Bindle on the Mac

Bindle on the Mac is the same library as on your iPhone and iPad, in a window with a sidebar. It also does things only a Mac can: it lives in the menu bar, saves from any app with a keyboard shortcut or the Services menu, starts at login to keep your devices in sync, connects to Chrome as well as Safari, and answers AppleScript.

This chapter covers what is different on the Mac. Everything else works as the other chapters describe.

Windows and Menus

Bindle opens one library window. Choose File > New Window (⌥⌘N) for another; each window keeps its own list and reader.

The menu bar has the commands the iPad shows when you hold ⌘. Keyboard Shortcuts lists them all. The ones you'll reach for most:

• File: Add Link (⌘N), Save Link from Clipboard (⇧⌘V), Open in Reader… (⌃⌘N), Just Looking, New Window (⌥⌘N), Quick Add…, Import Links…, Export Links…, and Close Reader (⌘W, while the reader is open).
• View: Show Details or Hide Details (⌃⌘I).
• Library: All Links, Unread, Starred, Archived, Reminders, Dead Links, and Up Next (⌘1 to ⌘7), Last Opened, Random Article (⇧⌘R), New Collection… (⇧⌘N), Save as Collection…, Search (⌘F), Sync Now (⌘R), and Keyboard Shortcuts (⌘/).
• Help: Bindle Help opens this book.

Settings on the Mac

Choose Bindle > Settings… or press ⌘,. Settings opens in the library window, as the sidebar's Settings item, not as a separate window. A few sections are only on the Mac: Quick Add, Open at Login, and Chrome and Chromium, and the Page Snapshots and App Icon sections have Mac-only parts. The Settings Reference lists every one, and Mac-Only Settings below gathers them.

Help

Choose Help > Bindle Help to open this book in the reader. If it isn't in Books, because you deleted it, Bindle adds it again first. Books needs to be on, in Settings > Reading > Books; if it is off, Bindle says "Turn on Books in Settings to read Everything in the Bindle."

Importing and Exporting

File > Import Links… and File > Export Links… are the same as the buttons in Settings > Import and Export. Import takes browser bookmarks, Pocket, Instapaper, Raindrop.io, Omnivore, and GoodLinks exports, a Bindle export, or any text with links. Export makes Bindle JSON, bookmarks HTML, CSV, or Markdown. See Moving Your Library In and Out.

The Menu Bar Item

Bindle puts a tray icon in the menu bar. Click it for:

To hide the item, turn off "Show Bindle in the menu bar" in Settings > Browsers & Shortcuts > Quick Add.

Bindle in the Dock

With a library window open, Bindle is in the Dock like any app. When you close every window, Bindle keeps running and syncing from the menu bar, and leaves the Dock. Open Bindle from the menu bar item, the Dock, Finder, or Spotlight to get a window back.

If you hide the menu bar item, Bindle stays in the Dock even with no window open, so you can always get back.

To change the Dock icon's color, choose Red, Navy, or Black in Settings > Appearance > App Icon. The Dock shows it while Bindle runs; Finder and Launchpad keep the red bandana.

Quick Add

Quick Add is a small floating panel for saving a link from any app, without leaving it. It floats over the app you're in, like Spotlight, takes your typing, and leaves that app in front.

Open it with:

• the keyboard shortcut, ⌃⌥⌘B (Control-Option-Command-B) by default, from any app;
• Quick Add… in the menu bar item;
• File > Quick Add… in Bindle.

If the clipboard holds a web link, the panel starts with it.¹ The panel has:

Change the Shortcut

In Settings > Browsers & Shortcuts > Quick Add:

1. Choose the button that shows the current shortcut (Record Shortcut when there is none). It changes to Type Shortcut….
2. Press the new shortcut. It must include ⌘, ⌃, or ⌥. Press Esc to cancel.

Clear removes the shortcut; Reset brings back ⌃⌥⌘B. If another app or macOS already uses your shortcut, Bindle says so and asks you to choose another.

Services: Save to Bindle

In almost any app, select text that holds a link (or a link itself), then choose the app's menu > Services > Save to Bindle, or right-click the selection and choose Services > Save to Bindle. Bindle saves every web link in the selection, the way dropping them on Bindle does, and confirms in the Quick Add panel without coming forward. With no link in the selection, it says "No link in the selection".

To give it a keyboard shortcut, choose Open Keyboard Shortcuts Settings in Settings > Browsers & Shortcuts > Quick Add. That opens System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts, where Save to Bindle is under Services.

Open at Login

Turn on "Open Bindle at login and keep syncing" in Settings > Open at Login. When you log in, Bindle starts in the menu bar with no window and syncs with your other devices while you work. Closing every window keeps it syncing too; quit Bindle to stop.

macOS holds this setting, so it also shows with your login items in System Settings, where you can change it too. If macOS needs your approval, Settings says so: choose Open Login Items Settings and allow Bindle there.

