Save just an URL (and not the full page) browsing with DTP

I’m using DEVONthinkPro as my preferred Internet browser for research. I come across a valuable page and I want to save it. I found several possibilities:

  • Click on “Capture the current page” which saves the full page
  • Select the text that interests me and click “Capture the current selection”

These two buttons are provided in the tool bar.

What I tried to do is drag the URL into a folder but this did not work. The URL is not draggable, only clicking on the URL will open the system’s default browser with the page.

I’m suggesting at least a button like “Save URL of current page” with the advantage to always get the latest updated content of the page AND to have less data in the database.

Martin

Tip 1: While viewing a Web page in the DT browser, press Control-Command-C to copy the URL to the clipboard.

Tip 2: Select Tools > Show Groups. Double-click the group icon where you wish to place your URL bookmark of that Web page and press Command-N.

I really like that Groups panel. It can be minimized to the Dock when not in use. It will float above any application window, so it’s available to allow you to paste the contents of the clipboard anywhere you wish in your database, from any application. Great for grabbing clippings (text or images) and putting them precisely where you wish in your database.

Very cool - thanks Bill.

I tried your trick, but I had to wait until the window of the double clicked group comes up. Only THEN the command-n works and pastes the URL.

But wouldn’t it be easier with just a simple one-click operation? Like the one-click operation that saves a complete page or selected content?

It would make very much sense, don’t you think?

Also, I just cannot believe that this would be hard to implement into an application that is tailored for research after all.

-martin

Actually, Bill is doing it the hard way. Once you get the URL into your clipboard, right-click (or control-click) on the DT icon in the Dock. Select the New with Clipboard option, and it will give you a menu listing of your groups, with the most recently used sorted to the top.

It’s even faster if you browse with DevonAgent instead. DA has a “send to DevonThink” menu option, so you don’t even need to copy the URL. (Although that option dumps everything into your designated “new items” folder, so you’ll need to sort later.)

Katherine

Hi, Martin:

Likely in a future release.

Check out the bookmarklets provided in the Extras folder (on the download disk image) when you downloaded your application. There’s a bookmarklet that will save the URL of the viewed page to your database with one click.