PDF import fails when using FireFox DT3 extension

DEVONthink
1

Here’s what happens for me:

  1. In Firefox, I navigate to a web page that displays a PDF, for example, https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-s097-applied-category-theory-january-iap-2019/lecture-videos-and-readings/chapter-1-generative-effects-orders-and-adjunctions/18-s097iap19ch1.pdf
  2. I click the FF DT3 extension, but nothing happens: No web clip window appears. No item is added to the DT3 DB. Nothing appears in the DT3 log. The pdf is not imported.

I have granted DT3 permission to Firefox.app in the System Preferences>Security and Privacy>Privacy Tab>Automation. DT3 is also granted Full Disk Access.

2

For pages other than HTML an extension like Clip to DEVONthink is not even opened as it needs injected JavaScript (like most extensions). So you cannot clip a PDF with Clip to DEVONthink in Firefox.

But you should be able to drag the PDF to the Sorter icon in the menu bar (show it from DEVONthink’s preferences).

3

Ah, thanks @eboehnisch! It does seem that I used it this way with DT2, but perhaps I misrember.

I did try drag and drop via the sorter, but that fails due to a permissions error. However, I have granted permissions to DT3 as shown in this snapshot.

42%20PM
Screen Shot 2019-05-14 at 1.19.42 PM.png989×639 168 KB

So it may be I have something misconfigured…

4

There seems to be a problem with clipping from Firefox at the moment. One workaround is to use the File->Print menu then select the PDF dropdown button and choose Save PDF to DEVONthink 3.

5

Thanks, @aedwards. For now, I’m getting it to work properly, so long as I do not have the Sorter turned on. The FF DT3 web clip extension doesn’t seem to get on well with the Sorter, based on what I’m seeing.

6

Thanks for that most helpful tip. I confirm that it now works for me, too, once the Sorter is turned off.

Stephen

7

@Stephen_C, I’m glad that helped! :v:

Studying more closely, I find that even with Sorter turned off, the sorter window very briefly appears when I use the web clip extension. I’ll see just a flash of the sorter window, then it is replaced by the web clip window that I’m expecting.

No problems with that, but I can see these two are unexpectedly interacting.

8

I’ve hacked the Clip to DEVONThink extension to be able to clip any URL.

For restricted pages (e.g. about:blank, Preferences, and built-in PDF renderer) it only clips title and the URL itself. No referrer, or selection, or any other information available for regular pages is available, as far as I can tell.

It’s not much code. Here it is in its entirety.

main.js:

function clip(url, index) {
	chrome.tabs.create({url: url, active: false}, function(tab) {
		setTimeout(function(){ chrome.tabs.remove(tab.id)}, 1);
	})
}

function clipTab() {
	chrome.tabs.query(
		{active: true, currentWindow: true},
		function(tabs){
			let tab = tabs[0];
			let url =
				'x-devonthink://clip?title=' + encodeURIComponent(tab.title)
				+ '&location=' + encodeURIComponent(tab.url);
			clip(url, tab.index + 1);
		},
	)
}

var activate = function()
{
	chrome.tabs.executeScript(
		null,
		{file:"activate.js"},
		function(results){
			if (chrome.runtime.lastError || results === undefined) {
				console.log(`Error during clipping: ${chrome.runtime.lastError}`);
				console.log("Falling back to tab clipping");
				clipTab();
			}
		}
	);
}

chrome.browserAction.onClicked.addListener(function (tab)
{
	activate();
});

chrome.commands.onCommand.addListener(function(command)
{
	if (command == 'activate')
	{
		activate();
	}
});

chrome.runtime.onMessage.addListener(function (request, sender, sendResponse)
{
	if (request.action == "devonthink_activate")
	{
		activate();
	}
});

This code definitely can be improved. I tried to use Chrome-compatible API but I didn’t test it in Chrome.

I hope this will help fixing this issue in the official extension.

1 Like
9

Welcome @PointlessOne
Interesting. Thanks.