it would be great to be able to copy text or images from a pdf and simultaneously copy the page link.
This would allow us to easily collect the important stuff and easily go back to the source. It can be done now but requires two steps
I also find myself wanting to be able to capture text and page link simultaneously.
The challenge is how this can be handled by the clipboard. What should happen, for example, when you paste this content? Does it just dump the content followed by the link? What if the content is an image and the destination doens’t support it? What happens if the user wants the link THEN the content? Should it be separated by a comma? Tab? Linebreak? Space? Colon?
All of this is to say that standard OS-level clipboard will likely not be able to accommodate such a feature. What is effectively required is an array or “dictionary” of items. OS-level clipboard don’t typically handle this type of thing all that well. Images could be especially hard. With text I could see something like:
- User selects text and via an action in the share sheet says “copy text and link”.
- DTTG takes the selected text, appends the page link, and places the concatenated text to the clipboard.
- User pastes as usual in the destination, and the result is the “[content][, page link]” (assuming comma delimitation).
This is much like many desktop OS clipboard managers with a “merge” function, where you can copy one string and then append a subsequent selection to the first string.
I don’t know how hard such a thing would be to implement, or if it would even be possible in DTTG.
There are some clipboard managers on iOS, such as Copied, which could allow you to do something like this, though it would require a fair bit of tapping.
DEVONtech also did just release a fairly robust new URL scheme that I have yet to have a look at. I have no idea what that scheme makes available, but perhaps, in combination with the Workflow app or Drafts (via a share sheet action) something like this could be implemented. I plan on dabbling with the URL scheme today to see what’s possible (though I am by no means a master of this sort of thing).
I’ve been playing around with DTTG and Workflow and I haven’t been able to use workflow to nab the URL or UUID of an item using an Action Extension, so no progress so far.
But I think something like Copied might be a good workaround at this point.
EDIT: It seems as though DEVONthink item links and page links crash Copied… so not currently viable yet. Letting the dev know about this so hopefully there can be a fix in a future version.
I ran into the same issue with DEVONthink links crashing Copied. I did let the dev know, but I haven’t received a reply. I’d be interested to know if you got a response.
I sent a tweet their way but their last tweet was >150 days ago so I don’t have much hope, had plans to send an email but haven’t had a moment to do so. Will post back if/when I hear!
FYI–The latest update to the Copied app seems to have corrected the crashing with x-devonthink-item:// links.
I had just seen the update come through the app store and was going to check it out to see if it fixed it. Thanks for being to quick to the punch!
You’re welcome!