Link-friendly Mac Apps

Unlike other bookmarking apps, Hookmark works not only with web browsers: You can bookmark information in any linkable app. Hookmark even has custom addressing schemes for apps that don’t have their own (such as Apple Notes and Contacts). Plus, you can invoke Hookmark’s contextual window in the linkable apps listed below, enabling you to “hook” (bidirectionally link) their items. The information results from our testing and/or Hookmark customers’. (See also : What’s a Linkable App and Why Does Linkability Matter?).

Legend

1. 👍 : The app has reliable automation for linking which is used by Hookmark. Those apps are the best apps to use with Hookmark. Linking should work regardless of the language of the app. And their software developers should be commended for supporting linking and automation.
2. 🤔 : Hookmark integrates with the app using UI scripting because the app lacks an adequate API for linking (possibly no API).
3. 👎. No support. Normally we simply don’t mention an app if there’s no support. But sometimes we do.

Web browsers

• 👍 Arc Browser.
• 👍 Brave
• 👍 Chrome
• 👍 DEVONagent Pro
• 👍 Microsoft Edge
• 👍 Opera
• 👍 Safari
• 👍 Wavebox Browser (Chromium based)
• 🤔 Firefox, Firefox Nightly browser, Development edition: (all languages), and LibreWolf.

Ebook readers

• 👍 Apple Books app: As described in this post .
• 👍 Bookreader
• 👍 Calibre. See this forum post for configuration.
• 🤔 Kindle app (classic version). With DEEP links to the specific page! (English only at the moment.)
• 🤔 MarginNote 3. Before invoking Hookmark, rather than selecting text on the right, select a node in the left navigation pane.

PDF Readers

• 👍 Adobe Reader
• 👍 Adobe Acrobat (requires Hookmark 2.2.2 or newer)
• 👍 DEVONthink.
• 👍 Highlights – PDF Reader for Research
• 👍 Nitro PDF Pro (previously called “PDFPenPro”) Includes deep linking to PDFs. See Using Hookmark with PDFPenPro. (Also on Setapp)
• 👍 Reader — Augmented Text.
• 👍 PDFoo
• 👍 Preview
• 👍 Skim PDF reader: See Using Hookmark with the Free Skim PDF Reader app: Deep Links!

Some other apps have PDF readers built-in to them with which you can use Hookmark, such as DEVONthink’s PDF reader.

PDF Readers supporting deep linking (to specific selections in a document!)

Hookmark enables you to copy deep links to specific selections in a PDF! Paste the links in your notes, tasks, etc. The links open the PDF at the specific selection in the document! Save yourself time and use these links rather than referring to page numbers/paragraphs in writing. You can even share the links will others who have the same file on their Mac..

• 👍 Adobe Reader (requires at least Hookmark, Big Sur): select an annotation like a highlight before Copy Link, Copy Markdown Link
• 👍 Acrobat Pro DC (requires at least Hookmark 3, Big Sur): select an annotation like a highlight before Copy Link, Copy Markdown Link.
• 👍 Bookends It has its own URL scheme (not interchangeable with other PDF apps.)
• 👍 DEVONthink. It has its own URL scheme (not interchangeable with other PDF apps.)
• 👍 Nitro PDF Pro. See Using Hookmark with PDFPenPro
• 👍 Free Skim PDF reader: See Using Hookmark with the Free Skim PDF Reader app: Deep Links!.

Hookmark also has a Copy Selection and Link (⌃Q) command that does what you would expect.

You’ll also love Using Hookmark with Apple’s QuickTime Player! It gives you deep links to specific timestamps 😊.

PDF readers supporting “Copy Selection and Link”

See Copy Selection and Link.

PDF readers lacking adequate automation

• 🤔 PDFoo supports deep linking, but you’d need to use its Copy Link function. Not as robust or convenient as Hookmark’s deep links. If they add an API for deep linking we would likely support it. Deep-linking aside, PDFoo works fine with Hook.
• 🤔 PDF Expert by Readdle: it lacks automation; however, you can try this script.

