J.D accross multiple platforms

I mentioned Hook in another thread as well. I finally gave it a thorough test after hearing Luc on the MPU podcast. The fact that they added code to make it work with an obscure 3rd party Fastmail client, just because I brought it up, well - that’s a level of dev responsiveness that is rare!

You can definitely link to almost any web app because Hook is very URL-based. This includes local url’s like fmail:// or file:// - here are some links for further reading about Hook:

Mac app compatibility

Hook showcases

Linking and Contextual Computing - David Sparks

Data Linkability and Why it Matters

Ooooh wow, I think Hook might be the greatest tool I’d never heard of. Couldn’t contain my excitement when I saw how powerful it could be!

Using Hook links, you could code a simple index.html to act as your Index file, a little something like the attached image. Allows for a clearer visual structure (at least for me), and could live as a pinned tab in my browser, so I can get to it easily.

Haven’t yet dug in to the answers to my original question, but just this part has got me excited already!

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Interesting. This is similar to what I’ve built at work to get over the shortcomings of our toolset there. Let us know how this works out please, cool idea. I like the simplicity.

I haven’t tested it massively in anger, but I believe Hook links work across multiple devices - so if you are using two macs, the Hook links should resolve across both… I think!

Quick follow up for Apple users. You can create a shared link from pages/numbers/keynote and drop it in your Evernote. It’s ugly but it will open the document up right on your computer and you can continue with your work.

In the past if I dropped a pages files or a word file into Evernote it would download it. A second copy. Now I can have a link to just open it just like when you add a google doc to an Evernote note.

This also works with pdfs in the Files app.

Again my reason behind this is to have one place where I can store and recall all of my notes, web clips, docs, pdfs, etc. Using Evernotes powerful search feature + JD system = File Mangement Bliss.

EDIT: Just downloaded Hook. Yeah this is much better. Doesn’t work with Evernote but plays nicely with Bear and Apple Notes. Hmmmm

have you read through this thread? Seems like it did work for awhile…

Ah, thank you for this.

As promised, here’s a WIP of my HTML/CSS index page. Some of the stuff’s in Dutch, but that shouldn’t matter :wink:

I’ve decided to show only Areas and Categories, with a possible exception for specific ID’s here and there, just to keep the visual overload to a minimum. Maybe if I figure out a way to add expand/collapse/toggle functionality I’ll include ID’s as well, but my coding knowledge doesn’t reach that far yet :slight_smile:

I’ve also added a Work column. We use Dropbox at work with around 100 people, so I have no hope of ever changing the file structure there. So while I’ll be using JD for all my personal stuff, I wanted to have some handy Hook links nearby.

Still looking for a way to open a specific mailbox (project folders within Apple Mail) through a Hook link or other tool, so if anyone has any tips…

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Wow. This is a bit like the index I built for SharePoint at work but it looks 1,000% times nicer. :laughing:

Let’s figure out how to enable sharing of this sort of thing, if the author wants to (no pressure). A GitHub repo that people can make pull requests against?

I am, once again, testing Spacemacs. Having to run through a lot of the tutorials again. Here’s a screenshot of me copying a file to a new location - the action starts me off w/ /Users/donblanco/ and when I type 0 I get this…

JD-spacemacs

It’s not in numerical order, but everything is right there, ready to drill down through just using the arrow keys, return key, etc. Nice little side effect…

Nice. And also using bookmarks to directories via dired is awesome. I can get places that way even more quickly than by using Alfred/Finder on my Mac.

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update - gave up on emacs-based things (for … REASONS) but here’s a screenshot from NeoVim (using NerdTree plugin) and MacOS Finder - either way, I like the functionality

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Would love to contribute to this project if you’re willing to share this.
Did you only use hooks for this or how did you get the links to show up like this?

thanks!

