Linkable Mac Apps

This document lists some of the apps whose content Hook enables you to link. The data are the result of our testing and/or Hook customers. A checkmark (√) indicates that Hook behaved as we expected with the app. There are likely many other apps that work out of the box with Hook that are not mentioned here. We frequently discover new ones. If you know your favorite app works but is not listed here, we would appreciate it if you would let us know via the Hook productivity forum or email (hook@cogsciapps.com).

If your favorite app is not yet linkable by Hook, here is what you can do. In sum, in many cases it is possible to add scripts in Hook’s Scripts preferences to make the app linkable. But if the app is not sufficiently scriptable, you may wish to contact the developer, as described here, to request they make their app scriptable (or support the appropriate x-callback-url’s.)

Many apps are discussed on the Hook productivity forum.

We update this document regularly. Many other apps are likely compatible but have not yet been tested by us.

Web browsers

  • Brave: √
  • Chrome: √
  • Firefox: √ (Currently, in English only)
  • Opera: √
  • Safari: √

Communication

  • AirMail: √
  • Mail: √
  • MailMate: √
  • Outlook: √ (However, hook://outlook email links are not shareable due to limitations of Outlook ).
  • Postbox: √
  • Spark: No (this email client by Readdle lacks automation)
  • Slack: links to/from current Slack or DM channel per forum.

Office apps (writing, spreadsheets, presentations)

  • Contacts: √
  • JeditΩ : √ per forum.
  • BusyContacts: √ (Currently, in English only)
  • Mellel: √
  • Nisus Writer and Nisus Writer Pro (forum): √
  • Pages: √
  • Keynote: √
  • Numbers: √
  • BusyCal: √ (Currently, in English only)
  • Calendar: Partial (“link to new> Calendar” is not available)
  • LibreOffice: √
  • Microsoft Excel: √
  • Microsoft Powerpoint: √
  • Microsoft Word: √
  • Agenda app: √
  • Scrivener: √ (Hook contextual window links are to the entire book).
  • Fantastical (Calendar app): Partial: Hook can link to dates but not events.

Integration with Microsoft Office requires Office 2016.

PDF Readers

  • Adobe Reader: √
  • Highlights: √
  • PDFPen Pro: √
  • Preview : √
  • Skim: √

  • PDF Expert: it lacks automation, however you can use this script.

Ebook readers

  • Bookreader: √
  • Books app: not yet
  • Kindle: not yet.
  • MarginNote: √

Task management

Outliners

Finder utilities, extensions and cloud storage

  • Dropbox (Finder extension): √ (Consider these Dropbox idiosyncracies).
  • Finder: √
  • OneDrive: Mostly (minus a current issue with Microsoft Word)
  • Google Drive: √ (you can link Google Drive files in Finder).
  • HoudahSpot 5: √
  • Path Finder: √
  • Forklift: √ (Currently, in English only)
  • Trickster: √ (per forum).

Information managers

Graphic editors, graphic organizers and mind mapping

  • Adobe Illustrator: √
  • Curio: √
  • InDesign: √ with single document. Its book documents and library are not yet compatible with Hook.
  • iThoughts X: √
  • MindNode: √ (to entire documents)
  • OmniGraffle Pro: √
  • OmniGraffle: √
  • Photoshop: √
  • Sketch: √
  • StorySpace: √

Development and automation tools

Text editors, note-taking apps, and writing utilities

  • BBEdit: √
  • Bear: √ (Currently, in English only)
  • Camtasia 3: √
  • Coda 2: √
  • CodeRunner: √
  • Drafts: √ (per Forum post).
  • iTextPro: √ (per forum post)
  • FSNotes: √ (Currently, in English only)
  • LightPaper: √
  • MacVim: √
  • MacJournal: √
  • Marked2: √
  • MultiMarkdown Composer: √
  • Notebooks 2: √ (Not integated with the menu bar window).
  • nvALT: √ (Currently, in English only; without “Link to New”)
  • nvUltra: √
  • SimpleNote: NO (has no AppleScript library nor x-callback-url)
  • Sublime Text: √
  • TextEdit: √
  • Textastic : √
  • TextMate: √
  • The Archive: √
  • Tinderbox by Eastgate software: √
  • Typora: √
  • Ulysses: √ (Ulysses does not provide AppleScript or JavaScript. So Hook uses screen-scripting to interact with it so your mileage may vary. See this post.). (Currently, in English only)
  • UltraEdit: √
  • VNote: √
  • Voodoopad note-taking app by Primate Labs: √ . See forum

Apple Notes app

As of Hook 1.5, Apple Notes is not supported due to issues with Apple Notes.

News Readers

  • ReadKit: √ (Currently, in English only)
  • Reeder: No (lacks automation)

Newsreaders are not designed to open URLs. The reciprocal http(s) link back to the copied address will be opened in the default application (typically a web browser)

Media players, Audio-video editors

Reference management software

  • Bookends: √
  • Mendeley: No (lacks automation)
  • Zotero: (no scripting interface. Also, they’ve turned down requests to add Applescript support while they rewrite Zotero for the next version. It might be possible with a plugin, however).
  • Papers 3 (Readcube, formerly Mekentosj): √ (uses hook://file links; works with PDFs that remain on file system)
  • Papers 2020 (lacks automation; not recommended): No.

Other scientific/academic

  • Mathematica: √

macOS Utilities (misc)

Other (misc)

Web Services

Hook can be used to link any web page to any other resource!

Given its emphasis on linking, for example we will simply pick one of a nearly infinite number of websites: Roam Research. Compare Hook 1.4 release notes.

Language and Internationalization

The Hook display language is currently only English. Some apps cannot yet be controlled by Hook if the macOS display language is not English. We intend to support other languages.

Definitions

“Not scriptable” means that to our knowledge there is no, or insufficient scripting interface for getting the address and name of the objects or documents managed by the app, or for creating objects in the app. Hook can make use of AppleScript, JavaScript and x-callback-URL. See Hook Integration, and Contacting developers of other apps to request scripting support.

The definition of “compatibility” is different for certain applications. For instance, apps like browsers are read-only, so they don’t require a “scripting interface” for creating new objects. News readers and some information managers work differently. News readers return an address (http//: or https://). When accessing web addresses, typically macOS invokes a web browser.