Hookmark 5.1 Is Now Available: Finder Extension, `Copy As Path`, `Copy As File URL` and more!

[LucB]

Hookmark Version 5.1 (5433; Integration v. 271) is now available for download. See the Hookmark 5.1 Release Notes page for full details and the download link.

Summary

• NEW: Finder extension!
• NEW: “Copy As Path” and “Copy As File URL” contextual commands
• Various other core and integration improvements.

Finder extension

After installing the extension, just control-click on one or more files, and you will see these commands:

• Open Hookmark Window
• Copy Link(s)
• Copy As Markdown Link(s) (Pro users only)
• Hook Selected Files Together (only shown if you’ve multi-selected files)
• Hook to Copied Link(s) (only shown if there is at least one link in the clipboard)

NEW: “Copy As Path” and “Copy As File URL” contextual commands

You can now copy the path of the currently selected or open file by using the new Copy As Path or Copy As File URL commands. To access the Copy As Path command,

1. invoke Hookmark on a file;
2. in Hookmark’s title bar, click the Action ☰ button;
3. click the Advanced menu; and
4. choose Copy As Path

To access the Copy As File URL command,

1. invoke Hookmark on a file;
2. in Hookmark’s title bar, click the Action ☰ button;
3. click the Advanced menu;
4. hold down the option key; and
5. choose Copy As File URL

Eligibility for updates

Hookmark software updates are free to any Hookmark CogSci Apps customer with a Hookmark Updates license that was valid at the time the update was released. Hookmark Pro and Hookmark Standard each come with one year of free access to software updates.

If your Hookmark Updates license has expired and you apply this update, please note that Hookmark will revert to Basic mode until you purchase and apply an Updates license. However, you can also revert to a previous version of Hookmark that was released during your Updates License period. Upgrading from Standard to Pro includes an additional 12-month Updates license.

Next steps

So, please

• Give Hookmark 5.1 a try
• Discuss here and on social media, and
• enjoy .

[LucB]

Above is a screenshot taken from BBEdit. With a file open, you can Copy As Path.
Hold down the option key and you will see Copy As File URL, yielding a file:// URL.

Of course, BBEdit provides such commands too. The advantage of Hookmark, here, is that the command is universal. Invoke Hookmark in Finder, TextEdit, and most other file based apps and you will be able to access these handy commands.

Anyone want a Copy As Path command that yields a HTML or Markdown link the

• name of which is the path, and
• the URL of which is a hook://file/ URL?

I know I do. So that is in the product road map.

[arthurwerry]

The link points to version 3.3 not 5.1.

Thank you.

[LucB]

thank you. updated.

Hookmark 5.1 Release Notes and Download Link – Hookmark

[Mathew]

Ugh. This multiple finder files and hooking seems like a great addition. Not able to get it to work. Doesn’t help that main instructions seem to be for OS 12 when even my cats are using OS 13 these days. (Okay, there are dogs we know who are on 12, but that’s a different story.)

I “think” I’ve installed the extension. When I try to hook multiple files in finder I get something like this:

Does this look correct? The end result, when I choose Hook Selected Files Together doesn’t seem to work … I get a link to the folder they are in, but not to the individual 3 files.

[LucB]

Looks like the extension is not installed. At startup , you get a prompt to install the extension.

To enable the extension,

1. open System Preferences (called “System Settings” as of macOS 13 [Ventura]),
2. search for “Extensions”,
3. put a √ checkmark in the “Hookmark Finder Extensions” checkbox

[Mathew]

And this is what it looks like on OS 13:

So it seems it is installed. (Sorry, having directions and photos only for OS 12 isn’t helping in the instructions.)

[LucB]

thanks, @mathew. I’ve updated the page.

[Mathew]

But the problem is with extension installed multiple file selection and hooking does not seem to work

[bchend]

Sorry for the trouble.

My macOS version 13.4. I just tried it and it seems to be working fine. What’s your macOS version?

Could you please try the following and see any of them can fix the problem?
(1)Close Finder window and reopen it
(2)Turn off/on Hookmark Finder extension
(3)Give Hookmark Full Disk Access

If all of them does not work, could you please delete current Hookmark and redownload it from Hookmark website?

Thank you

[LucB]

@Mathew

Does this look correct?

no. This does not show Copy Link(s), for instance. cf the image above, which I repeat here:

If you are seeing it , then re

@Mathew

But the problem is with extension installed multiple file selection and hooking does not seem to work

1. with a single file selected , does Copy Link work? if not, what happens?
2. with 2 files selected, does Copy Link work? if not, what happens?
3. with 2 files selected, do you see “Hook Selected Files Together”?
4. if you can see it, what happens when you apply the command

thank you.

