Wouldn’t it be easier if we could bring these features, at least the ones that you use frequently, to the forefront, accessed through their own icon or shortcut on your mobile device’s home screen? Or perhaps from a designated folder containing shortcuts to otherwise hard-to-get-to commands?

Android Oreo is a major update to the Android OS that comes with several new features that make your smartphone or tablet more productive. ..

With Oreo, apps are now treated as a form of content, with features and functions accessible through the app’s interface and not through the traditional launch mechanisms. For example, to start a new task in Outlook, you must open the app and then touch the New Event icon.

With an app shortcut, you can jump to the Outlook New Event, New Email, or View Calendar screen directly from your home screen.

GM’s MyBuick app allows customers to start their car remotely by going to the Key Fob section and pressing Start. ..

To start the car by simply touching the Start icon on my home screen or desktop, I can use the following procedure.

How about setting up a shortcut that takes you directly to your Watched list on eBay, so that you can see if any of the products you’re interested in have gone beyond what you’re willing to pay for them?

Some apps support shortcuts, while others do not. The different shortcut types and phone manufacturers can affect how shortcuts work. So, before you start creating your own App shortcut, be sure to research the different types of shortcuts and the phone manufacturers that support them first.

Samsung has removed its widget shortcuts feature from later versions of its Galaxy devices. This means that you cannot create and apply shortcuts to specific actions, such as, say, Settings. ..

Accessing App Shortcuts

Some Android devices include a feature that allows you to extract certain functions from specific apps. However, this feature is not always available or extractable in all cases. It is important to note that not all apps have this feature, and not all extractable features are extractable in every situation or scenario.

In any case, let’s find some that work. ..

  1. Go to your eBay account and click on the “Auctions” tab at the top of the page.
  2. In the “Auctions” tab, click on the “Watch Listing” link next to the auction you want to check.
  3. On the “Watch Listing” page, you will see a list of all of your auctions that are currently being watched.
  4. To see how well your auction is doing, click on the “Details” link next to the auction that you want to see information about.
  5. On the “Details” page, you will see information about how many bids have been placed on your auction, how much has been sold so far, and what percentage of your original bid has been reached. ..

You can access the shortcut inside the app, continuously accessing it as needed, or you can extract the shortcut altogether and place an icon shortcut on one of your home screens. Your home screen layouts and how you work should help you determine which way to go. I’d say, if you need to access more than one function within an app repetitively, go with the second method.

To begin, please choose the Unlock option. If at any time you get a warning about the screen being locked, please choose the Unlock option. ..

The eBay app opens to the Selling screen, where each of your individual auctions are displayed, along with tallies of how many active auctions you have, how many items you’ve sold over a prespecified period, and several other pertinent stats.

Extracting Shortcuts to Your Desktop

To speed up the process of extracting a shortcut to the desktop, you can use the method shown here.

The Selling section of your eBay app now has an icon that launches directly into the data section, displaying critical selling data without having to wade through the app. You can place it on any screen you want. I put it here just to make it easy to see.

Creating Groups of Shortcuts

So, we extracted the myBuick app’s commands and subcommands into one folder, and named it “Command & Subcommand.”

I would like to have the three commands, Lock, Start, and Unlock, that I use most often together in the same spot, at my beckoning call.

To make your life easier, create a folder on your computer containing shortcuts to commonly used applications. ..

The two icons automatically combine into one folder.

  1. Open the command prompt and type “cmd”
  2. Type “netstat -a” to see the network activity
  3. Type “dir c:\windows\system32\drivers” to see the drivers in that directory
  4. Type “lock” to get into the locked folder

How many apps in your App drawer (or how much time would you save) would benefit from having shortcuts extracted? If you only use a few apps frequently, then extracting those shortcuts may not be necessary. However, if you use many apps and frequently open them, then extracting the shortcuts may be the best option.