Is it conceivable to create a shortcut to ... edit a KBM macro?

[Tom]

@ronald

It's funny. I was just about to buy Nisus, and then hesitated because I use Scrivener a lot, and it seems to be an alternative to Scrivener.

They are different. Nisus is a fully-fledged word processor, like for example MS Word or the word processor of the LibreOffice suite.

@ronald

• Would there be advantages to using both Scrivener and Nisus?

I can imagine, yes. As said, they are different. Nisus is very good for creating self-contained documents for print or PDF, Scrivener is more like a project/resources manager with integrated typesetting capabilities, no? (I’m not using Scrivener a lot, I bought it out of curiosity.)

@ronald

Nisus: is the learning curve steep?

Not much, I would say. It has a very Mac-like GUI, even a bit old fashioned, if you want so. Compared with MS Word it is marvelous: UI elements are there where you expect them, they are structured/organized in a logical way, and they do the things you expect them to do. Let’s say, the complete opposite of MS Word

You find a very short review of Nisus on my blog.

@ronald

I don't understand why your focus is on RTF

No, I just said that probably the most reliable way (in terms of getting the same appearance) would be to have a RTF document.

The thing is the macOS clipboard, as I tried to explain in my post above:

The clipboard is not a single chunk of data, it has various flavors, aka clipboard types. Example:

If you copy text from a MS Word document you’ll find the copied data on the clipboard as…

• RTF
• HTML
• Plain text
• and many more clipboard types

My assumption is that KM’s Named Clipboards work similar to the OS clipboard. That means (if my assumption is true): if you read a file to a Named Clipboard it’s similar to selecting all and copying it to the OS clipboard.

Now the important stuff:

• It depends on the source which clipboard types will be populated when copying. If you copy a JPEG image you won’t find any data on the RTF clipboard type, nor on the HTML type.

• When pasting from the clipboard, it’s the target app that decides which clipboard type to choose.

Since KM’s Display Text action will most likely prefer the RTF clipboard (if not available it will take the Plain Text) we should assure that there is something good on the RTF clipboard type. And the best way to do this is certainly to have a fully RTF-compatible format, speak an RTF document.

As said, this is not necessary, since also non-RTF documents will allow the clipboard to take RTF data. But the chance to loose formatting is higher in that case. Just copy from an Excel document and paste into a RTF document (or a KM Display Text action): some formatting will be maintained, other things will be messed up.

So, my proposal to save as RTF was only to optimize chances to get the KM window to display the same as you see in the source document.

[ronald]

fantastic reply. I am getting Nisus tonight. Thank you so much !!

[korm]

@ronald

I think that we are all familiar enough with computers to actually need only a very limited number of shortcuts displayed. Those that we tend to forget ... etc...

I couldn't agree more. That's why I have the same shortcut configured for each application where I want to use macros -- a shortcut that is limited to that application and invokes a macro palette (including the macro for that app's cheater file) specific to that application. IOW -- the shortcut I use -- control-\ -- will invoke a palette in Safari, and a different palette in Mail, and a different palette in DEVONthink, and so on.

I can barely remember that ⌘Q quits every app But at least I can remember that the macros for this app are invoked with control-\

[ronald]

vielen Dank !

[Tom]

@ronald

I am getting Nisus tonight.

I’ve just seen, if you download it you have 15 days free trial.

[JMichaelTX]

@ronald

Is it conceivable to create a macro which would allow me to navigate directly into the macro below, to allow me to quickly edit the text displayed.

Yes, as others have shown you.

You can also achieve this without creating another macro. Both the native KM macro/action "Trigger by Name", and the @DanThomas macro Execute Macro by Name (Spotlight) allow you to edit the macro you have found.

@Tom

Instead of storing the text inside the macro, I would make a nice RTF file with all the shortcuts.

I agree with @Tom.

For me, I would use an Evernote Note which support RTF, including tables.
The advantage is that it can be displayed (triggered) in a variety of means:

• KM Action Open URL, using either the internal or web-based URL of the Note
• Spotlight search
• Evernote search
• LaunchBar search

You could also share the EN Note as a Public Note (read only) that would allow anyone with the Public URL to view the Note in a browser.

[Tom]

@JMichaelTX

The advantage is that it can be displayed (triggered) in a variety of means:

I think @JMichaelTX is pointing in the right direction: There are many ways to quickly display some cheat sheets, and KM is not necessarily the best one.

Here a very simplistic approach:

‌1. Create your sheets with whatever app you prefer
‌2. Put them into a folder “Shortcuts”:

‌3. Drag the folder to the Dock:

‌
Now you have a couple of ways to quickly display the content:

A. With the mouse:

1. Click the “Shortcuts” folder in the Dock

• It will open up to a grid
  

2. Hover with the mouse over the desired sheet
3. Hit the spacebar to invoke QuickLook

B. With the keyboard

1. Navigate to the “Shortcuts” folder (or to a specific sheet) in LaunchBar

• This will take not more than two keystrokes (e.g. “SC”)

2. Still in LB, hit the Spacebar on a sheet to invoke Quicklook

[ronald]

