Features

Hookmark’s context sensitive window enables you to get more out of all your favorite linkable apps. Whether you are in Finder, Mail, Safari, Apple Notes, Photos, DEVONthink, or any other link-friendly app, just invoke Hookmark’s popup window to copy links to the current item, or act on it in the following new and powerful ways. See all you bookmarks (across apps) in one place.

Copy and open links to information in any linkable app!

  • Copy Links to almost anything from any linkable app. Instantly copy well-formatted links not only to web pages, but also to files, emails, tasks, notes, Apple Photos, and many other types of data in your favorite apps. Paste these links in your TODO-lists, notes, emails or anywhere else!
  • Hook items together. After you’ve copied a link, you can bidirectionally link (aka ‘hook’) the copied link to the current item using Hook to Copied Link (⌘V, because it also ‘pastes’ in Hook window).
  • Open hooked links. Hookmark’s context-sensitive window shows you a list of all the items that you have ‘hooked’ (bidirectionally linked) to the item that is in the foreground of the current app. Hit ‘Return’ on a link, or double-click it, to open the linked item.
  • Navigate hooks. Recursively navigate the network of items that are hooked to the current item, with arrow keys or by clicking. This means Hookmark is also a link browser!
  • Hook current item to a new one. The amazing Hook to New command instantly creates a new item in the app of your choice, names it, stores it, optionally tags it, and ‘hooks’ it to the current item. Great for taking bidirectionally linked (‘hooked’) notes about a web page, video, PDF, or any other important resource.
  • Reveal current file in Finder. How many times have you wanted to quickly see where the current file is stored on Finder? Whether you are using TextEdit or any other link-friendly app, just invoke Hookmark and Reveal File in Finder (⌘R). It feels so good to instantly see a file in context, without searching!*

Adaptive links to files!

  • Unlike regular file links (which are so brittle hardly anyone uses them locally), Hookmark’s links to files on the Finder are adaptive! Copy a link to a file with Hookmark (yes, you can do that!), move or rename the linked file, and Hookmark’s adaptive file-link engine will ensure the link still works.
  • Hookmark’s adaptive file-links also work with files from cloud storage — such as iCloud, Dropbox and Sync — that you have locally synced to your Finder! If you or your colleagues move those files in the cloud, Hookmark’s adaptive file-link engine will endeavor to track them!
  • Developers take note! Hookmark’s adaptive file-links also work with files that you’ve checked out from version control systems (like Git and Subversion) to your Finder. If you locally delete the repository, then check it out (even to a different location), Hookmark’s adaptive file-link engine will endeavor to track them using heuristics that make Hookmark smart.
  • Finder aliases are just not good enough! Create a .hook file for any file or folder. When you double-click on the .hook file, Hookmark will open the current linkable item, regardless of its type (web page, file, email, task, etc.) They’re plain, editable text, and resolved with Hookmark’s adaptive file-link engine😊. [1]

Links to emails too!

Hookmark enables you to copy a link to emails. Paste links to relevant emails in your task lists or projects, for future reference.

This is a great way to escape your inbox (which is full of distractions) and focus on truly pertinent email.

Works with Apple Mail, Airmail, MailMate, Mimestream, Missive, Mailplane, Postbox and Spark. What’s more, for most of these apps, these links are shareable.

Deep PDF links to specific locations in a PDF file, and more

  • When you select text in a URL-friendly PDF app and use Hookmark’s Copy Link or Copy Markdown Link command, Hookmark creates a deep link to the selection in the PDF! Click on the link, and Hookmark will take you back to the selection. Super handy for researchers, lawyers, writers and others who work deeply with PDF files.
  • Hookmark’s deep PDF links are also robust.
  • Hookmark’s deep PDF links can be shared.
  • Hookmark can even create deep links to specific locations in a Quicktime video.

More New Forms of Linking

  • Drag and drop linking. You can also drag files onto Hook’s menu bar icon to hook them together (bidirectionally link them) in one or two drops.*
  • Create hook://search links. When you use them, Hookmark will trigger a Spotlight® search based on the link’s parameters.[3]

Effortless bookmarking

Hookmark is the world’s first truly universal automatic bookmarking app.

  • Truly universal: you can bookmark not only web pages (across browsers), but items in any compatible app (files in Finder, emails, tasks, notes, etc.)
  • Effortless: (a) Whenever you use Copy Link or Copy Markdown Link Hookmark will automatically add a bookmark. (b) When you hook items together, Hookmark will add one bookmark for each side of the ‘hook’ (if they do not already exist).
  • You can also manually add bookmarks (⌘D).
  • You can search your Hookmark bookmarks. Just type ⌥⌘F in Hookmark!

Having interacted with a resource with Hookmark is perhaps the most highly discriminative indicator of relevance ever invented. So it’s very convenient that Hookmark bookmarks for you. Try it, and you’ll be amazed!

Bookmarks window

You can view all your bookmarks in the Bookmarks Window by typing. You can access Hookmark’s bookmarks window by typing ⌃B in the Hookmark context window, or clicking on the Bookmarks window button in the context window, or in the menu bar window.

The bookmarks window has four handy views

  • PINNED
  • ALL
  • RECENT
  • TAGS

Yes, you can pin bookmarks that point to anything. You can also tag them. These features make it super easy to resume work on a project. Get to your deep work quickly and stay there longer, with fewer distractions.

Integrates with other bookmarking software

Hookmark integrates with Pinboard, GoodLinks and Instapaper. Automatically add bookmarks to these services. Also applies tags to bookmarks in Pinboard and GoodLinks. This gives you another way to view your bookmarks across mobile devices and Mac. This requires Pinboard, GoodLinks and/or Instapaper.

