Are there any plans to change the Hook links for mail to make them behave like Drafts, Bear etc so the link format is : mail:// or even better message://
This would enable links between Apple Mail & Omnifocus to still work on iOS devices.
Thanks
You can customize the URL scheme Hook uses with different applications by editing the Get Address script associated with an app in Preferences>Scripts
I modified this Get Address script to use the link format message://
Try it out and let me know if it does what you’re asking for.
tell application "Mail"
set frontWinIsMessageViewer to false
set fid to id of front window
repeat with v in message viewers
set wid to id of window of v
if fid = wid then
set frontWinIsMessageViewer to true
end if
end repeat
if frontWinIsMessageViewer then
try
set theSelection to selection
set theMessage to item 1 of theSelection
set mid to message id of theMessage
set mid to my encodeText(mid, true, false)
return "message://%3C" & mid & "%3E"
on error eStr number enum
--display dialog eStr & " Number: " & enum buttons {"OK"} default button 1
return
end try
end if
try
set theSelection to selection
set theMessage to item 1 of theSelection
set mid to message id of theMessage
set subj to subject of theMessage
set wname to name of front window
set astid to AppleScript's text item delimiters
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {" ", ": "} -- to strip "re: ", "re:", "Re: ", "fwd:", etc
repeat with i from 1 to count of text items of subj
repeat with j from 1 to count of text items of wname
if text item i of subj is equal to text item j of wname then
repeat with k from j to (count of text items of subj) - i
set window_title to text item k of wname
set subj_name to text item (i + k - j) of subj
if window_title is not equal to subj_name then
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to astid
return
end if
end repeat
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to astid
set mid to my encodeText(mid, true, false)
return "message://%3C" & mid & "%3E" -- an old message
end if
end repeat
end repeat
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to astid
on error eStr number enum
--display dialog eStr & " Number: " & eNum buttons {"OK"} default button 1
end try
try
set searchText to name of front window
set astid to AppleScript's text item delimiters
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {" — "} -- to strip " — mailbox"
set searchText to text item 1 of searchText
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to astid
set matchText to paragraphs of (do shell script "mdfind \"kMDItemSubject == " & quoted form of searchText & "\"")
if matchText ≠ {} then
set targetMatch to (item 1 of matchText) as rich text
if targetMatch ≠ "false" then
set lns to paragraphs of (read targetMatch)
# Loop over lines read and copy each to the clipboard.
repeat with ln in lns
--display dialog ln
if ln starts with "Message-ID:" then
set x to length of "Message-ID:"
set ln to characters (x + 1) thru -1 of ln as string
repeat while ln begins with " "
set ln to characters (2) thru -1 of ln as string
end repeat
repeat while ln begins with "<"
set ln to characters 2 thru -1 of ln as string
end repeat
repeat while ln ends with ">"
set ln to characters 1 thru -2 of ln as string
end repeat
set ln to my encodeText(ln, true, false)
return "message://%3C" & ln & "%3E"
end if
end repeat
end if
end if
on error eStr number enum
--display dialog eStr & " Number: " & enum buttons {"OK"} default button 1
end try
end tell
on encodeText(theText, encodeCommonSpecialCharacters, encodeExtendedSpecialCharacters)
set theStandardCharacters to "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789"
set theCommonSpecialCharacterList to "$+!'/?;&@=#%><{}\"~`^\\|*"
set theExtendedSpecialCharacterList to ".-_:"
set theAcceptableCharacters to theStandardCharacters
if encodeCommonSpecialCharacters is false then set theAcceptableCharacters to theAcceptableCharacters & theCommonSpecialCharacterList
if encodeExtendedSpecialCharacters is false then set theAcceptableCharacters to theAcceptableCharacters & theExtendedSpecialCharacterList
set theEncodedText to ""
repeat with theCurrentCharacter in theText
if theCurrentCharacter is in theAcceptableCharacters then
set theEncodedText to (theEncodedText & theCurrentCharacter)
else
set theEncodedText to (theEncodedText & encodeCharacter(theCurrentCharacter)) as string
end if
end repeat
return theEncodedText
end encodeText
on encodeCharacter(theCharacter)
set theASCIINumber to (the ASCII number theCharacter)
set theHexList to {"0", "1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "A", "B", "C", "D", "E", "F"}
set theFirstItem to item ((theASCIINumber div 16) + 1) of theHexList
set theSecondItem to item ((theASCIINumber mod 16) + 1) of theHexList
return ("%" & theFirstItem & theSecondItem) as string
end encodeCharacter
7 Likes
Thanks for doing this. I’d set aside time today to figure out this script on my own but when it comes to AppleScript, it is ALWAYS better when someone else has run the gauntlet for me already.