@Tom
Thanks very much Tom.
I don't think that the multi-file approach is the solution from my perspective.
I bought Nisus Pro and am extremely happy thanks to you. I am very grateful.****
I found the ideal (for me) solution: Nisus with column display (Window➡️ Palette➡️ columns) and RTF format, following your suggestions above.
If you don't mind I have a question on how to configure a macro with Nisus.
My german is intermediate to advanced. I read a rather difficult german newspaper article every day, decipher the difficult idioms and expressions, make notes in a word processor and walk around with the printout in my pocket all day.
I am now going to use Nisus as the word processor.
There are 2 situations:
1- I find a difficult word which I want to look up the in dictionary, in which case I highlight the word (double tap), right click, and choose lookup
2- the second situation is that I am dealing with a more difficult word not in the dictionary or a multi word expression in which case I have highlight multiple words, then right click, go to the services menu and choose Linguee
I was wondering if you could orient me as to the best approach to do the above quickly, because in any one text, I can do it more than 30 times.
thanks very much !

——————————————————————

[Tom]

@ronald

I bought Nisus Pro and am extremely happy thanks to you. I am very grateful.****

Happy to hear

@ronald

I find a difficult word which I want to look up the in dictionary, in which case I highlight the word (double tap), right click, and choose lookup

What about using the global shortcut, which usually is ⌃⌘D

(If you used KeyCue you would have known that )

@ronald

the second situation is that I am dealing with a more difficult word not in the dictionary or a multi word expression in which case I have highlight multiple words, then right click, go to the services menu and choose Linguee

You can assign shortcuts to your services in System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services

@ronald

how to configure a macro with Nisus.

When it comes to proper Nisus macros you should start with the Nisus forum. There is a dedicated subcategory for macros.

[ronald]

thanks very much for your multiple answers.

By macro I meant KBM. I should have been more clear in my question.

One last point: when I drag and drop a Nisus created document into Scrivener , I don't get the option (like I would with pdf, pages, etc) to open in an external editor with the icons below at the bottom.

Do you know if it's possible to change the default Scrivener RTF editor to Nisus or in some way tell Scrivener 'this is a Nisus RTF document, please edit in Nisus'?

thanks !!

[Tom]

@ronald

Do you know if it's possible to change the default Scrivener RTF editor to Nisus or in some way tell Scrivener 'this is a Nisus RTF document, please edit in Nisus'?

The easiest way:

Save your documents as “Nisus Compressed Rich Text”:

These files have the a “zrtf” extension. Basically they are just zipped RTF files, but with some other optimizations (for example identical images in the document don’t produce double image data, IIRC).

The zrtf extension should be associated with the Nisus app by default. I use this format for documents which shouldn’t be edited with another program (e.g. MS Word, since both programs have slightly different interpretations of the RTF format).

You can re-save it as “rtf” at any time and without any loss, in case you change your mind.

[Tom]

PS:

My suggestion above prevents Scrivener from displaying the file contents, which is – probably – not what you want.

I don’t see a way to save as rtf and get the document opened by an external editor from within Scrivener. You can drag the document icon to the Nisus app in the Dock; but then it will ask you for a save location, since the files are inside the scriv bundle.

[ronald]

Thanks very much for your research and comments.
In terms of workflow, I found that drag-drop Nisus RTF into a document (not into the dock or binder) creates a link. When clicked, the RTF opens in Nisus (now my default app for RTF).
It’s too bad in a way not to be able to see the RTF
I wonder if there would be a way to create a Scrivener document, with as title the filename, and content the link to the rtf file which opens in Nisus , and create a sub-document which would simply display the content of the RTF file by a completely different mechanism, perhaps some kind of rtf to pdf conversion routine

Once again, Nisus is superb.

[ronald]

Nisus compressed does not display in Scrivener

[Tom]

@ronald

Nisus compressed does not display in Scrivener

Correct, see my post above.

BTW, I’m not sure whether it is a good idea to edit Scrivener’s RTFs with an external editor. I guess Scrivener is using certain special formatting elements (or at least formatting conventions) for a proper display in its integrated RTF reader. You’ll have to try it out. As mentioned, I’m not very familiar with Scrivener.

[ronald]

good point, thanks
do you think it would be possible in Scrivener to simply display file content, like spacebar in Finder?

[Tom]

@ronald

I wonder if there would be a way to create a Scrivener document, with as title the filename, and content the link to the rtf file which opens in Nisus , and create a sub-document which would simply display the content of the RTF file by a completely different mechanism, perhaps some kind of rtf to pdf conversion routine

Not sure if I understand correctly. But I noticed that I can simply drag any document into a scrivener document: it will build a clickable link and display the name of the linked document in the text.

Edit/PS:

Like here:

The linked file (“External Document”) is a RTF file and when I click it it opens externally (in Nisus)

[ronald]

yes,
a document contains the list to the RTF document which opens in Nisus: fine, done exactly as you say.
I would also like to view the file contents in Scrivener
I would create a sub document which would somehow display the content of the RTF file (not edit it). Something like you see if you spacebar on a filename in Finder****

[Tom]

@ronald

do you think it would be possible in Scrivener to simply display file content, like spacebar in Finder?

You mean Quick Look. It seems in Scrivener the usual Quick Look shortcut (Spacebar) is mapped differently (it opens the doc in an extra editor window). Don’t know if there is any replacement. I’m sure you know Scrivener better than I do…

[ronald]

thanks very much !! I will look into it. Have a nice day