Compatibility with Hook Productivity on Mac OS

Hook from https://hookproductivity.com is an ingenious app that makes it possible to link documents from App A to documents from App B. Check it out and this is bi-directional linking.

Right now Hook is not compatible with Obsidian. You may want to check out what it takes to create this compatibility. The developers from Hook are responsive. If you can make Obsidian compatible with Hook then you will have an additional selling argument for the Mac. Highly recommended.

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Thanks for bringing this up, @Haberjr. And Hi @Silver and others at Obsidian. This entry is for you and your community:

I’m the CEO of CogSci Apps Corp. , developer of Hook productivity app.

Some of the benefits of the feature requested by @Haberjr, i.e., of an app being linkable are discussed here. Basically, you will see that these benefits align extremely well with Obsidian’s goals :blush:. This would mean Obsidian resources would be linkable to just about any resource that has a URL. Not just web pages, but files, emails, and app objects (e.g., OmniFocus:// tasks, Things:// tasks, DEVONthink:// items, Drafts:// , etc. ) — anything that has a URL. First on macOS, and we are taking this to iOS and then Windows.

We’d love to enable users to link Obsidian resources to anything. In fact, we have received several requests for this, via our forum, email , etc


Most great note-taking / reflection Mac apps can already be linked through automation. (E.g., nvUltra, nvALT, Bear app, Drafts, OmniOutliner, BBEdit, Marked2, Tinderbox, DEVONthink, Curio, iThoughts X, etc. ) (See Linkable Apps-Hook. You’ll see that Obsidian would be in great company if had linking automation.

Many of those apps above worked “out of the box” with no customization required by CogSci Apps. In other cases, CogSci Apps adds some scripts into Hook that are automatically available to Hook users.

Making an app’s (like Obsidian)'s resources programmatically linkable (and hence compatible with Hook) is very simple. All you need to do is provide an API for user to be able programmatically (with JavaScript, AppleScript, or whatever) to

  1. get the current resource’s (i.e., file’s) name and URL, and
  2. create new items (return the URL). E.g., x-callback-url is fine, JavaScript/ AppleScript better.
  3. open items with the URL (of course).

See https://hookproductivity.com//help/integration/other-app-developers/

Hook, and other apps, would then use that API to bridge Obsidian resources to anything.

For instance, one could then link a file in Obsidian to an email, a task, a DEVONthink:// item, etc. This would break down the ‘walled garden’, and truly deliver on Douglas Englebart’s vision which we are pursuing.

Roam Research already includes some support (though not an app yet), as mentioned on the Hook Productivity Forum. And Notion.so is apparently working on an AppleScript API.

It may be that some of what we need is already in the Obsidian plugins, we’ll have a look. (Someone on the forum might point us to some info?). However, it’s best if users don’t need to install a plugin to get the benefits of linking.

Discussing Hook on the Hook Productivity Forum

I will keep our users posted on our discourse forum instance where this is discussed: Linking Obsidian resources to anything - Discussion & Help - Hook Productivity Forum

Contact

Obsidian folks: please feel free to contact me by email or via Twitter: @LucCogZest . It’s all very simple, but we at CogSci Apps Corp. will be glad to answer your questions and look forward to helping Obsidian link to any resource. And we look forward to celebrating this with our current and prospective mutual community.

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I’m preparing to evaluate Obsidian for my own use and would definitely welcome and use the addition of Hook’s superpowers to its features.

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Is the Hook database system non-destructive to Zettelkasten notes? Meaning, if Hook-generated links rely on an external database, and if that database were unavailable (maybe on a mobile device), wouldn’t the link break? Or if the linked file were moved and Hook went out of business and became non-usable over time with OS upgrades, the link would need an unavailable external database for reference and aliasing, correct?

I’m probably missing something, I just want to make sure text notes (and their links) are relatively future-proof and client-agnostic.

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When you move a file around, the hook link does not break. So if you have individual MD files, and you move them from one folder to another, the bidirectional link remains in tact. I know that they are also working on syncing across devices.

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+1 Whether or not one uses Hook (and Mac-users will love it!), the underlying issue is related to the ability to reveal the file location of the note one is currently working on in Obsidian. With a “show in finder” hotkey, it would be simple to get a lot of the goodness out of Hook.

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I also support this feature request. Offer easy access to the note in the underlying folder. Ideally through a right-click and/or shortcut. This would make it possible to open the note in another editor, create a hook-link etc.

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I have been using Bear for a while now and seriously thinking about switching to obsidian primarily owing to the backlinking and graph feature. It would be super helpful to have hook integrated

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I also would love to be able to use Hook fully. It would be life changing!

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In the upcoming 0.81 release version it is now easy to right-click on a file name in the obsidian file browser and then you can either open the underlying note in your default md app e.g. IA Winter is what I use, and then use Hook, or open the folder in which the file resides and select to there for a Hook. That is a major improvement for using Hook.

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Indeed, this is a huge step forward, also in connection with earlier requests! The development team at Obsidian is really cranking out the meaningful improvements.
Here’s how I’m already using this: on macOS:

  1. From Obsidian, use the “Show in Folder” command (via a hotkey ⌘⌄-O), which opens up the Finder with currently focal Obsidian note selected in Finder.
  2. Show the Hook window for the selected file, and then select “Copy Markdown Link” (I use hyperkey, ⌘⌄⌃⇧, with ;for that).
  3. Now I have a markdown link to my current note, with the filename, to paste anywhere. Very handy!
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Adding to the conversation, could this add to an Obsidian x-callback workflow?

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Yes, great catch - this actually works. In Hook when you hook a file via command-c you can indeed paste the hook link as follows in the Obsidian note < hooklink >. When you click on it It will call up the file and open it in the designated application.

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@ryanjamurphy Ryan, can you see use cases for <> bracketing this using KBM and or Hook?

Thanks, Stan

syncing across Macs is supported by Hook. https://hookproductivity.com/help/more/using-hook-on-multiple-macs

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we discuss openness here on hookproductivity’s /about/openness/ page.

One of Hook’s big features is a universal Copy Link function. If an app provides a URL, we return the URL. So if Obsidian exposed a URL for its notes, we would use that. If obsidian exposes notes only as files, Hook would use hook://file/ links for them. Hook is configurable, so you can configure Hook’s Copy Link for any app :slight_smile: you want.

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Hey there,

I use the apple ecosystem and so I have Hook for macOS installed on my macs, it links between folders, files, and others of apps to each other so that you can do more inclusive and more immersive research with a better experience. Long story short, there is no support for obsidian, and I don’t know how many people use both hook and obsidian, I want to ask the devs about integrations with other apps and if it is possible?

I have already contacted the creators of hook via email to suggest obsidian for them to integrate or work on an integration next. They recommended on their website reaching out to the app community and the team to ask for the integration or the ability of the integration.

this is the list of apps integrated with hook: https://hookproductivity.com/what-mac-apps-are-compatible-with-hook-app

and this is their website: https://hookproductivity.com/

Thanks a lot.

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The ball is in Obsidian’s court, but the good news is that you can put hook links in your notes and you can link other documents - if they work with hook - with a note by directly going to the note document in your vault. Obsidian has now made it easy to reveal the note in your vault by right-click on the document name.

This is good enough for me.

@zeevkeane, just wanted to say thanks for mentioning Hook. It’s one of those things I didn’t know I need it, til I see it.

It’s like spotlight on steroids!

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