I have blogged about the custom Keyboard Maestro (KM)scripts I wrote to grab journal articles while reading scholarly information. Using these scripts, I merely highlight text in a PDF (usually a reference), invoke my KM script, and the PubMed or Google ScholarI now do the same thing using Launchbar Action Scripts. I set up three custom search templates in Launchbar’s Search Template Index:PubMedhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=*Google Scholarhttps://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=*&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C34&as_sdtp=Research Gatehttps://www.researchgate.net/search.Search.html?type=publication&query=*Now, when I want to retrieve a reference, I merely highlight the reference in the PDF I’m reading and hit the Shift Key twice–this tells Launchbar that I want to do something with the highlighted text–by hitting tab and then typing the first few letters of Pubmed, Google Scholar, or Research Gate, then hitting Return, I tell Launchbar to pass the search string on to the publication web site. In order to find PDFs, I often have to repeat a search on more than one site. Launchbar makes retrieving PDFs fast and efficient. Check it out.
Macsparky Field Guide on iOS Workflow App
Kudos to my friend and Mac Ninja David Sparks and his latest Macsparky Field Guide. His latest effort focuses on the iOS automation app, Workflow. In usual Macsparky fashion, David makes what might be an intimidating program into something that’s both understandable and fun. The one hour video is chock full of examples and useful workflows that touch on Maps, Photos, number calculation and much, much more. The screencast has useful stuff for everyone from beginners to seasoned Mac veterans. Please support David to keep these excellent field guides coming.
Updated Keyboard Maestro Script for Obtaining Scholarly Information through Duke
In a previous entry, I published my Keyboard Maestro script that I often use to obtain scholarly literature. A few months ago, Duke’s Medical Center Library updated their website, which broke my script.
I finally had a chance to re-write the script today.
Here is how it works:
- Highlight any text (web page, PDF, Word Document, etc.) and hit Command-Shift R
- the script will copy the highlighted text
- then it will launch Duke’s Medical Center Library Web Page
- it will paste the copied text into the search field of the web page
- and then submit the search to Pubmed
All this with a single key stroke–saves me tons of time.
If you’re not a Duke, you will have to modify the URL and search boxes to conform to your library of choice.
Don’t have Keyboard Maestro? Get a demo!
Enjoy.
Addendum, May 17, 2014: Several folks reported the script didn’t work for them. I’ve modified the script again. You can download the updated script here, and import it into Keyboard Maestro. When you download the macro and before you import, you’ll have to remove the .txt at the end of the file (so it will be recognized as a Keyboard Maestro file).