[Mathew]

@LucB and @bchend Thanks for your help. I’m not sure what caused the change, but this morning it all works fine! I did restart my computer so that may have helped.

Copying multiple links at the same time will be incredibly useful to me. Thanks for this new feature!

[BernSh]

@LucB

NEW: “Copy As Path”

When I count the actions needed to use this function, I get 5 ‘steps’ or summary actions. There are many more if you consider the cognitive and motor activities/coordinations involved.

1. click on the target file to select it (then reposition your hands/fingers to move from the mouse to the keyboard)
2. invoke Hookmark on a file; (press control H on the keyboard)
3. in Hookmark’s title bar, click the Action ☰ button; (leave the keyboard and reorient your hands/fingers on the mouse, locate cursor on the screen, locate target of click, move cursor until over target, evoke a mouse click)
4. click the Advanced menu; and (locate new target for mouse, move mouse over new target, evoke a mouse click)
5. choose Copy As Path (reorientate visional attention again to the new popup window, locate new target in said window, move mouse over new target, evoke a mouse click)

Currently, you can

1. right-click a mouse OR two-finger click on a trackpad, OR control-click on the target file in the Finder to evoke the contextual menu
2. hold the option key down and the copy command changes to copy as Pathname.
3. Click on copy as Pathname command

Given this, I don’t see a benefit in using Hookmark’s longer sequence.

The copy as File URL is a nice addition.

I’m putting this out not for a fix but rather to point out something I often see from developers and that is that all the actual work needed to evoke commands is frequently not considered.

[LucB]

Thanks for asking, @BernSh. I sincerely appreciate the feedback. Here are some thoughts to put the new commands in their context.

@BernSh

1. invoke Hookmark on a file; (press control H on the keyboard)
2. in Hookmark’s title bar, click the Action ☰ button; (leave the keyboard and reorient your hands/fingers on the mouse, locate cursor on the screen, locate target of click, move cursor until over target, evoke a mouse click)
3. click the Advanced menu; and (locate new target for mouse, move mouse over new target, evoke a mouse click)
4. choose Copy As Path (reorientate visional attention again to the new popup window, locate new target in said window, move mouse over new target, evoke a mouse click)

That’s how I explained it so people can get understand it , seeing it visually. I imagine that most users would then use the keyboard:

1. ^H (invoke Hookmark)
2. ^M (access the Action ☰ button)
3. A (access advanced)
4. → (enter advanced)
5. c (select copy path; or use arrow keys.)

Agreed, however, that even this is a lot of interaction. But at least it is ballistic / keyboard driven (not requiring mousing around)

Keyboard Maestro users can automate.

We intend to introduce a keyboard shortcut for these commands, so they each will reduce to

2. ^M,
3. keyboard shortcut

If there is demand, we’ll provide an option for a global keyboard shortcut.

Benefit: Hookmark provides universal commands that work across contexts

@BernSh

right-click a mouse OR two-finger click on a trackpad, OR control-click on the target file in the Finder to evoke the contextual menu

A major benefit of Hookmark in general and this in particular is that the same habit serves you well in all contexts. Hookmark’s commands revolve around contextually addressing resources ( creating links, opening resources). So you have ‘one stop shopping’ for that.

@LucB

Invoke Hookmark in Finder, TextEdit, and most other file based apps and you will be able to access these handy commands.

The “uniform habit” benefit is very hard to get across, but it makes all the difference in productivity.

a. many apps do not provide a copy path function.
b. even if they do, you would have to remember where it is (different apps put it in different menus, name it differently, and have different keyboard shortcuts [if at all)].
c. with Hookmark: it’s always the same habit. Hookmark provides a uniform interface, so that with the same UX (interactions) in any app you can copy links, paths, etc.

Same goes for Reveal File in Finder. Some apps have Reveal File in Finder. But they place them in different places. The cognitive load is overwhelming. Many don’t even have the command.

with Hookmark: the same interactions work across as many contexts as we can make them work.

Also, as noted:

@LucB

Anyone want a Copy As Path command that yields a HTML or Markdown link the

• name of which is the path, and
• the URL of which is a hook://file/ URL?

I know I do. So that is in the product road map.

this goes beyond what Finder does. I.e., it will handle the case where the file moves after you have copied its path.

So, even if the current sequence is (currently) more demanding in case of Finder, overall (across apps), it is less demanding. And in our discussions with users, many don’t know that Finder has this function. By making the command available universally across all compatible file-based apps, we hope that users who need these function ( copy path, copy file url, Reveal File in Finder, etc.) will find themselves using it (again due to the convenience and universality).

The foregoing explanation hopefully addresses your comment that

@BernSh

something I often see from developers and that is that all the actual work needed to evoke commands is frequently not considered.

i.e., the feature is part of a product road map that considers the overall cognitive load and efficiency.

