A couple new user questions around iCloud and Notes (shortcut)

[LucB]

Welcome to the Hook Productivity Forum, @CatOne! And thanks for asking about all this.

here’s a quick reply this Sunday evening (Pacific Time).

There’s no default setting for Notes, so cmd-N cannot ever be Notes. Why is this, when you can have it create new notes via menu item?

Hook is currently treating database style apps (like OmniFocus , Things, etc.) and File-based apps (like TextEdit) differently. When you create a new note for a File-based app you can select a template. In this case, Hook copies the files and puts it in the Notes folder. The templates are stored in your Hook templates folder. Just put any file with the extension you want , like .doc, .graffle, .txt, or whatever, and the “Link to New” mechanism makes a copy of it.

This has to work somewhat differently for database style apps because they don’t store their objects directly on the file system. Having said that, we are open to providing a template mechanism down the road for database style apps, where possible. (the case is more complex. and we’re currently focusing on other user requests.)

@CatOne

I saw somewhere (I think on your site) that it’s possible to create keyboard shortcuts to the “New” items, and there was one set for Notes. But for the life of me, I can’t figure out how to do this. How can I set it so if I invoke the Hook shortcut, the next thing I can do is create a new linked note?

The trick for this is to use System Preferences, Keyboard shortcuts. Like this.

You can add the command Notes and choose a keyboard shortcut for it, like ⌘⇧O. I will add screenshots or a screencast for that (though I think most current Hook users are familiar with adding keyboard shortcuts )

Also, the note template configuration is described here:
Notes Tab – Hook

@CatOne

Second, I use iCloud to sync a lot of stuff (including my desktop and documents folders). However, if I’m on a machine and set up links between a Safari web page and another document (I tried with both a Note and with a plain text file), these associations don’t appear on other machines. This makes things… much less useful for me.

Hook links currently don’t sync across Macs. multi-mac syncing was an early request. Even before the public beta , @timstringer requested it during the private beta. We implemented the first version of this internally in July but had to delay testing it (in favor of a UI overhaul, leading to 1.3). It’s currently being tested internally, and we are fine tuning it. If all goes well it will be part of Hook 1.4, the next non-maintenance release of Hook.

However, even now it is possible to copy Hook links between computers albeit manually: Using Hook on Multiple Macs – Hook. We didn’t provide scripts to automate this, wanting to focus on the proper multi-mac sync, but it could be done.

I will revisit this topic tomorrow morning , and please feel free to ask more questions.