Zettelkasten Forum


Selecting the archive directory on startup?

Is there a way to specify the archive directory on startup?

The reason being that I want to set up a second directory for a work project that I will eventually pass off to someone else so I need to keep it separate from my personal stuff.

I did a quick scan through the forum and couldn't see an answer. Thanks.

Comments

  • @Brad_T said:
    Is there a way to specify the archive directory on startup?

    The reason being that I want to set up a second directory for a work project that I will eventually pass off to someone else so I need to keep it separate from my personal stuff.

    I did a quick scan through the forum and couldn't see an answer. Thanks.

    There is an option, using the dropdown menu under "The Archive", to "Switch Archives...". Pretty ease to do.

  • Thanks for the answer.

    What I had hoped to find out was, if there was a way to use some command line magic, or add a second icon on my desktop to open up the different directory (instead using the dropdown menu to switch).

  • edited August 2023

    I do have a secret debug switch for this for testing as a launch argument.

    You can pass the archiveURL on the command line like so:

    $ /Applications/The\ Archive.app/Contents/MacOS/The\ Archive -archiveURL "file:///Users/YOURUSER/path/to/notes/"
    
    1. The path must end with a /
    2. The URL must be a file:// URL
    3. You must open the /Contents/MacOS/The\ Archive binary inside the .app bundle -- you can't just open The\ Archive.app and pass this

    Edit: I must've slept on this change, but I just discovered that you can also use this to pass another directory:

    $ open -n /Applications/The\ Archive.app --args -archiveURL "file:///Users/YOURUSER/path/to/notes/"
    

    Author at Zettelkasten.de • https://christiantietze.de/

  • Perfect. Exactly what I was after. Thank you.

  • I did a first pass at using Automator to run AppleScript to launch with specific directories.

    Code is attached for reference if anyone needs a script in the future.

    `
    on run {input, parameters}

    set Ze to "\"/Applications/The Archive.app\""
    
    set DB to "\"file:///Users/YOURUSER/Documents/Zettelkasten/MYNOTES1/\""
    
    set myC to "open -n " & Ze & " --args -archiveURL " & DB
    
    tell application "Terminal"
        activate
        do script myC
    end tell
    
    return input
    

    end run
    `

    Then you can copy the script icon to the desktop to have quick access.

    Brad

  • @Brad_T if you use a Shell Script task in Automator, it might be even quicker (I never know if loading the AppleScript environment takes long, or if it's the Automator action itself)

    Author at Zettelkasten.de • https://christiantietze.de/

  • It would be nice to have an option in TAAP (The Archive) itself to swich to former folder, so you could quickly switch. Even better: multi folder support with 2 folders open at the same time.

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