I should also point out a general use for the new commands (and the upcoming enhancements), which is communicating with others. Often when we share links to content in Dropbox, iCloud, Git, etc, we want to

a) provide info about where the file is (directory path)
b) the name of the file (filename, or terminal node of path)
c) provide a robust link they can click on to get to the path.

We could add some of this in the new Hookmark Finder extension too, in an Advanced menu. (We have further plans for the Finder menu apart from this)

We have a few more variants of path copying that we would like to add, but we’ll wait to see what the reception is like. Feedback here helps better understand users’ needs, and how we need to communicate. Thanks again.

[BernSh]

I very much appreciate the thoughtful and generous reply. Here’s additional considerations, given you opened the box , that I recognize may be an outlier’s view.

@LucB

even this is a lot of interaction. But at least it is ballistic / keyboard driven (not requiring mousing around)

There is an understandably keyboard-centric bias. I don’t object, yet the minority more visual/tactally oriented thinkers are excluded. Remember that access to thinking happenings through all the various ways we access and precieve the world. Dancer’s think in movement, painter’s think visually, Musicians think tonally and kinesthetically, etc.

I have found Keyboard Maestro’s palettes just begin to level this playing field. I have omnipresent app specific palettes that allow for gathering disparate resources into a common interface while not requiring new cognitive load of remembering keyboard combinations and developing new muscle memory. It also provides a common not app-specific platform as changing work requirements and personal prefferences continually morph and evolve. As you put it

@LucB

the same habit serves you well in all contexts.

This requires some artful wrangling as this level of ‘paletting’ pushes the design limits of the palette function. It is after all Keyboard Maestro.

@LucB

Some apps have Reveal File in Finder. But they place them in different places. The cognitive load is overwhelming. Many don’t even have the command.

Completely agree and while initially overwhelming to confront, this particular app function siloing extends to many many functions scattered across most all apps. There’s no actual boundary to this idea of unification/stanardazation to make computing more fruitful. I know this opens up a whale of conversations that neither this forum or myself are prepared to take on. Nor is there an intent to poke the bear, run, and see what happens. I’m simply saying I’m aligned with the idea and there’s considerably more west to go.

One last big thought before stepping down from the soapbox. Scaling up from this app to apps in general to computing overall and now to where we are socially, I assert that the space currently available for app development is boxed in by the limits of the personal contexts that we each have created thus far. Given the current paradigm that arises from all the individual contexts, it is unfathomable to take action (develop the computing context) on behalf of the whole. The ‘individualistic worldview’ limits, shapes, and forms what can be thought, dictates what is ok to think, and determines what is acceptable, right, true, and real. Mostly, we deal with ourselves and each other at the surface of thinking like ‘what I believe’ or ‘my strongly held opinions’. Rarely do we consider what unlays these thoughts, what determines what can be considered, what’s ok to believe or even what is believable.

What does this have to do within a discussion about a single function in a single app? Everything and nothing. We pick our battles given how the world occurs for us which in turn is given by the context that shapes our occurring world. For me I see many connections and dare to declair a possibility of unification within the context of computing that I see suggested within this app’s mission.

[boldfish]

Copy as markdown link(s) is formatting the link wrong.

The last bracket is square and should be )

[IMG_3306.JPG](hook://file/Qn8fBpxKM?p=RG93bmxvYWRzL0AtMjAyMy0wNS0wMQ==&n=IMG%5F3306%2EJPG]

[bchend]

Thank you for reporting this issue! Sorry about this, @boldfish

We will fix it in next release.

[tberni]

Hello everyone, hello @LucB

I just upgraded to Hook 5.1 from version 3.4.3 on my two computers, a MB with MacOS 11 and a 2003 iMac with MacOS 10.13 both with Hook perfectly synchronized with Hook version 3.4.3. Well, when moving to version 5.1 Hook on MacOS 10.13 has shown two worrying problems:

1. Hook crashes if I keep syncing between computers (whichever method I use, the effect is to crash Hook).

2. The other problem is that the finder extension (despite enabling it) does not work, it does not appear in the context menu.

The operation in MacOS 11 Big Sur, on the other hand, is correct and flawless.

Are you aware of these bugs? Are there any fixes planned for these problems with MacOS 10.13?

My system working with Hook right now is seriously affected.

Best regards.

[stationagent]

The Hookmark options don’t display in my right click menu when I’m in a dropbox folder, which is where all my files and folders reside.

[LucB]

I’m using Dropbox. no problem with it and Hookmark. Have you tried the Hookmark finder extension in your Home folder? E.g., select ~/Documents . If you don’t see Hookmark there it means the Hookmark extension needs to be turned on in System Preferences.