Technical/quantitative computing/programming

• 👍 ‎CalcTape Paper Tape Calculator. See the Hookmark CalcTape forum topic.
• 👍 Mathematica — neural networks, machine learning, image processing, geometry, data science, visualizations, and others.
• 👍 Math | LibreOffice – Formula Editor

• 👍 PRE electron versions of RStudio work well with Hookmark. But see next line.

• 👎 RStudio Electron versions do not yet seem to have automation for linking. We advise against installing the electron version until they provide an API and Hookmark is updated to use it.

• 🤔 Soulver by Acqualia. See forum post.

Reference management software

• 👍 BibDesk: Free LaTeX-compatible Mac bibliography manager app BibTex front-end. See Using Hookmark with BibDesk.
• 👍 Bookends: The recommended reference manager for Mac users. Includes deep PDF links!
• 👍 Papers 3 (Readcube, formerly Mekentosj): (uses hook://file links which means even if you stop using Papers, your links will work. It works with PDFs that remain on file system.)
• 👍 Zotero: (As of Hookmark’s v. 124 integration.) The “zotxt” Zotero extension is required for integration with Zotero.

Diagramming, graphic organizers, mind mapping, images and photos

• 👍 Adobe Illustrator
• 👍 Adobe InDesign: (With a single document. Its book documents and library are not yet compatible with Hookmark.)

• 👍 Curio: Hookmark can make deep links within Curio documents. (Curio 13 links are to entire documents only.) See forum.

• 👍 Diagrams: A Brand New Diagram Editor for Mac
• 👍 FreeMind – free mind mapping software
• 👍 Freeplane – free mind mapping and knowledge management software. (Freeplane is a fork of FreeMind)
• 👍 iThoughts X Also on Setapp.
• 🤔 MindManager.
• 👍 MindNode: to entire documents (See Using Hookmark with MindNode). Also on Setapp.
• 👍 OmniGraffle Pro
• 👍 LibreOffice Draw – Based on OpenOffice
• 👍 Adobe Photoshop
• 👍 Apple Photos. See Using Hookmark with Apple Photos.
• 👍 Sketch
• 👍 StorySpace
• 👍 Tayasui Sketches On Setapp.
• 🤔 TheBrain. TheBrain app lacks automation but Hookmark has a script for it (English).
  

Email software

See How to Get and Use Links to Email Messages .

• 👍 AirMail (uses hook://email/ URL scheme)
• 👍 Apple Mail (uses hook://email/ URL scheme)
• 👍 Fastmail Fmail app and fmail2 (has custom links) See also this forum topic.
• 👍 MailMate. (uses hook://email/ URL scheme)
• 👍 Mailplane – Gmail client app (Links use gmail email IDs)
• 👍 Mimestream is a native macOS email client for Gmail which combines the power of macOS with Gmail’s advanced features. Has its own universal URL scheme of the form `https://links.mimestream.com/`.
• 👍 Postbox Mac app, which has account groups, gmail labels, subscription views, etc. On Hookmark’s forum.

NB, the links to emails of apps annotated with “Links use gmail email IDs” are not shareable between users. Other apps use RFC 5322 – Internet Message Format in the hook://email/ links, so you can configure which app to open them with, and they can be shared between different users.

UI-scripted email apps

Integration with the following email apps are UI scripted. Also, the URLs do not expose the RFC 5322 email ID, so they can’t be shared between users. That’s why we recommend using one of the email apps above.

• 🤔 Missive
• 🤔 Spark 2 by Readdle (Forum topic. This uses Spark’s email links. It is not yet clear whether these emails can be shared, but Spark users report they can be used across devices of the same user.)

Other

• 👍 Unite 5 web app. Turns any website into a native app.

• 👎 Spark Desktop is an Electron app by Readdle which does not meet the automation requirements of the Manifesto for Ubiquitous Linking.

