Exporting notes

[Maximus]

Is there an effective way to export notes (not PDF annotations, but "ordinary" notes).
I know that one can select all notes, copy them and paste in other app. But in this case all of them are copied as a single array.

[Jon]

You can export the notes using a format, where the only entry in the Order field is

n

If you're asking if you can export a portion of the notes, such as lines 2-4, the answer is no.

Jon
Sonny Software

[Philologist]

I know that one can select all notes, copy them and paste in other app. But in this case all of them are copied as a single array.

So you want each note as single file. Is that what you want?
You talk about "a single array". Hmm, each note (in the note steam) is separated from other notes by 2 returns. Therefore it's easy to see where one note ends and another begins. Based on that, I would use one of the split-macros in Nisus to automatically split the file into single notes.

If you are still using Mellel you could search for two consecutive returns and replace them with a page break, or whatever. Then use # and % to find the headers and sub-headers of the notes and convert them into Auto-Titles. This, of course, assumes you used headers (#) and sub-headers (%) in Bookends when you wrote your notes.

[Jon]

I would also mention that if you are using the note stream, you can select just the notecards you want and right-click -> Copy.

Jon
Sonny Software

[Maximus]

Sorry for bed wording.
I meant that all selected notes are pasted in other place as a single text massive.
I also know about ability to select notes one by one, but if you have 20+ notes for every reference, this approach is not convenient.

You can export the notes using a format, where the only entry in the Order field is
n

Thank you, that is an ingenious approach. Seriously.

If you are still using Mellel you could search for two consecutive returns and replace them with a page break, or whatever. Then use # and % to find the headers and sub-headers of the notes and convert them into Auto-Titles. This, of course, assumes you used headers (#) and sub-headers (%) in Bookends when you wrote your notes.

I'd rather would like to export notes to Devonthink or Tinderbox. Tinderbox has instruments for splitting text. So it won't be difficult.
Anyways thank you very much for your suggestions on Mellel. A very interesting way to use find and Auto-Titles functions.

[Philologist]

I want to get all notecards of a note stream into a word processor document for easy editing, the ability to add images and drawings (mind mapping) to the notecards, and storing (for example in DEVONthink).

On p. 110 in the User Guide we read:
"You can also drag and drop notecards into your word processor document […] with the Option key held down to copy the notes and the citations."

This is a very useful feature, with one serious drawback though: we lose all formatting in the notecards (colors, underline, bold, italics, etc.).
Would it be possible to add the ability to preserve the formatting? For example with the Shift key held down? The users could then choose whether they want formatted or unformatted text.

Similarly, selecting all notecards in a note stream and then copy and paste into another application preserves the formatting, but then unfortunately the headers (#) and the tags (%) are missing. Would it be possible to add additionally the ability to preserve headers (#) and tags (%) when this action is performed?

[Jon]

Preserving formatting with a drag is something I'll look into. As for the # and %, no. They have no meaning outside of Bookends (even thought the # has a corresponding meaning in multimarkdown). The idea is to transfer meaningful content, not Bookends-specific markup.

Jon
Sonny Software

[Philologist]

As for the # and %, no. They have no meaning outside of Bookends

The purpose of the operation we are talking about here is to get the notecards into another application. # and % are of vital importance here because they show the user where a header, that is, where a new notecard begins.

Once I have got the notecards into my word processor (Nisus Writer Pro) I run a simple clean up macro which finds all paragraphs which begin with an #, assign the paragraphs the attributes bold, red and underline and then delete the # character.

Similarly, all paragraphs that begin with % are first made blue, then all % in the affected paragraphs are deleted.

Optionally, the macro can insert a separator before paragraphs that begin with an # character, thus clearly indicating where each notecard begins and where it ends.

The result is pretty nice.

# and % serve the purpose of beacons set up as signals to demonstrate where certain items in the document begin. Without them the macro wouldn't know what to do.

[Jon]

I understand that for you they are useful, but I'm thinking of everyone who would use this. I, for one, wouldn't want that markup in my notes, I can distinguish a header from content by context.

