button for creating a new directory in the directory or location whose contents are currently displayed in the view. TIP: if the New Folder button is not visible, swipe down within the contents view to make the control bar appear.

The first step is to create a new folder in the mounted volume.

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In the Files app, select the iCloud Drive location  1  and then tap the New Folder button  4  to create a new directory.

A new folder will be created and the iPadOS naming sheet will be displayed:

Naming the new folder
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In the naming sheet, enter the name for the new folder, for example: Omni Plug-Ins (iCloud)

The newly named folder is created on the mounted volume:

The newly named folder

For the sake of providing convenient access to the created folder, let’s add it to the Favorites section in the Files sidebar.

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Long-press the created folder until the contextual menu appears. Then tap the Favorite menu item to add the folder to the Favorites section in the sidebar.

The folder’s contextual menu

Once the Favorite menu item is chosen, the folder will be added to the Favorites section of the Files sidebar:

The folder in the Favorites section in sidebar

Now that the Plug-Ins folder has been created, we need to designate it as a plug-in source folder for each of the installed Omni apps. For the purposes of example, the following illustrations will show the linking process from within OmniFocus.

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From with the Omni app, select “Configure Plug-Ins” from the Automation menu to summon the Plug-In Management sheet:

The Plug-In Management sheet will be displayed, listing all plug-in source directories and installed plug-ins.

An option for adding another source directory (linked folder) will be available:

The plug-in management sheet in OmniFocus
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Tap the “Add Linked Folder…” button to display a folder picker view in the sheet:

The folder picker sheet in OmniFocus

 1  The current location (iCLoud Drive) displayed in the Files app

 2  The previously created plug-ins folder

 3  The Done button for accepting the currently selected directory as the chosen item

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To designate the created folder as a plug-in source directory, select the folder and tap the “Done” button.

The folder picker view will be dismissed and the chosen directory will now appear as a linked source folder in the Plug-Ins Management sheet:

The plug-in management sheet

 1  The new plug-in source directory (Linked Folder)

 2  Any Omni Automation actions placed within the source folder and targeting the host Omni application, will be listed below the Linked Folder item.

 3  An “Unlink” button for removing the linked folder as a plug-in source. NOTE: un-linking a folder will not effect it or its contents.

Omni Automation plug-in bundles or files placed within the designated plug-in source folder (Linked Folder):

A plug-in file in the linked folder

Will appear in the Plug-In Management sheet:

A plug-in file in the linked folder

 1  The new plug-in source directory (Linked Folder)

 2  An Omni Automation action targeting the host Omni application (OmniFocus) placed within the linked source folder.

 3  An “Unlink” button for removing the linked folder as a plug-in source. NOTE: un-linking a folder will not effect it or its contents.

 4  Button for revealing the selected action’s metadata..

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Tap the arrow button 4 to display the selected plug-in’s metadata (details) in a slide-over sheet.

The action’s metadata may include: file name, identifier, version, author, and description.

The plug-in details
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To optionally assign a keystroke shortcut to the installed action, tap the arrow button at the right of the installed action to reveal the key assignment interface:

The plug-in details

The installed Omni Automation action will be displayed in the host application’s Automation menu, and may be executed when appropriate:

The plug-in in the Automation menu