Run Notes with a keyboard shortcut

1 Quick action

Run Automator and click ‘New Document’ in the file selector window that opens. When asked to choose a type for your document, click the ‘Quick Action’ button.

4 Select an app

The Launch Application action defaults to Contacts.app, but we want to run Notes. Click ‘Contacts.app’ and select ‘Notes.app’ from the app list. (This works with any app.)

7 Keyboard preferences

Open System Preferences and click ‘Keyboard’. Click the ‘Shortcuts’ tab, select ‘Services’ in the list and scroll down to the bottom. There’s the service we created.

2 Choose no input

The type of Automator workflow we are creating does not require any input from whatever app is running. Click ‘Workflow receives’ and select the ‘No Input’ item.

5 Save it

That is it, the whole application! It is nothing more than a basic action to launch an app and it couldn’t be simpler. All that remains is to save it. Click ‘File’, then ‘Save’.

8 Create a shortcut

Click ‘Add Shortcut’ and the next keys will be used to run that item, our Automator Launch Application workflow. Make sure it is unique, such as option+cmd+n.

3 Add the action

Select Library in the first column and find ‘Launch Application’. Double-click it in the list or click and drag it to the right side of the Automator window and drop it.

6 Name the action

You are prompted to enter a name for the quick action and since it will run Notes, call it ‘Quicknotes’, like Monterey’s Quick Note. You cannot choose where to save it.

9 Try it

Open an app, like News for example. If you want to create a note, press the shortcut, option+cmd+n, and Notes opens with the last used note, which we called Quicknotes.