# Hookmark press kit

**Contact:** [Luc P. Beaudoin (LinkedIn)](https://www.linkedin.com/in/luc-beaudoin/). Email:  [lucb@cogsciapps.com](mailto:lucb@cogsciapps.com)

[Hookmark](https://hookproductivity.com) is the world's first and only contextual information retrieval application for Apple devices. It lets people instantly retrieve  emails, notes, PDFs, tasks, AI chats and web pages that are related to their current context, without searching.

**Why it matters:** Knowledge workers increasingly use dozens of specialized apps. Search finds individual items, but not information that is related to what you're currently working on. Hookmark introduces a new paradigm—**Contextual Information Retrieval**—in which the current document becomes the cue for retrieving everything related to it.

## Fact sheet

- **App:** Hookmark for Mac
- **What it is:** Contextual information retrieval app for Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
- **[Price:](https://hookproductivity.com/buy)** Lite: Free; Essentials: $24.99; Pro: $69.99. Essentials 1 year update subscription: $24.99; Pro 1 year update subscription: $34.99.
- Also on Setapp.
- **Platforms:** macOS 10.15 and newer. iOS/iPad OS 17.
- **Initial release date:** 2020-07-20 (updated continuously) 
- **Developer:** [CogSci Apps Corp.](https://CogSciApps.com), based in Metro Vancouver, Canada.
- **App Store:** [https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/hookmark-pal/id1521721999](https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/hookmark-pal/id1521721999)
- **Website:** [https://hookproductivity.com](https://hookproductivity.com)

## Coverage

* [Mac Power Users #560: Workflows with Luc Beaudoin - Relay](https://relay.fm/mpu/560)
* [The Omni Show: The Return of Dr. Luc Beaudoin - The Omni Group](https://www.omnigroup.com/blog/the-omni-show-the-return-of-dr-luc-beaudoin)
* [Looking back at 2022: Favorite hardware, software, and features | AppleInsider](https://appleinsider.com/articles/22/12/28/looking-back-at-2022-favorite-hardware-software-and-features) 
* [Brett's Favorites 2025 - BrettTerpstra.com](https://brettterpstra.com/2025/12/29/bretts-favorites-2025/)
* [Luc Beaudoin on Hookmark – The Informed Life](https://theinformed.life/2024/09/08/episode-148-luc-beaudoin/)
* [The Apps I Use From Setapp | Havn](https://havn.blog/2024/09/17/the-apps-i.html)
* ["AppStories" Getting Your Digital Life in Order (Podcast Episode 2023) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34360327/)

## Rating

[**96% positive rating** on Setapp](https://setapp.com/apps/hookmark), based on 520 ratings


## About the developer

CogSci Apps Corp.. Based in Metro Vancouver, Canada. We also make [mySleepButton](https://mySleepButton.com), covered in [Time Magazine, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Forbes, etc.](https://mysleepbutton.com/press/)

We built Hookmark because co-founder Dr. Luc P. Beaudoin, an [Adjunct Professor at SFU](https://www.sfu.ca/education/faculty-profiles/lbeaudoin.html), was tired of searching for stuff on his Mac that should have been at his finger tips. There had to be a better way. So we did years of research at SFU on the problem. And we built Hookmark.


## About Hookmark


Hookmark for Mac is the world's first and still only contextual information retrieval app. It enables you to retrieve any information related to the foreground resource regardless of the app. Copy links to information in _any_ [link-friendly app](https://hookproductivity.com/help/integration/data-linkability-and-why-it-matters/) — such as web pages, PDFs, emails, tasks, notes, other files, etc. Paste them anywhere you need them. You know apps with bidirectional links —Obsidian, DEVONthink or Notion — Hookmark got there first and bidirectly links ("hooks") across your entire Mac. That is, use your favorite apps with Hookmark. Hookmark's `hook://file/` (file) links are robust: you can move and rename files without breaking these links. Create deep links to specific locations in PDFs and videos. Hookmark automatically privately bookmarks links you copy. Browse them in the Bookmarks window. Use .hookmark files on Finder which are like aliases or symbolic links except they are plain text, editable, and can include any URL. Get Markdown-formatted and universal links to any linkable information. Hookmark also passively recommends RELATED information in any link-friendly app. Automate with AppleScript or Shortcuts. Works with information managers, search tools, and launchers. Keyboard-friendly. Sync with other Macs, iPhone and iPad using iCloud or a shared folder. Configure integration scripts; interoperable.

