Zettelkasten Forum


External Editor to The Archive

In the menu file pull down we have an open note in an external editor command. How do we get the edited note back to The Archive from an external editor?

Comments

  • When you edit a note in an external editor, saving it in the external editor is all you need to do. Save it in the external editor and the revised note shows up in The Archive.

    macosxguru

  • Thanks . It works in BBedit but not in Drafts app for Mac osx.

  • Does anyone know why the Drafts app cannot act as an external editor for The Archive app?

  • If The Archive app had a share extension would that over come any constraints from getting the edited text in Drafts back to The Archive?

  • As @macosxguru wrote, the situation is really super simple: All the other text editor has to do is to actually save the changes you have made to the file, and The Archive will then automatically reload that note file. No fancy share extensions or anything like that required. Even the simplest of simple text editors should work. I have made changes to my The Archive notes with probably a dozen or so different programs and never had any issues.

    I've never used Drafts on macOS, so I don't know where the issue could lie. Is maybe copying the notes file to a different location or importing it into some kind of proprietary database? Or did you actually never save the changes you made in Drafts?

    If you like The Archive's "PrettyFunctional (Basic)" theme, consider upgrading to the "PrettyFunctional (Regular)" theme.

  • I have been informed that Drafts app notes are contained in database and are not file based. What I see currently is that’s note created in the Archive app will let you open the note in Drafts app but if you amend or make any changes in the Drafts app it will not show up in The Archive.

    If there was a way to bridge the note file base with the note database it would be great.

  • @davidrcalvert said:
    I have been informed that Drafts app notes are contained in database and are not file based. What I see currently is that’s note created in the Archive app will let you open the note in Drafts app but if you amend or make any changes in the Drafts app it will not show up in The Archive.

    That is correct. The problem is that Drafts is not a conventional text editor. It deals with text but not text files explicitly.

    If there was a way to bridge the note file base with the note database it would be great.

    Not going to happen in the short term. It might be possible when Drafts implements Actions in the macOS version. In the meantime, it might be a better idea to try a different text editor. CotEditor is a good free alternative.

    macosxguru

  • Thanks for your input. I do have BBEdit which works well in that regard. I did try ULYSSES app and that worked as well.

  • I also have Textastic for both ios and Mac and that works like I want it to with The Archive

Sign In or Register to comment.