So, Tiddlywiki, then. :rofl:

I’ve loved Tiddlywiki since 2009. The community has supported it, upgraded it and even maintained the legacy version. My first attempts are coming along slowly, but here’s what I have so far:

Adherence to Johnny Decimal Index Tenets
(ref: this post)

  • Index, not Inventory - You have full control over how much detail you add, like any text document.
  • Independent of File System - TiddlyWiki is a self-contained HTML file, powered by Javascript
  • Searching for things - Powerful search is built-in

In addition to meeting the basic requirements of the JD Index, Tiddlywiki simplifies the following:

  • Adding the next available number - not automatic, but you can see what’s next
  • Hyperlinked segments let you zero in on a single Area or Category (Great for PRO.AC.ID)
  • Global setting to tag each new index entry - I used jd
  • A List macro to format the links - the syntax is tag-based, so it only lists relevant entries
  • Transclusion - if you have boilerplate notes you’d like to include with entries
  • Customizable - go nuts!
  • Turn any text into a hyperlink. Jump to a local file or URL

At the moment, I only use one tag, I made the main entry clickable, so if I close all entries, I can just click on the title JD AC.ID Index to see my index. I have a couple of entries that are what I call templates (not to be confused with actual templates supported by TiddlyWiki.) I paste them as needed into a new entry.

Again, this is at the very beginning stages. I’m hoping that it won’t be too difficult to use on a daily basis. One thing I’m confused about is the tenet “Index, not inventory”. It seems natural to treat every document as an ID level entity. I think it’s because I read elsewhere that a useful convention is to pre-pend the AC.ID to each file.
JohnnyDecimal Blog Tracking Your Numbers

Is it correct to say that, in the example on the blog, those three files would all have the same AC.ID in the file name?

Is anyone else using TiddlyWiki for their index?

Aah good old Tiddlywiki. I’ve used it in the past but totally forgotten about it. I’ll give it another look when I get time, looks like an interesting solution.

Correct, if you choose to put numbers in your file names. My advice is to do that with caution — if you do it to every file you’re adding an overhead that probably isn’t useful. The main use-case is being able to see the file name in a list of ‘Recent’ or ‘Currently open documents’ and for that to be useful to you.

If that won’t be useful, I think adding the number is a waste of time. (Unless anyone else has another use-case?)

Thanks for the clarification. I do have several use cases under consideration:

  • Bulk renaming of files so that the renaming tool or another utility can move them into proper folders
  • Auto-renaming and moving downloaded files
  • Global search

I use Windows 10, along with a handful of tools to easily locate, store and rename files. I blame them them for my current mess, LOL. However, they also can be used to fix things.

Bulk Rename Utility, from bulkrenameutility.co.uk will help with the initial categorization of files. I can move files with BRU or leave them where they are.

File Juggler, from filejuggler.com, will scan a folder, such as Downloads, and act on targeted files.

Everything, from voidtools.com can help me find files, but only if I know part of the name (searching by file content is supported, but slow.) This is particularly helpful when I decide to leave renamed files in the current locations (Dropbox, external hard drive, etc.)

While I agree that it would be onerous to rename every file, I can at least get everything organized with prefixes. Going forward, I may find no need to continue adding prefixes. (I could even run BRU afterward and remove all prefixes from files that have been moved into JD folders.)

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Nice. If a script is going to do it for you, there’s no down-side as far as I’m concerned.

If you don’t find it neat to have the numbers at the front, another ‘convention’ I’ve been playing with over the years is to put the name in [brackets] at the end of the filename. I sometimes do this at work when I have to distribute a document and I don’t want every question to be “why are there numbers at the front?”. So if you’re scripting this anyway, that might be an alternative approach.

(I put it in brackets so it’s unambiguously clear what’s part of the actual name of the file, and what’s mine. Whereas at the front, the JD number is very clear: it’s the first thing before the space. The brackets should also help any parsers to identify the ID.)

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Yes, I read your bracket recommendation elsewhere. Brackets will also help Excel behave if you split file names into cells.

update - I decided to use @ekafyi 's Generator instead of TiddlyWiki.

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How did you create that?