Anyone using Hookmark (nee Hook)?

Software
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I received an email announcing that Hook is now Hookmark.

This app seemed like a good idea when I first bought it, but now not so much. It turned out to be a lot of friction, clicking around to make links that I could never find later. No doubt I’m using the app wrong. (1)

There is not much recent enthusiasm for Hook(mark) here, so before try again I wonder if it is worth the time?

Katie

(1) (There’s a weird red question mark on the app icon; like an error warning; even when I don’t use the app.)

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I tried it for awhile but could never come up with the right ‘use case’ scenario that worked for me. Finally gave up.

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I use it often, and like it. If you like working with links, it’s indispensable.

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At the risk of being meta, I’m going to link to my thoughts on this on the Hookmark forum, where others share this thoughts on their usage too.

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I use it to link files (pdf, .doc) to client notes I keep in Obsidian. I created a shortcut where I mash a bunch of keys and the hook is created on the active/highlighted file.

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I have become an enthusiastic hook user over the last 8 months. I mostly use it to link PDFs to topic-level notes in DevonThink. It’s less obviously useful for connecting things that are clearly relevant, but when I encounter obscure but relevant secondary (and occasionally primary) sources, it’s invaluable in resurfacing those a few weeks later.

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I don’t know if this was intentional. But it’s come to my attention that in traditional hypertext theory that there’s a concept of keeping links “external”. I think Hookmark achieves that well. Discovering this concept makes me think about taking its use deeper into my process. I think that the developers are on the right course and are deep thinkers.

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I’m a fan. I’d like Hook to seamlessly work across macOS and iOS, but this is good enough. As others have stated I like that the developers are deep thinkers, and that even if hook goes away you can figure out where things are.

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Are those PDF´s stored outside of DevonThink?

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They’re stored in regular finder folders (that I sync across devices via box.com) and indexed in DT. But I always hook PDFs when they’re open in preview to DT notes, to generate file-hooks.

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I work within DT3 only with imported files, but if your files are indexed into DT3, shouldn’t you be also able to produce a link within DT3?

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Absolutely, hook will connect to indexed files in DT. But, I hate reading PDFs in DT, so I always open them in a different app. Hooks from DT → indexed files in DT don’t attach to the indexed file, only the DT placeholder for the indexed item.

If I hook a PDF file to anything outside of DT (an obsidian note, a web page, something), if I’m not consistent, then I’ll essentially have 2 different hook targets, the file itself and the indexed version of the file.

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Hookmark has just been added to SetApp.

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I use it periodically – but therein lies the rub!

Because I forget to use it consistently, its “use-value” is diminished for me, because (A.) I never remember the keyboard shortcuts (and so need to click multiple times) and (B.), inevitably forget that I have actually “hooked” a particular file and others, until after the fact…

When I do remember, and quickly find related files – it is magical!
So the value is certainly there, but it obviously (and understandably) depends entirely on how frequently it is used…

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Full disclosure, I’m a co-founder of the dev, CogSci Apps.

Re:

I can see that can be an issue, as there are lots of useful shortcuts to remember in macOS (I for one also use Spotlight and a launcher which have their own shortcuts).

To make the Hookmark keyboard shortcut more memorable, a while ago we changed the default shortcut to ⌃H (which stands for “Hookmark”).

We also allow users to configure a second global shortcut, and one can enable/disable/configure the shortcut(s).

But then of course there are other useful shortcuts that are handy to remember (chiefly ⌘C for copy, ⌘N for Hook to New, and ⌘V for pasting links [Hook to Copied Link]).

In June we added a Hooked status indicator in the menu bar icon. It shows the number of hooks related to the currently selected or open item —assuming the app has linking automation i.e., conforms to the Manifesto for Ubiquitous Linking; currently for this particular feature that automation needs to be AppleScript-based. Later we intend the status indicator to support (link-friendly ) x-callback-url apps too.

However, not everyone wants the status indicator to be in the menu bar window; so we intend to add status to a separate, optional floating window, which will also have other functionality. Never a shortage of development work…

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Thank you @LucCogZest – this is very useful! I did not know about the status indicator (and have now told Bartender to have the Hookmark icon remain visible in my status/menu bar)!

Have already added the trigger key to [hyper]-h, so that works a charm.
What I will now hopefully force myself to remember, is that the copy/hoot-to-new/paste are simply CMD+c/h/v – my challenge was the pause and self-doubt that always arose with my thinking “it must be some further keyboard combination/surely won’t be the same as the default” – but understanding that it can be, since the Hookmark “app” is visible after invoking it (and therefore presumably taking main focus), will help.

That all said – the reason I wrote back @ you, is to write about something I actually forgot about, but which is extremely useful to me:

I may go weeks without restarting my MBP.
Unfortunately, some of my applications (here’s looking at you, Microsoft) seem to get very crotchety when things haven’t been restarted in a while, and simply start behaving very strangely.
Unfortunately (some more) – my needing to restart, inevitably sees many different emails open in the background – some in the process of still being written, some simply open since I need to address them next, or as a type of reminder/what I need to go to next… (please don’t @ me about how inefficient that is – I know – but, well… yes).
A restart seldom, if ever, sees these emails open again. Which means I lose my place, forget what was being written, what was next, what I needed to be reminded of.

Fortunately, Hookmark to the rescue.
I invoke Hookmark with the email open, pull down Unclutter, drop in today’s date, and paste in the Hooked link.
Repeat 5/6/7 times.
Shut down.
Restart and open Outlook.
Pull down Unclutter, click on 5/6/7 links, and have all those “open” emails, re-opened/restored.
Day saved.

Thought I would share this here, since surely I’m not the only one who risks “losing” stuff, when restarting Outlook…

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Hookmark also have a search mode. If you copy a link via Hook or make a connection via Hook, Hook put it in its database and you can search them via search mode.

In the contexual windows, you press cmd + f to enter search mode.

I used to bookmark a URL in Chrome and search them via Alfred. I recently switched to Arc (another browser) and this workflow is broken. I need the bookmark search to work offline so it is faster.

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The script should be easily customized. Isn’t Arc Chromium based? I haven’t looked and this is could be a pretty big assumption on my part…

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I saved lots of reference bookmarks in Chrome. Arc kinds of combines the concept of tabs and bookmarks so it is recommended to only save bookmarks that are actively used.

I am a software engineer. So these bookmarks are usually some tickets I worked on in the past, some design docs, Github pulls requests and etc. These items are fairly long-tail - dont use them frequently but sometimes need to quickly dig them out for a meeting or question from colleagues.

There are a Raycast extension that can search Arc history but not exactly what I need (a little more noisy)

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How does it work on iOS? I remember seeing there will be an iOS companion app.

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