Hook and DEVONthink
There’s a neat connection you can create using Hook and DEVONthink. Hook is a program that creates a palette of connected items throughout your system. I’ve described using Hook before when using it with OmniFocus.
Using Hook, you can automatically create a text file in DEVONthink to connect to any other part of your system.
An Example
As an example, here’s a project I have in OmniFocus:
- Select the project
- Type the Hook command (Shift-option-space for me)
Doing so summons the Hook app, which you can see hovering over the project in the OmniFocus window:
- Type Command-n to create a new DEVONthink file.
In the image below, you can see the menu option that could alternatively by selected:
A new window appears asking where you want the note in DEVONthink:
- Choose a spot, and hit ok.
Once you do, you’ll see a new note, ready for whatever reference items you want to add:
Now, whenever you select the OmniFocus Project and invoke the Hook command, you can see your reference note:
How to Set It Up
Setting it up is easy.
- Invoke Hook (Shift-Option-Space)
- Access preferences (Command-,)
- Go to the Notes tab
- Under the Note Templates area, choose DEVONthink as your default:
This is awesome, but left me with a little annoyance that I was forced to use a DEVONthink file type of .txt. In DEVONthink I prefer to use Markdown files. Luckily there is an easy solution. Open Hook preferences, go to “Scripts” -> “DEVONthink 3” and modify it changing “type:txt” to “type:markdown” then save. Now when creating Hook files into DEVONthink the will be Markdown files.
Hey Michael,
Thanks for the tip! I’ll give that a shot myself. I also prefer Markdown files.