• 👎 Microsoft Outlook: Previous versions had automation for linking. But New versions of Microsoft Outlook are not URL-friendly. See Using Hookmark With Microsoft Outlook. That mentions that Microsoft has pledged that they will have AppleScript in the new Outlook.

Other office apps (spreadsheets, presentations)

• 👍 Apple Keynote
• 👍 Apple Numbers
• 🤔 Apple Contacts : however Apple’s contact IDs are local to the current installation. Unsyncing from iCloud and resyncing can lead Apple to provide different IDs.
• 🤔 BusyContacts: (Currently, in English only)
• 👍 Daylite by Marketcircle
• 👍 JeditΩ: per forum.
• 👍 LibreOffice (Calc, Writer, Impress, Draw)
• 👍 Microsoft Excel
• 👍 Microsoft Powerpoint

Time Tracking, Task managers, Project Management, Calendar apps, and Date-Focused note-taking apps

• 👍 Agenda – Date-focused Note-Taking.
• 👍 Fantastical (Calendar app) dates. See Using Hookmark with Fantastical.
• 👍 GoodTasks – Task Manager with iOS/Mac Reminders & Calendars. Supports linking of Reminders via x-callback-url. Requires macOS Big Sur or later. Hook to New and Calendar events linking not yet supported. Also on Setapp.
• 👍 Merlin Project. Professional project management software by ProjectWizards. Full automation as of Merlin Project 8.
• 👍 NotePlan: tasks, notes, and calendar Also on Setapp.
• 👍 OmniFocus by OmniGroup
• 👍 OmniPlan by OmniGroup: (For deep linking to specific content in OmniPlan, see this.)
• 👍 Things by Cultured Code: (but not to areas; one needs to select the Things project title or click in the note note).
• 👍 Timing app by Daniel Alm. See Using Hookmark with Timing App. (Also on Setapp)
• 👍 TaskPaper 3: (Linking to entire documents, as opposed to task filters; however see this topic discussing a user-contributed script for finer-grained linking). On Setapp.
• 👍Tyme: time tracking app.

Time and todo apps that are not link-friendly (Hookmark has work-arounds):

• 🤔 2Do app by Beehive Innovations. For Hook to New consider this script by @SteveLW.
• 🤔 ClickUP.
• 🤔 Apple Calendar: copying links and hooking works. “Hook to New > Calendar” is not available. Also, the approach is not guaranteed since Apple does not provide a proper API or its own links.
• 🤔 BusyCal: (Now in any language). For Hook to New, see this post.
• 🤔 Todoist: Many Hookmark users love Using Hookmark with ToDoist. Use Focus on Link in Clipboard once you have a Todoist task in your clipboard.
• 🤔 Trello. You can Copy Link and hook items. Quite useful. (Based on UI scripting).

Videoconferencing

• Zoom. Release notes

Outliners

• 👍 Bike: by Hog Bay Software. For deep links, use this.
• 👍 Checkvist – Professional list making tool: (According to this Hookmark forum post, which also mentions caveats).
• 👍 OmniOutliner Pro
• 👍 Outlinely

Finder utilities, extensions and cloud storage

• 👍 Dropbox (Finder extension): (Consider these Dropbox idiosyncracies).
• 👍 Finder. This means regardless of the app, as long as you can select the file in Finder you can use Hookmark with it.
• 👍 HoudahSpot 5 and 6 (& HoudahSpot 4 with possible limitations) (Available on Setapp)
• 👍 Path Finder (Also available on Setapp)
• Sync
• 👍 QSpace Pro.
• 👍 Trickster: (per forum). (Also available on Setapp)
• 🤔 Forklift: (Currently, in English only)
• 🤔 OneDrive: Works by default if Office App Syncing is off, otherwise see Using Hookmark With OneDrive.