Having said that, let's throw this open to everyone. When Bookends copies a notecard do you want the header and tag indicators (# and %) left in the text or not? Adding a preference for this is not an option, it Bookends would behave one way or the other.

Jon
Sonny Software

P.S. The request to keep styles when Option-dragging notecards has been implemented for the next update. I wonder if that shouldn't be the default behavior, with the requirement for Option key.

[Philologist]

The request to keep styles when Option-dragging notecards has been implemented for the next update.

That's good news. Thank you.

Then we would have covered all variants. No need to change how copy notecard(s) are implemented. Now this will just copy the styled text, which is a legitimate operation in certain scenarios. And those who want the header and tag indicators (# and %) can use the variant no. 3 below after it has been implemented in next update.

Here is an overview of copying or dragging notecard(s):
1. Get just the styled text. => Copy only the notecard
2. Get just the styled text with the citation => Right-click and choose "Copy Notecard and Citation"
3. Get the plain text, the citation, header and tags => Option drag the notecard(s)
4. Same as no. 3, except the text is styled. => Will be available after next update.

I wonder if that shouldn't be the default behavior, with the requirement for Option key.

I'm not exactly sure I understand what you mean. Are you going to add a feature so that we will have both no. 3 and 4, and that we can choose between them? Or are you planning to replace 3 with 4, so that getting plain text, the citation, header and tags will not be possible anymore?
I would opt for keeping both because both are needed, albeit in different situations. Therefore I suggested to use the Shift key for no. 4.

[Jon]

#4 is implemented for the next update. I'm suggesting that we either get rid of #3, or reverse the requirement for the Option key. Meaning that the default would be to drag the styled text, doing what right-click Copy does.

Jon
Sonny Software

[DrJJWMac]

I want notes to carry over as plain text by default. So ...

Context Menu
Copy Notecard with no modifier key --> Plain text
Copy Notecard with option (or shift) key --> Styled text
Copy Notecard and Citation with no modifier key --> Plain text throughout
Copy Notecard and Citation with option (or shift) key --> Styled text for notecard text, plain text for citation

Drag Operations
Drag Notecard with no modifier key --> Plain text for citation
Drag Notecard with option key --> Plain text for notecard text and citation
Drag Notecard with shift + option key --> Styled text for notecard, plain text for citation

As to the # and % symbols, I prefer that any copy or drag operation will keep them. Finally, with regard to #, I ask that Bookends take a step to standardize with what markdown is currently using. In particular, require a space after # to denote a heading.

# heading
#tag ---> current not valid as tag, used instead as #heading in BE
%tag --->also acceptable as tag
@tag --->also acceptable as tag

This will allow #tag to become a tag. It will also allow one to write notes with multiple stage headings (and sub-headings) that are recognized when the notes are exported to another app (e.g. Obsidian).

[Jon]

In case it's not clear, when Bookends copies the styled text it also copies the plain text (both reside in the clipboard), so if you paste into a text-only app like BBEdit you'll get the contents. Furthermore, if you don't use styles in your notes (e.g. italics, bold, or underline), you get "plain text" no matter where you paste the content.

Also, remember that almost all apps (including Obsidian) have the Paste And Match Style option, which will remove any styles you may have applied in the notecard (i.e. in most cases it's the same as paste plain text).

Jon
Sonny Software

[Jon]

Finally, with regard to #, I ask that Bookends take a step to standardize with what markdown is currently using. In particular, require a space after # to denote a heading.

# heading

That wouldn't be hard to do, but it would require everyone using notecard headers to update their libraries because the headers would suddenly become tags.

Jon
Sonny Software

[DrJJWMac]

> That wouldn't be hard to do, but it would require everyone using notecard headers to update their libraries because the headers would suddenly become tags.

Have a transition period. Allow #header or # header format. Have Bookends use # header (with space) when using the Add Notecard With Header menu command. Set a version number by which #header will become depreciated.

The #tag, %tag, and @tag designations are not markdown. So tags could remain %tag in Bookends. Whatever is used, Bookend tags still have to be post-processed to move them to markdown compliant formats.

I'm curious what others think.