Convert Safari Articles to Markdown with iOS Shortcuts

This article provides a step-by-step guide on how to build an iOS Shortcut that captures the active webpage from the Safari Share Sheet, strips away clutter using Safari Reader, converts the article into Markdown text, and saves the result directly to Apple Notes.

1. Enable the Share Sheet Trigger

To allow the Shortcut to access your active Safari tab, you must configure it to accept inputs from the iOS Share Sheet.

  1. Open the Shortcuts app on your iPhone or iPad and tap the + (plus) icon in the top right corner to create a new Shortcut.
  2. Tap theShortcut name at the top to rename it (e.g., "Article to Markdown").
  3. Tap the Info (i) icon at the bottom of the screen (or at the top in iPadOS) and toggle on Show in Share Sheet. Tap Done.
  4. A new banner will appear at the top of your workflow that reads Receive Any input from Share Sheet. Tap Any, tap Clear to deselect everything, and then select only Safari web pages, Articles, and URLs. Tap Done.

2. Extract the Article Content

Next, you need to pull the clean text and formatting from the webpage, bypassing ads and navigation menus.

  1. Tap the search bar at the bottom of the screen and type Get Article.
  2. Select the Get Article using Safari Reader action.
  3. The action will automatically link to your first step and read: Get article using Safari Reader from Shortcut Input.

3. Convert the Article to Markdown

Safari Reader extracts the article as Rich Text. You must now add an action to convert that Rich Text into Markdown syntax.

  1. Search for Markdown in the action search bar.
  2. Select the Make Markdown from Rich Text action.
  3. By default, this will grab the main body of the article. It should read: Make Markdown from Article.
  4. (Optional) If you want to ensure the article's title and URL are included at the top of your Markdown text, add a Text action after the Markdown conversion. Inside the Text box, insert the Article variable (tap it and change its property to Title), add a line break, insert the Article variable again (change its property to URL), add another line break, and finally insert the Markdown from Rich Text variable.

4. Save to Apple Notes

Depending on your workflow, you can either save the raw Markdown text into Apple Notes or save the formatted Rich Text directly.

To save the raw Markdown syntax into a Note:

  1. Search for and add the Create Note action.
  2. Ensure the action reads: Create note with Markdown from Rich Text (or Text, if you completed the optional step above).
  3. Tap the arrow next to the action to toggle Open When Run off, which allows the Shortcut to save the note silently in the background.

To save the clean, formatted article (not raw Markdown) into a Note:

  1. Skip Step 3 entirely.
  2. Add the Create Note action directly after the Get Article using Safari Reader action.
  3. Tap the input variable in the Create Note action, select Article, and change its property from Article to Body. This transfers the headings, bold text, and links directly into Apple Notes formatting.

To copy the Markdown to your clipboard instead:

  1. Instead of the Create Note action, search for and select the Copy to Clipboard action.
  2. Set it to copy the Markdown from Rich Text variable.

5. Run the Shortcut in Safari

  1. Open Safari and navigate to any news story or blog post.
  2. Tap the Share button at the bottom of the screen.
  3. Scroll down the list of options and tap the name of your new Shortcut.
  4. On the first run, iOS will ask for permission to allow the Shortcut to access the webpage and Apple Notes. Tap Always Allow.