Information managers and bookmarking apps

• 👍 Anybox – bookmark manager
• 👍 Capacities
• 👍 EagleFiler by C-Command-Software : (See Using Hookmark with EagleFiler)
• 👍 DEVONthink 2 Office Pro.
• 👍 DEVONthink 3: (See Using Hookmark with DEVONthink).
• 👍 GoodLinks – bookmark manager. See Using Hookmark With GoodLinks
• 👍 Keep It (by Reinvented Software)
• 👍 Reader from Readwise.
• 👍 Yojimbo
• 👍 Evernote: pre version 10 with automation.
• 🤔 With Evernote 10, Hookmark uses UI scripting because Evernote 10 lacks linking automation. English, French, German, Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Japanese. Hook to New is not available due to its lack of automation.

Development and automation tools

• 👍 Base 2 (by Menial)
• 👍 DB Browser for SQLite
• 👍 Eclipse
• 👍 iTerm2 – macOS Terminal Replacement.
• 👍 Ninox Database: (per input from a customer).
• 👍 Quiver: (a note-taking app for developers).
• 👍 Script Debugger
• 👍 Visual Studio Code
• 👍 Xcode

• 🤔 Tap Forms. See our forum post

Word processors, text editors, note-taking apps and writing utilities

• 👍 Agenda – Date-focused Note-Taking.
• 👍 Author. macOS Word processor with integrated Concept Map, Fast Citations, & Automatic Export to Academic PDF.
• 👍 BBEdit
• 👍 Camtasia 3
• 👍 Coda 2
• 👍 CodeRunner Available on Setapp.
• 👍 Craft. Requires macOS 11 (Big Sur), works on open docs. See also Using Hookmark with the Craft Mac Writing App. Also available on Setapp
• Drafts: See Using Hookmark with Drafts.
• 👍 Focused app Available on Setapp.
• 👍 Screenwriting Software | Final Draft® Thanks to William Gallagher of 58keys for pointing out it works.
• 👍 iA Writer: (uses hook://file URL scheme, not ia-writer:// due to its lack of automation)
• 👍 Inkdrop: with this plugin. This is proof that Electron apps can be made linkable. The app’s developer just needs to put in a few hours of work.
• 👍 iTextPro: (per forum post)
• 👍 LightPaper
• 👍 MacJournal
• 👍 MacVim
• 👍 Marked2. (Also on Setapp)
• 👍 MarsEdit. (Also on Setapp)
• 👍 Mellel: (just be sure the Palletes window is not open when you invoke Hookmark in Mellel. Or invoke Hookmark via the menu bar window’s “Show Hook” button)
• 👍 MultiMarkdown Composer
• 👍 Nisus Writer and Nisus Writer Pro: (forum):
• 👍 Notebooks 2: (Not integated with the menu bar window).
• 👍 Notenik. For robust notenik:// links, please enable Notenik’s datestamp feature. See Notenik Notenik 9.0.1 – Hooked on Notenik.
• 👍 nvALT: (Currently, in English only; without “Hook to New”)
• 👍 nvUltra: Integration notes.
• 👍 Obsidian. See Using Hookmark with Obsidian.
• 👍 Strike On Setapp.
• 👍 Sublime Text (Plugin required to make pasted links clickable.)
• 👍 Textastic
• 👍 TextMate
• 👍 Tinderbox
• 👍 Typora
• 👍 UltraEdit
• 👍 VNote
• 👍 Voodoopad note-taking app by Primate Labs: See forum
• 👍 Apple Notes: (See Using Hookmark with Apple Notes).
• 👍 Microsoft Word
• 👍 Pages
• 👍 TextEdit

The following note-taking apps are not link-friendly as defined by the Manifesto for Ubiquitous Linking. Hookmark communicates with them via UI-scripting.

