From Perplexity to Obsidian: a “copy → save” Markdown pipeline on every Apple device

If you use Perplexity in Safari and you want a friction-light system that turns what you learn into searchable Markdown inside Obsidian, you can do it with one Shortcut that appends your clipboard int

This setup is using perplexity, but it doesn't matter which AI chat are you using. It works via clipboard, so everything you have in your clipboard you can store. AI chats can produce markdown files as an output.

The stack (exact tools)

• Perplexity (in Safari) for answers you copy.

• Safari as the reading/asking surface.

• Obsidian as the Markdown knowledge base (vault stored in iCloud Drive).

• Apple Shortcuts as the glue that takes your clipboard and appends it to a daily note.

• Optional: Actions for Obsidian if you want deeper Obsidian-specific actions like “append below heading” and “create if missing” more reliably.actions+1

Vault setup (once)

1. Put your Obsidian vault in iCloud Drive (Obsidian → choose store in iCloud).

2. Inside the vault create a folder:

   • Daily/

3. Your daily notes will be saved as:

   • iCloud Drive/Obsidian/<VaultName>/Daily/YYYY-MM-DD.md

Why iCloud Drive? It keeps one shared .md file set across iPhone/iPad/Mac, and Shortcuts can write to it. (Just be aware iCloud sometimes delays refresh; Obsidian may not show changes instantly.)[forum.obsidian]​

The Shortcut (exact actions)

Create a Shortcut named: Save Clipboard → Obsidian Daily.

Variables used

• Today = current date formatted yyyy-MM-dd

• Now = current date/time formatted yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm

Shortcut actions (in order)

1. Get Clipboard

2. If Clipboard does not have any value

• Show Notification “Clipboard is empty”

• Stop This Shortcut

3. Current Date

4. Format Date (input: Current Date)

• Format: Custom → yyyy-MM-dd

• Save to variable: Today

5. Format Date (input: Current Date)

• Format: Custom → yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm

• Save to variable: Now

6. Text (this is what will be appended)

## Perplexity — {{Now}}

{{Clipboard}}

---

7. Get File from Folder

• Folder: pick in the Files picker: iCloud Drive/Obsidian/<VaultName>/Daily/

• Path: {{Today}}.md

• Toggle Error If Not Found: OFF (so you can create the file if needed)

8. If file does not have any value

• Text:

# Daily — {{Today}}

• Save File

  • Destination folder: same Daily/ folder

  • Name: {{Today}}.md

  • Overwrite: ON

• Get File from Folder again (same settings as step 7)

• End If

9. Get Text from Input (input: the file from step 7/8)

10. Combine Text

• Text 1: existing content

• Text 2: the Markdown block from step 6

• Separator: \n\n

11. Save File

• Destination folder: Daily/

• Name: {{Today}}.md

• Overwrite: ON
  Important note: Shortcuts is picky about base locations and overwriting; selecting the folder explicitly (not passing it as text) is the reliable pattern.[reddit]​

12. (Optional) Show Notification “Saved to {{Today}}.md”

That’s the whole “append-to-daily-markdown” pipeline.

Perplexity prompt tip (so clipboard is clean Markdown)

When you ask Perplexity, add:
“Format the answer in Markdown with headings and bullet points.”
Then copy the response and run the shortcut.

Trigger it on iPhone (fastest)

Use Back Tap to run the shortcut:

1. Settings → Accessibility → Touch → Back Tap.

2. Choose Double Tap or Triple Tap → under “Shortcuts” select Save Clipboard → Obsidian Daily.

Flow: copy in Safari → double tap back → saved.

Trigger it on iPad (best options)

iPad doesn’t give you the same Back Tap workflow, so use a widget:

1. Home Screen → long press → + → add Shortcuts widget.

2. Edit widget → choose Save Clipboard → Obsidian Daily as the shortcut shown.

Flow: copy → tap the widget → saved.

(If you want even less friction, put that widget in your Dock/Home Screen first page so it’s always one tap away.)

Trigger it on Mac (best: keyboard shortcut)

On macOS, assign a global hotkey:

1. Open Shortcuts app → open your shortcut → Shortcut Details.

2. Click Add Keyboard Shortcut and set a combo.apple+1

3. Now in any app: copy text → press hotkey → appended to the same iCloud .md daily note.

You can also enable Quick Actions (Finder Services) if you want to run it from Finder menus.

Optional: Actions for Obsidian (when it’s worth it)

If you later want Obsidian-specific features—append below a specific heading, use the current periodic note, or “create note if necessary” with fewer file edge cases—Actions for Obsidian provides dedicated actions like “Append to note” with options for headline placement and creating missing notes.

This is optional; your plain iCloud .md method is already solid once configured.

Summary (the workflow in one line)

Perplexity in Safari → copy Markdown → run “Save Clipboard → Obsidian Daily” via iPhone Back Tap, iPad widget, or Mac keyboard shortcut → your learning is stored as real Markdown in your iCloud-synced Obsidian vault.