The file is still the starting point. What should sit beside it?

[brookter]

There are complexities to Hookmark, of course, but for what I think you’re talking about here, it’s really very simple.

E.g. You want to add a link to this forum page into a DT note that you already have open. All you have to do in this page is Ctl-h, cmd-c then back to your DT note and Cmd-v, and the link will be pasted. To break that down:

1. Ctl-h to bring up the Hookmark bar, and Cmd-c to copy the link
2. Alt-tab to get back to your DT note
3. Cmd-v to paste the link (as a Markdown link, or as an RTF link depending on what sort of file you’re copying to)

Of course, in Safari you can do this by copying the link from the top of the page, and then pasting in the traditional way, but if you’re in another program, or the Finder, then that probably won’t work.

What Hookmark adds is that the exact same steps will work with any file in Finder, and with a huge range of compatible programs, such as Mail, Tinderbox, Scrivener, DEVONthink, Omnifocus, etc etc. It’s clever about how it does it, too: e.g. if you link to a DT document, it ‘knows’ whether you prefer x-devonthink-item links or standard Markdown links and does the right thing…

The benefit is that you very rarely have to think about what type of thing is it you want to link to, you just Ctl-h, cmd-c, alt-tab, cmd-v and it usually works.

I find this so useful that even if I didn’t use some of the other features, I’d still use Hookmark – it replaces (and improves upon) a range of Keyboard Maestro macros I used to use.

The next ‘most basic’ feature is that you can use Hookmark to create new documents in apps. So, for example, if I wanted to create a new Omnifocus task from this forum page, all I have to do is Ctl-h (bring up the Hookmark bar) then Cmd-n and a new Omnifocus task is automatically created lining back to this page. You can set the default for Cmd-n to be a new DT document, or most other sorts of document as well.

I use both these features several times a day, so much that I don’t have to think about them. I don’t use many of the more advanced features much, myself, but for me, these two features alone are worth the subscription.

[arievanboxel]

Hookmark is great, but it has a learning curve. If you want a simpler, free alternative, check out Linker.

[brookter]

Thank you for the, well… link to Linker!

AFAICS it does the first of my two 'basic tasks (though it isn’t any simpler for that, of course: both programs just need a simple key shortcut sequence), but not the second, so it’s too limited for my use. And of course, there’s no scope, as there is with Hookmark, to ‘grow into’ the program and use some of the other features when you discover a use for them.

But I’m sure it will be exactly what some people want and it’s good to have options…

Cheers!

[krocnyc]

A question re Hookmark: if I move a document from one Finder folder to another, does it update the link automatically?

[timstringer]

A question re Hookmark: if I move a document from one Finder folder to another, does it update the link automatically?

This is where Hookmark shines. I find that hooks to files and folders keep working even if the file is moved or renamed. They can even work if the file/folder is moved to a different volume.

[arievanboxel]

The free Linker application offers a similar functionality.

[rkaplan]

When I tried Hook a number of years ago my two biggest concerns were:

(1) It was not readily apparent when I was viewing someting that had a hook (i.e. no analogue to a URL hyperlink); and

(2) There wasn’t an effective index to search for somethink that I knew I created a Hook for.

How do Hookmark vs. Linker address this now?

[arievanboxel]

Linker lets you assign color tags to linked files or folders. For any item with links, including contacts and web pages, using the shortcut instantly displays all linked items.
You can also view a full list of linked items in Settings.

[brookter]

Hookmark shows a marker in the menu bar when an object has hooked links and there is a command to show every bookmark you’ve ever made. In this screenshot you can see that there is one link to the current page, and that I have used Hookmark to make a link 3175 times…

The bookmarks panel is invoked by cmd-b if you’re already in the Hookmark panel, or ctl-shift-h if you not. It’s searchable, of course.

[johnlaudun]

Of all the things I did not think I would ever come to embrace, it was when I worked for the Army that I found Teams the app that pulled most of the threads of work together, if only (kinda like Devonthink) because you could all the other Office documents inside of it. The mini-version of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote did most of what I needed.