3 Likes
@MacSparky - Love the interwebs! Heard you mention this on Automators, came here did a simple search, and BAM… Thanks for mentioning this!
1 Like
Welcome the Hook Productivity Forum, @MacSparky and @95omega !
Glad you found it quickly, @95omega. Do you have a link to the Automators episode in question?
Is this still the best way to use message:// links in Hook?
Why is this not the default behavior in Hook, as it is for Hook when linking to an item in DevonThink, Drafts, Things, and other apps?
I haven’t listened to that podcast episode yet.
Hook’s default integration with most supported mail apps is hook://email<ID>. This makes it possible to send URLs that resolve regardless of email client as long as the user has Hook Lite or better (Lite is free: can be used to resolve hook:// URLs, and create hook://email URLs), and a compatible email app (that uses RFC compliant email IDs). This means that you don’t need to make as strong an assumption about the email client of the recipient, and you yourself can change email apps dynamically (there’s a Favorite Apps tab in Hook’s preferences).
Hook integration with apps (including email apps) is configurable, so someone can use a different URL scheme than the default if they want. Often we publish alternative scripts for apps. on the Linkable Mac Apps – Hook page, many apps have links for further information. (We will create more of these pages in 2021 with our new URL patterns that you can see: https://hookproductivity.com/help/integration/using-hook-with-<App-Name>/).
1 Like
Thanks, LucB.
A partial answer to my own question: The script above seems to work very well. If there’s a better way to do this … well, I may not be interested, because the script above seems to work fine. 
1 Like
Thanks. We’ll add that to the web page on email integration (and linked from the particular "Using Hook with <email App Name> " web pages), so users can quickly get to this alternative script. Ultimately, Hook’s Scripts preferences pane should allow users to easily choose (with the UI, like a menu) the integration script they want (and sometimes: parameters)
1 Like
Follow up to this question - am I correct that using a traditional Hook link would make a message that was sent to two people open that message on their respective computers? If I’m correct in that, will switching tot his message: style take that away?
Teddy
As long as
- you copied the link with a fully compliant e-mail app
- they use such an email app (and Hook is configured to use it),
- they have access to the same message
Qualification #2 is because some apps use local message IDs that are not compliant with RFC-5322. Mail, AirMail and MailMate provide RFC compliant email ID automation.
If I’m correct in that, will switching tot his message: style take that away?
sorry, I don’t understand this question.
Thanks for the response! For the second question, I was wondering if editing the script for mail links as described in this thread (shifting from hook:// to message://) will interfere with the ability to open the same message across computers.
Sorry for the delay. That should work across Macs and on iPhone/iPad.
The limitation is that it only works in Mail.app. If you switch to a different email client, or want to send it to someone else, you’ll be out of luck. That’s why we invented the hook:///email URL scheme.
1 Like
I would also like to say thanks for doing this. Why is this not the Default Get Address script for Mail?
Because the hook: version is more robust than the message: version.
1 Like
Thanks! If I had looked closely the first time I would have seen that you have answered this very question before 
1 Like
For users who prefer message:// style URLs, we published this in 2019: Mail links format - #2 by grahamb
I’ve updated the Favorite Apps Tab – Hook page to link to this.