Sharing the Previously Unshareable

Whether you use Hookmark’s built in “share sheet”, or its universal Copy Link command, you can share links to information that you previously couldn’t:

  • Share links to emails! As long as the recipient has a copy of the email in a linkable app and Hookmark, when they click on the link, the email will open on their computer! This immediately puts you both in the same context, and gives them instant gratification.
  • Share links to files. Share copied file links (hook://file/…) that reveal the linked files in the recipient Mac’s Finder! Whether the file is in a synced or version controlled (e.g., Git) folder, or other location, if the file is indexed by Spotlight on their Mac, Hookmark can reveal it. No more long descriptions of where a file can be found!
  • Share “search links”. hook://search links, mentioned above, can also be shared. Help your family, friends and colleagues find the information they need by sending them search links. When they click on the search link, Hookmark will trigger a Spotlight search based on the link.

Markdown Innovation

  • Universal Copy Markdown Link. Instantly create a well-formed Markdown link with title and URL pointing to the current item, whether it is a web page, file, email, task, or any other linkable item. Paste them wherever you use Markdown.*
  • Embed links to anything in your Markdown documents. Hookmark extends the reach of your Markdown documents. With the hook://file scheme, you can embed links to files without having to worry about what happens to your links should you move the files! And you can embed links to all kinds of objects. Great for taking notes, writing todo lists, and editing documents in Markdown.
  • .hook files can contain Markdown links. Quickly paste a Markdown link into a .hook file. Next time you double-click on the file, Hookmark will open its target.

Automation

Multi-mac and Portability

  • Sync with your favorite technology. Use Hookmark across different Macs. Automatically Sync your links between Macs using any underlying medium you choose: iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, even a floppy drive.
  • Import/export. Export your links in human-readable format. Import them on the same Mac or a different Mac. The ‘import’ replaces the current links database.

More Features

  • Hotkeys. Keep your hands on the keyboard using familiar keyboard shortcuts.
  • Configurable global keyboard shortcuts for several commands.
  • Private. Hookmark data is not sent to us or synced to our servers. You can sync it with the technology of your choice (iCloud, Dropbox, etc.)
  • Customize how new items are created by Hookmark. Choose where items created by Hookmark’s Link to New command are stored, the default template for new files, and the prefix and/or suffix of new files. Get more information.
  • Tagging linked files. In addition to enabling you to tag your bookmarks, Hookmark can automatically apply a Finder tag to any file you hook to something else. So, you can use Spotlight to find all the files you’ve linked with Hookmark.
  • Unobtrusive popup window. Like the Spotlight search window, Hookmark appears when you call it up (⇧⌘SPACE or another method). It is compact. And it disappears automatically when you’re done.
  • Quick Look hooked items (⌘Y or use the Gear > View > Quick Look menu.)

Hookmark even works with Information Managers, Search Tools and Launchers

One of our major design objectives is for Hookmark to help you get more out of all your favorite apps. Hookmark works not only with special purpose apps (that deal with one or few file or object types), but:

  • Hookmark also works with personal information managers like DEVONthink, EagleFiler, Keep It, Yojimbo and Evernote. For instance you can use the universal Copy Link function to link items in a personal information manager to an item inside or outside the information manager. You can use Link to New to create and hook items in your personal information manager to other items.
  • Hookmark even works with utilities and search tools, like HoudahSpot.
  • Hookmark can be invoked from launchers. You can also access Hookmark’s automation from launchers (as noted above). You can even use LaunchBar’s “Send To” and many other features with Hookmark.

Open, no lock-in

CogSci Apps not only are committed to interoperability, we champion it. It is in our DNA. The very purpose of Hookmark is to help you access and connect documents and data from all your favorite apps. That requires inter-app communication. Learn more.

In Sum

Hookmark is an innovative, well-rounded product created by Mac enthusiasts who have been doing R&D on cognitive productivity software and linking for nearly 20 years. Its universal Copy Link and other features enable you to reference and immediately navigate information that matters to you. This means you can often skip searching and get the full benefits of links. You know links are great for navigating the web. Now you and your network (friends, colleagues, etc.) can use them to access the information that matters most to you.

Our product road map will keep pleasantly surprising you with new features.


Footnotes

*: Pro feature. For a breakdown of Pro vs. Standard features, see the Buy page.
1. .hook files are like Finder aliases and .webloc files except they are written in plain editable text, they are more robust (when they contain hook://file links), and they can point to any valid address (“URI”): to a web page, file, email, task, etc. Use Make Hookmark File * or create your own.
2. Like Finder aliases, Hookmark file links (hook://file/) have limits; but they are generally more robust than aliases and web links. You can even unmount, modify, and remount the folders in which the target files reside (e.g., shares, version control systems (Git, SVN, etc.), and volumes (DMGs, external drives, etc.) And of course, unlike aliases, they involve a URI (hook://file/), so you can embed the URI or link (name + URI) in any document or editable field, or use them in Hook to Copied Link. See Make Hookmark File for a description of Hookmark files and Copy Link for a description of Hookmark’s file and email addressing schemes.
3. For example, if you want a link that searches for “built-in templates” you could copy “built-in templates” and then use Hookmark’s convenient Copy a Search Link from Clipboard, which yields hook://search/?q=built-in%20templates. You can design complex Spotlight queries with its keyword syntax. (e.g., from name:built-in name:templates you get hook://search/?q=name%3Abuilt-in%20name%3Atemplates). Paste the links anywhere. Search links can find anything indexed by Spotlight.

Download a free trial and see for yourself.