Knowledge work increasingly takes place within information ecosystems comprising PDFs, notes, drafts, email, tasks, datasets, diagrams, AI conversations, and other digital resources distributed across many apps. Search can locate an individual resource, but it does not solve the meta-access problem: efficiently re-accessing information because of its relationship to the resource currently in the foreground. Contextual Information Retrieval (HR-CIR), is a human-centered information retrieval paradigm in which the foreground resource serves as a content-addressable cue for explicit contextual app links and automatically generated contextual recommendations. Hookmark functions as a federated relationship layer across an ecosystem of apps, leaving resources in their native apps rather than requiring migration into a single manifold repository. 

Reading and writing are key use cases. When you read a document you'd like to be able to take notes in the app of your choice. You'd like those notes to be bidirectionally linked to the document you're reading so that you can quickly get from one to the other without needing to search or navigate. Similarly if you are writing a document, in the app of your choice, you may need to consult related emails from co-authors or editors, your outline, your task list, your notes, web pages and diagrams. Hookmark enables you to bidirectionally link and navigate that network of information.

Hookmark's main interface is a contextual window that shows you (a) everything hooked (bidirectionally linked) to the foreground resource; (b) other RELATED (but not linked) recommended information. Contrary to information managers, the information resides across your favorite apps, not in a single "bucket" repository (though information in "bucket" apps can also be linked).

Whereas launchers and search tools show you information you can randomly access by typing a search query, Hookmark shows you content-addressable links to the foreground resource.

Key features include commands for copying links to the foreground resource (`Copy Link`, `Copy As Markdown Link`, `Copy As Universal Link`), a command for hooking the foreground resource to a link in the buffer. A `Hook to New` command that creates a new object (note, file, etc.) in the app of your choice; this names the object, tags it and hooks it to the foreground resource. 

CogSci Apps's co-founder, designer of Hookmark, led the publication of the [Manifesto for Ubiquitous Linking](https://linkingmanifesto.org/), which is analogous to the [Agile Manifesto](https://agilemanifesto.org) but promotes link-based interoperability. This was co-signed by 24 Mac app developers, CEOs and professors, including David Sparks (MacSparky) and Ken Case (The Omni Group). The manifesto claims Mac apps should be link-friendly, providing a UI and a very simple API for copying links (title+URL) and opening links.


## Key features

- [`Copy Link`](https://hookproductivity.com/help/hook-window/copy-as-link) to the foreground resource regardless of the app in HTML, RTF and plain text format. 
- [`Hook to Copied Link`](https://hookproductivity.com/help/hook-window/link-to-copied-address/) to create a "hook" (bidirectional link) between the clipboard item and the foreground resource.
- [`hook://file/`](https://hookproductivity.com/help/integration/using-hookmark-with-files/) links are robust links to files which work even if you move or rename the files.
-  [Create deep PDF links](https://hookproductivity.com/help/more/deep-pdf-links/) to specific locations in PDFs of link-friendly apps (Acrobat, Nitro PDF, Bookends, DEVONthink and Skim).    
- [Automatically cleans web links](https://hookproductivity.com/help/clean-my-links/) (removes URL cruft). 
- Hookmark automatically privately [bookmarks links you copy](https://hookproductivity.com/help/general/features/bookmark-manager/), which you can browse in Hookmark's [Bookmarks window.](https://hookproductivity.com/help/bookmarks-window)
- View RECENT, PINNED and TAGGED bookmarks in Hookmark's [Bookmarks window.](https://hookproductivity.com/help/bookmarks-window)

See [the full list of features](https://hookproductivity.com/help/features/).


## Images

![](./images/Hookmark-icon.png "a title")

<img src="./images/context-window-on-a-draft.png" style="width:520px" alt="">
<br/>
<img src="./images/context-window-action-menu.png" style="width:302px" alt="">

<br/>
<img src="./images/Bookmarks-window.png" style="width:704px" alt="">

**[Download everything as a zip](https://hookproductivity.com/press/)**

## Videos

* [Videos from Hookmark's website](https://hookproductivity.com/help/general/videos/)
* [Hookmark on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@hookmark)

## Contact

[Luc P. Beaudoin (LinkedIn)](https://www.linkedin.com/in/luc-beaudoin/) – [lucb@cogsciapps.com](mailto:lucb@cogsciapps.com)

On BlueSky: [@LucCogZest](https://bsky.app/profile/luccogzest.bsky.social)   
On X: [@LucCogZest](https://x.com/LucCogZest/with_replies)     
On Mastodon: [@LucCogZest](https://fediscience.org/@LucCogZest)    
ResearchGate: [Luc_Beaudoin3](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Luc_Beaudoin3/)   
