Use the Share Sheet

The share sheet is a core feature for sharing content with other people and for triggering miscellaneous actions. You can not only share webpages through messages, email, and on social media, but you can also transfer a file (like a PDF displayed in Safari) to another app (like Books) or execute actions like searching a webpage or launching a shortcut. Here are the ins and outs of how the share sheet works in iOS and iPadOS.

Share with the Share Sheet

Whenever you can share content, you see a Share icon. Tap it to reveal the activity view, which displays two rows of buttons. Swipe left and right on each half to reveal more functionality. Tap a button on the sheet to perform that action (Figure 70).

Figure 70: The share sheet let you do things like share a webpage from Safari with AirDrop or a text or email message. Activity views also offer other functionality, like copying a URL or running a shortcut. Apps you share from might offer other options such as sending a webpage as a PDF or an archive.
Figure 70: The share sheet let you do things like share a webpage from Safari with AirDrop or a text or email message. Activity views also offer other functionality, like copying a URL or running a shortcut. Apps you share from might offer other options such as sending a webpage as a PDF or an archive.

What You Can Share

Here are some examples of what you can share with the share sheet:

  • Webpages in Safari and other browsers

  • Images in the Photos app

  • Locations in Maps

  • Email attachments from Mail

  • Files from the Files app

  • Apple Music songs and playlists from Music (look for the More button)

  • Almost anything else, so long as the developer has included activity view capabilities and you’ve enabled the extension—see Edit Share Sheets later in the chapter

The share sheet often conflates the idea of sharing with actions like copying and printing. For example, pull up the share sheet in a note to reveal options to copy and print that note.

Share Options

Some apps might show an Options text label at the top of the activity view (Figure 70). Tapping that reveals additional share options, which vary by app, for example:

  • Safari: Instead of sharing a link, you can choose to share a PDF of the webpage, a PDF in Reader view, or a web archive.

  • Photos: You can share an iCloud link instead of the actual photo, and you can opt to strip out location and other metadata.

It’s worth checking the share sheet in each app to see what you can do!

Share from the Photos App

Sharing photos and videos from the Photos app works a little differently than it does in most apps:

  1. Select the photo or video you want to share.

  2. Tap the Share icon.

  3. Tap any additional photos and videos that you want to share. A checkmark appears on selected items (Figure 71).

    Figure 71: Photos lets you select multiple items to share.
    Figure 71: Photos lets you select multiple items to share.
  4. Tap the activity view extension you want to use, such as Messages, Mail, or iCloud Photo Sharing.

There are a few unique sharing options in the Photos app:

  • AirPlay: This broadcasts your photos and videos to an Apple TV without mirroring the entire screen. See my book Take Control of Apple TV for an in-depth look at AirPlay.

  • Copy iCloud Link: This creates a public repository of photos, which will expire after 30 days, but the recipients can choose to save the images permanently to their Photos library. This is useful for sharing one-off photos.

  • Add to Shared Album: Add to an album you’ve shared with others in the Photos app.

  • Use as Wallpaper: Tap this to use the selected photo as the wallpaper of your Lock or Home screen.

Edit Share Sheets

You can rearrange the items in an activity view so you can reach them more easily:

  • Second row: Swipe all the way to the right, tap More, and then Edit. Add share actions to your favorites by tapping the plus button, remove them with the minus button, or rearrange them with the grab handle . Favorites appear first in the list.

  • Actions list: Scroll all the way down in the activity view and tap Edit Actions. Use the grab handle to rearrange items and turn off their switches to remove them from the list.

Markup

The share sheet often hides special functions that aren’t necessarily related to sharing. For example, there’s one terrific feature that you can find in many apps’ share sheets: Markup, which lets you mark up images. If the content isn’t an image, it creates a PDF copy of what you’re looking at and lets you annotate it. It’s available in Books, Notes, Photos, Safari, and many other apps.

Tap Markup and whatever you’re viewing is opened up as an image or PDF that you can modify. There are three main controls here:

  • Tap Done to delete the image or save it to the Files app.

  • Tap the Share icon to see the usual sharing items, as well as the option to save to the Files app.

  • Tap the Markup button to see markup options.

    The basic markup tools are pretty intuitive: fine-point marker, chisel-point marker, pencil, eraser, selection tool, ruler, and color selection. Tap the plus button to reveal more options (Figure 72):

    • Description (images only): This lets you add a text description of an image for users of screen readers and VoiceOver.

    • Text: Tap Text to insert text, which you can adjust with the text settings icon.

    • Signature: Tap Signature to insert a signature, either synced from Preview or Mail on the Mac, or one you draw on screen.

    Figure 72: Create PDF offers several tools to add a personal touch to images and webpages.
    Figure 72: Create PDF offers several tools to add a personal touch to images and webpages.
    • Magnifier: Tap Magnifier to insert a magnifying loupe to highlight small elements. Drag the green handle around the loupe to adjust the magnification. Tap the shape icon to adjust the magnifier outline.

    • Square, circle, speech balloon, line tool: Tap the square, circle, speech balloon, or line tool to insert those shapes.

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