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Copy as Instant Details - Keyboard Shortcut or AppleScript?


Daniel Saunders

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I've just had a play with PopClip and have made an extension so that I can quickly copy as Citation and without superscript - which is something I do all the time, yet have never managed to remember the keyboard shortcuts to do it.

 

I was wanting this extension to also have the ability to Copy as Instant Details, which I also use all the time. However, there's not a keyboard shortcut for this. Is there a way to access this through AppleScript, or to assign a keyboard shortcut to it?

 

(And yes, once I've finished and tested the extension I'll share it with the Accordance community.)

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Unfortunately, there is no way to access Copy as Instant Details using Applescript or by assigning a custom keyboard shortcut, because it was left off of the main menu. It only occurs in the Contextual Menu. This limits accessibility. That's why Apple's macOS Human Interface Guidelines stipulate that items in the contextual menu should always also find a place on the main menu:

 

Always ensure that contextual menu items are also available as menu commands. A contextual menu is hidden by default and a user might not know it exists, so it should never be the only way to access a command. In particular, you want to avoid using a contextual menu as the only way to access an advanced or power-user feature.
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Thanks Joe, do you know if this has been pointed out/suggested to the Accordance devs before?

 

I'd really like some shortcut way to access that menu item, because in my workflows I use it all the time! And at the moment, all those clicks are a bit of a pain.

 

And since there isn't a shorter way at the moment, I'll submit my plugin to the PopClip repository, and once it's approved I'll post a link here for other users.

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They read the forum, but you can also email them directly with the request, or post in the Feature Request forum.

 

Just for perspective, I've never used the "Copy As Instant Details". Over the years I've learned just how differently users us Accordance.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Can someone  walk me through how to use Copy as Instant Details?  It seems that one still must hold down the shift key.  I was thinking the new feature might eliminate that. Thanks!

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Jane - there's now a few ways in latest version of Accordance (12.0.4).

 

Either

  1. Right click on a word. Select 'Copy As->Instant Details' in the pop up menu. Or
  2. Put your mouse over a word. Press 'Shift'. Click 'Edit->Copy As->Instant Details'.

The trick is that highlighting a word and then going to the Edit menu won't give the desired result as 'Copy As->Instant Details' seems to copy either (a) the contents of the Instant Details box or ( B) the word(s) that is/are highlighted...but just the plain word (i.e. like clicking 'Copy').

Edited by Daniel Saunders
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Daniel, on 12.0.4, I can simply do Copy As -> Instant Details, even without showing the instant details or holding shift.  As of 12.0.4, it will attempt to get the first instant details information of your selected text.

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Hi Joel, that sounds great. However, with a quick play around with 12.0.4 (MacOS) it doesn't seem to work.

 

If I highlight a word in UBS5 (i.e. click and drag the mouse cursor over it) and go up to the Edit menu, then Instant Details is greyed out in the Copy As menu (and the Instant Details window has no text in it). But if I hold down Shift, so as to lock the Instant Details window, then Copy As->Instant Details, the contents of the window end up on the Clip Board.

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I got it to work once but after that I found the Edit menu Copy As ID item was greyed out.

 

Thx

D

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So far, I can only get it to work by using right click (Control/click) or by using Shift and going to menu and selecting Copy As.  Joel, what magic are you using?  :)

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I saw it only in ETCBC Hebrew. And in fact now having closed some workspaces and opened a new one even that does not work. I don't even see the Edit -> Copy As -> Instant Details option. There must be some trigger somewhere but I'm not seeing it.

 

Thx

D

Edited by דָנִיאֶל
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12.0.4 Mac

Actually - seems to work on Windows.

 

Thx

D

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  • 2 weeks later...

Looks like my 'magic' is that I had my ID zone closed.  If its open, it was preventing the Copy As Instant Details.  This should be fixed for 12.0.5.  Thanks for bearing with us!

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Looks like my 'magic' is that I had my ID zone closed. …

Wizard!

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