• 🤔 Day One. Per this forum topic. … Requires Keyboard Maestro.
• 🤔 Everlog Journal
• 🤔 FSNotes “Respects open formats like GitHub Flavored Markdown”. Release notes on Hookmark’s forum.
• 🤔 Microsoft OneNote Mac app. Uses Notebooks menu > Pages submenu > Copy Link to Page menu item.
• 🤔 Tana
• 🤔 The Archive
• 🤔 Ulysses: (Your mileage may vary. If you really want to use this app, please contact the app’s developer requesting they support minimal AppleScript. See this post).
• 🤔 Bear writer: (Any language.)
• 🤔 Scrivener: (Supports deep-linking to particular documents in Scrivener’s binder. Uses Scrivener’s x-scrivener-item: URLs rather than hook://file URLs.)

News Readers

• 🤔 Apple News. This can work in any language. See Using Hookmark with Apple News.
• 🤔 ReadKit

News readers 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

• 👍 Garage Band
• 👍 QuickTime Player. Get deep links to the specific timestamp in a media file! See Using Hookmark with Apple’s QuickTime Player.
• 👍 ScreenFlow
• 👍 Spotify: (capture a link to the track which is current playing (rather than simply selected in the user interface)).

macOS Utilities (misc)

• 👍 macOS Screen Sharing
• 👍 ChronoSync (backup software)

Other (misc)

• 🤔 Mela
• 👍 MoneyDance by The Infinite Kind
• 🤔 Notion. See Using Hookmark with Notion.
• 🤔 Slack: (Links to/from current Slack or DM channel. To link to a particular Slack message, get its URL directly from Slack per forum.)
• 🤔 Deliveries for Mac ~ Junecloud. Per Forum.
• 🤔 Accordance

Web services

Hookmark can be used to link any web page to almost any other resource!

Given its emphasis on linking, for example we will simply pick one of a nearly infinite number of websites with which you can use Hookmark: Roam Research. Compare Hookmark 1.4 release notes.

There are Electron apps that are merely wrappers around a web app, such as the following where you can simply use the web app. Or you can copy their items’ URLs using the UI of the apps and feed them into Hookmark using Hook to Copied Link, for instance.

What to do if your favorite app is not listed above as 👍

There are likely many other apps than those listed above that work ‘out of the box’ with Hookmark that are not mentioned here. We frequently discover new ones. If you know your favorite app works but is not listed here, please let us know.

Apps of type 🤔 lack an API. That means communicating with them is not as robust. In some cases, Hookmark simply does not support Copy Link and showing hooks directly in them (but there are workarounds). Unless Hookmark just sends such apps keystrokes, as is the case with Apple News, then the interaction is language dependent. So please consider getting in touch with the developer to ask them to add the required API (AppleScript, JavaScript or x-callback-url) support. It’s easy for them to do, and it would be win-win for them and their customers (including yourself). The widely signed Manifesto for Ubiquitous Linking urges app developers to make their apps linkable via the UI and automation. Please vote with your dollars and only purchase apps that conform to the manifesto (are linkable).

If your favorite app is not yet linkable, in many cases it is possible for CogSci Apps Corp, or Hookmark users, to add scripts in Hookmark’s Scripts preferences to make the app linkable. But if the app is not currently sufficiently scriptable, you may wish to contact the app’s developer to request they make their app scriptable (or support the appropriate x-callback-url’s.)

Many Mac apps are discussed on the Hookmark forum. Please search for your app there.

Language and internationalization

The Hookmark display language is currently only English.

Unless otherwise noted, apps marked as 🤔 (UI-scripted) might require the macOS display language to be English. However, we are gradually updating all UI-scripted integrations to be available in all languages. E.g., Bear writer app and Busy Cal currently work in all languages.

If your macOS language is not listed for your favorite apps and you’d like support let us know.

Caveats

We are not responsible for other app developers (including Apple) who cease to support their software or make them unfriendly to URL automation.

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 return addresses (http:// or https://) that they cannot handle. When accessing web addresses, typically macOS invokes a web browser. Some apps may be URL-friendly and yet not yet linkable via Hookmark without configuring scripts in Hookmark. Hookmark Pro is highly configurable: users can augment Hookmark to make Hookmark work differently with any app.