Safari

Bindle's Safari extension saves the page you're reading, and its toolbar button shows when a page is already saved.

1. Open Settings > Browsers & Shortcuts > Safari in Bindle. It shows whether Bindle in Safari is On or Off.
2. Choose Open Safari Extension Settings, and turn Bindle on in Safari's Extensions settings.
3. Allow it on every website, so the button can show which pages are saved.

Then save the page you're reading from Bindle's button in the Safari toolbar, the right-click menu (Save Page to Bindle, or Save Link to Bindle on a link), or ⌃⇧S (Control-Shift-S). The button opens a small form with the link, a title, tags, and "Add to Up Next". Addresses go only to Bindle on this Mac.

Chrome and Chromium

Bindle has an extension for Chrome and Chromium too. It works like the Safari one: a toolbar button that shows which pages are saved, Save Page to Bindle and Save Link to Bindle in the right-click menu, and ⌃⇧S. Addresses go only to Bindle on this Mac.

Settings > Browsers & Shortcuts > Chrome and Chromium shows each browser's state:

Add the Extension

The extension comes with Bindle. In Settings > Browsers & Shortcuts > Chrome and Chromium, choose Download Chrome Extension…, and Bindle saves a Bindle Chrome Extension folder (to Downloads unless you pick somewhere else) and shows it in Finder. Until it's in the Chrome Web Store, you then add it to the browser by hand, once:

1. Open the browser's extensions page. The button in Settings copies chrome://extensions and opens the browser; paste it into the address bar.
2. Turn on Developer mode, at the top right.
3. Click Load unpacked and choose the Bindle Chrome Extension folder you downloaded.
4. Check that its ID is hophabboimmebgoeeegmnfpkibdkdgbi. With any other ID it can't reach Bindle.
5. Pin Bindle from the puzzle-piece menu, so its button stays in the toolbar.

When Bindle updates, download the extension again to the same place, then click its reload button on the extensions page.

Widgets

Bindle's widgets work on the Mac desktop and in Notification Center: Up Next, Unread, Rediscover, Surprise Me, Reminders, Lists, and Nearby. Right-click the desktop and choose Edit Widgets to add them. The Lock Screen sizes and the Control Center control are for iPhone and iPad. See Shortcuts, Siri, Widgets, and Focus.

AppleScript

Bindle on the Mac can be scripted: read and change links and collections, save new links, search, and open a link in the reader. Scripts use the same steps as the app's own controls, so every change syncs to your other devices.

To see the dictionary, open Script Editor, choose File > Open Dictionary…, and choose Bindle. Bindle must be running with its library open; otherwise a script gets error -10000, "Bindle's library is not open yet."

The Dictionary

Bindle includes the Standard Suite, so get, set, count, exists, delete, and whose clauses work, and adds the Bindle Suite: the application's links and collections, two classes, and five commands of its own.

The Application

The application has these elements and property:

A Focus doesn't narrow what scripts see. focus collection says what it keeps to.

The link Class

A saved link. You can change the properties not marked read only.

The collection Class

A collection: smart (its rules pick its links) or manual (you add them). Every property is read only.

Commands

put and take work only on manual collections; with a smart one the script gets an error that says so. A link that is gone, or an address Bindle can't read, also ends the script with error -10000 and a message.

Examples

Save a link with a title, tags, and a note, then open it:

tell application "Bindle"
    set saved to add "https://example.com/article" with title "An Article" with tags {"later", "rust"} with note "From Sam"
    show saved
end tell

List the titles of everything unread:

tell application "Bindle"
    get title of every link whose read is false
end tell

Star every link from one site:

tell application "Bindle"
    set starred of every link whose site is "example.com" to true
end tell

Search, and collect the addresses of the best five matches:

tell application "Bindle"
    set found to search "swift concurrency" limit 5
    set addresses to {}
    repeat with aLink in found
        set end of addresses to URL of aLink
    end repeat
    addresses
end tell

Put the newest unread link in a manual collection, then take it out again:

tell application "Bindle"
    set reading to first collection whose name is "Reading List"
    set newest to first link whose read is false
    put newest into reading
    take newest out of reading
end tell

Count links and read collection details:

tell application "Bindle"
    set unreadCount to count (every link whose read is false and archived is false)
    set halfRead to title of every link whose reading progress > 0 and reading progress < 100
    set manualNames to name of every collection whose manual is true
    {unreadCount, halfRead, manualNames}
end tell

Change one link's tags and note, then archive it:

tell application "Bindle"
    set theLink to first link whose site is "example.com"
    set tags of theLink to {"done", "rust"}
    set note of theLink to "Read on the train."
    set archived of theLink to true
end tell

See which collection the current Focus keeps to:

tell application "Bindle"
    set kept to focus collection
    if kept is missing value then
        "No Focus collection"
    else
        name of kept
    end if
end tell

Mac-Only Settings

The full list, with every other setting, is in the Settings Reference.