Disappearing Links in nvALT

Bug Reports
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Updating:

I am not seeing odd behavior in any app but NVAlt so far - other than one I will address in a separate Scrivener post. But, nothing other than what I have noted with NVAlt according to this thread.

Thu. Aug 29, 2019 10:03 AM: I went to NVAlt. I hit the Hook hot key. I got an empty Hook window. At the same time, I heard my external drive, now asleep, spin up. In the time it takes to spin up the external drive the Hook menu remained blank. This was approximately 5 - 10 seconds. Then, when the drive finished being accessible, the Hook menu suddenly became populated.

Sat. Aug 31, 2019 07:29 AM: I just opened NVAlt. Ran Hook first thing in the morning. More than 40 seconds, empty menu. Click again an NVAlt and triggered Hook, 35 seconds and the list populated.

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22

Thanks for clarifying. I have updated the title accordingly.

that’s got to be annoying. I’ve issued an internal request to look into that.

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@levelbest kindly provided details about another missing links issue in NVAlt lost all links, again - Bug Reports - Hook Productivity Forum, which I am responding to here since the titles and initial description match.

If the address of the original nvALT file matches the address of the nvALT file as you currently see it, then Hook should be able to find all the links.

If you do “Copy as Link” on the file in nvALT (as you see it now), it should match one or more entries in the database. However, the database is rather opaque to non programmers.

There is also a Hook log file in ~/Library/Application\ Support/com.cogsciapps.hook/ log.csv. This file is not currently read by Hook, but it can be examined by the user (in a text editor) to review their linking history. It’s just a text file. (It can also be imported in a spreadsheet.) If you were to search for the address of the current file, it should match a previous entry (a “log event”) in that file. If it does not, that suggests that somehow the address of the file has changed. I have not experienced this myself with nvALT (except in appearance, as noted above, with Dropbox; but in that case it is Dropbox moving files.) But it would be something to look at.

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@levelbest, To prevent the hard disk from slowing down on access you could try this: Prevent Beachballs & Slow Downs in Mac OS X When External Hard Drive is Attached which is also macos - External hard drive slows down computer and makes processes freeze - Ask Different. Obviously, it’s not the most energy efficient solution. It might also be provide relevant information: does your disappearing nvALT links issue go away under those conditions? I do still have an internal request in the queue here to see if Hook can avoid triggering macOS sending a command to the external HDD.

External SSD’s would not have this problem.

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I don’t have a problem with my disk slowing down. This has only been an issue between Hook and NVAlt.

I already use an internal SSD. External non SSD drives are still quite important since DiskWarrior has still not updated their app to work with SSD drives.

I have resolved the problem with NVAlt by moving away from using NVAlt and Hook together and instead I am making good use of Curio. Curio is great for what I am doing so I have no regrets.

I will continue to watch what is happening in the development of Hook. And who can say what the eventual release of the NVAlt successor will bring?

Congrats on your new release BTW.

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