Looking for a web highlighter that archives articles

Software
1

As I am trying to implement the Zettelkasten method, I am trying to streamline my reading and annotating process…

I was wondering if you would know of a web highlighter (service or app) working on Safari (having an iOS counterpart would be perfect) that also archives articles. I know there are many excellent highlighters out there (such as Liner) that archives your highlights in their service, but I would also like to keep a copy of the annotated articles, so as to keep annotations in context, in the case the original page disappears.

The only services I found that kind of offer that are Instapaper and Pocket, where you can annotate and if you are a premium subscriber, they keep copies of your archived articles. You can also send content to DEVONthink and annotate there, but –

I would like to do everything in one pass:

  • Read and annotate directly in the browser (or in an app) without having to manually export stuff (because I don’t know beforehand if what I’m reading will be worth the hassle…)
  • Have the highlights sent to the service as well as a copy of the article for reference
  • Be able to export the highlights in text of Markdown form for ulterior processing and integration in my knowledge base.

Does such a thing exist?
Thanks!

3 Likes
2

I use Pocket and DEVONthink for this kind of stuff. Used to use Instapaper until they withdrew their service for accounts outside USA.

1 Like
3

I’m looking for this too. Often there are one or two sentences that I’d like to extract from a blog post, and there’s a lot of friction with sending the whole page to DEVONthink (which works really well, I must say), or copy/paste to Drafts, or just send it to Pocket (my new dumpster/black hole) never to be seen again.

1 Like
4

Maybe you’re looking for a citation manager like Bookends or Endnote (both of which work with Ulysses).

I also came upon this workflow a while back and thought it was interesting.

2 Likes
5

Thanks. I use Bookends for scientific articles, but don’t want to pollute it with blog posts and things I wouldn’t cite for my dissertation.

6

I understand. For my purposes I still grab text and URLs manually and copy them over, usually to OmniOutliner but sometime to Notes (I’m trialling SnipNotes now as a possible replacement) or EagleFiler, or temporarily to Drafts, depending what I’m saving and what I’m working on.

I could probably do with some sort of automation but with a multiple clipboard it’s just a few seconds to grab snippets and an URL, so I don’t stress over it for my own needs. (Copy’em Paste lets me select multiple copied items then batch-paste, so I can be pretty fast.)

EDIT: FYI in an article on Chrome productivity extensions Cite This For Me: Web Citer is noted; on any web page it can generate a correctly formatted citation in your choice of APA, MLA, Chicago, or Harvard referencing styles.

7

Years ago, I used to use scrible.com. It highlights and I believe it archives the page as well.
It might seem a little clunky now but you can give it a try.

1 Like
8

That looks like an interesting service; pity it seems a little to have been left abandoned indeed.

1 Like
9

Not sure what people here think of Diigo, but if I remember correctly it covered a lot of what you’re looking for? I came to it as a bookmark manager, but it also offered annotation and more. There was a free account, with paid tiers.

It never quite worked for me, but now I can’t remember exactly why— I vaguely remember some aesthetic/UI/workflow issues, and the native iOS app lacked feature parity with the web app. That said, it may have been developed further since I last checked, which was some time ago…

2 Likes
10

THANK YOU! Diigo looks exactly like what I’m looking for. Highlighting, annotating, cached versions.

(Now I just have to make the bookmarklet work on Safari…)

2 Likes
11

Diigo looks like an interesting service but the site feels like it is in mothballs. The last blog post was two years ago. The site doesn’t have any big, useful screenshots, the intro video lacks any detail (it’s animated), and parts of the site require Flash(!), which I don’t have installed. (The iOS app did get a bugfix update in April.) Reviews seem mixed.

12

Thanks for the heads-up. On iOS at least it works fine. I’ve sent an email to support, we’ll see if there’s someone behind the address :sweat_smile:

Pinboard feels even older and it still works so I’m hoping Diigo does too…

1 Like
13

Okay, so back from my Diigo experimentation.
Works fine everywhere BUT Safari for Mac. The bookmarklet won’t keep the login status, and looks like I’m not the only one in that case, unfortunately. Pity…

14

How about using Chrome/Brave/Vivaldi plus the Diigo Chromium extension?

1 Like
15

Aaaaaah I’d really like to stay in Safari because it works so well everywhere. But I’m increasingly thinking that the extension ecosystem in Safari is decidedly too weak for what I like to do. (Every time I’m looking for a power feature, it exists everywhere save Safari.)

Tell you what - I’ll wait until Monday. Maybe we’ll learn we can use alternate browsers as default on iOS :laughing:

1 Like
16

Have you looked at Raindrop.io. I think it archived PDFs.

1 Like
17

Thanks! It doesn’t do highlights though, if I’m not mistaken?

1 Like
18

I was mistaken. Following thread to see where this goes.

1 Like
19

I don’t know if this is necessarily what you’re looking for, but my workflow links together Instapaper and DEVONthink. All interesting links get sent to Instapaper, whether they be from desktop or mobile apps.

I link my Instapaper RSS feed into DEVONthink. To find the Instapaper RSS feed, go to main page / username top right / down arrow / download / RSS feed. I took that link and set it up in its own Database in DEVONthink. In the setup options, I set “Format = PDF (paginated)”. That way when the feed item is pulled, it is downloaded locally as a PDF using DEVONthink’s “clutter free layout”.

I have a Smart Rule that moves all files out of the feed and into the parent database. The reason for this is that I can’t figure out how to add highlights to a PDF when it is in the feed folder. Once I move it to the parent database, everything seems to work as expected.

When I’m ready to read things, I do that in DEVONthink. I can scroll through the articles in the middle column and delete things I no longer find interesting. For things I want to read, I can open them in a new window, maximize it, and off I go. And FWIW, I’ve programmed my Magic Trackpad with Better Touch Tool to help with highlighting: single finger tap middle of left edge highlights yellow, middle top is green, middle bottom is orange, right is red (I’ve changed these since the BTT thread a few months ago). So scroll with 2 fingers, click-and-drag to select, tap to highlight. Then CTRL-RETURN to tag and CTRL-CMD-M to move it to the proper place.

6 Likes
20

That’s an awesome workflow, thank you for sharing in detail. I was looking more for a highlighting solution on the spot but you’re giving much food for thought to design a much, much better reading / annotating / read-it later workflow. Hadn’t thought at all about leveraging DT’s power. Thank you!