solved Make webloc file

[iwsnj]

Hello, 

When you drag the web address (URL) from a browser address bar into a finder window in macOS, you get a webloc file which serves as a shortcut to that webpage. I find it very useful to save links which I can later open. I tried to make a workflow to avoid using the mouse.  It mostly works, but the name of the file is not the same as when you drag the URL into the finder window. The dragging method gives a descriptive name, but my workflow does not. For example, for a YouTube video, my workflow creates a webloc file called "www.youtube.com_watch.webloc" but the dragging method creates a webloc file with the name of the video.   Link to my workflow:

 

https://github.com/iwsnj/make-webloc-file

 

Does anyone have a suggestion?

Thank you very much!

 

[giovanni]

@iwsnj I didn't think anybody else would ever need it, but I made and use every day this workflow to save links (mainly to onedrive files) as webloc objects, pretty much your use case. It will present possible links from the clipboard history, take a target folder selection, and suggest a file name (which can be edited) based on the link itself. You might find it helpful! It was not meant for sharing so there is no documentation, little testing etc., let me know if I forgot anything. Keyword: webloc

[vitor]

@iwsnj You were really close. What you needed to do was also extract the name (and not just the URL) from the page. The Automation Task does that. However, you’d then need to rename it, and that would require a short line of code. I’ve been thinking for a while there should be a renaming Automation Task, so I added it now.

Here’s an updated version of your workflow. The blue objects are the ones I modified/added.

Also, make sure to update the Automation Tasks, since the Rename one was just added. I’d appreciate if you gave it a good thrashing to make sure it’s working well for what you need.

[Kupe]

Oh interesting. I thought I was the only person in the world interested in webloc files! The dragging method is hopeless! I happen to use Devonthink and I have used that to create webloc files. I have also experimented with hookmark files which do a good job but do not work on iOS. At the moment using a free App called Bookmark Maker which works well enough and will now try your workflow when I get the time.

 

What I like about webloc files is they are easier to open via Alfred, ... when you have multiple browsers the "standard" Alfred bookmark openers are not that useful.

[iwsnj]

@giovanni I just tried your workflow - I see that it gives multiple links to select from. Nice!

 

@vitor That is perfect - it works exactly as I was hoping. Thank you!  

 

@Kupe  Yep!  Browser bookmarks would make sense. For me, all my bookmarks became very disorganized across multiple browsers and computers so I like to save webloc files in relevant folders. Oh, I have that App too.  On the other hand, the workflow is very minimal - no interaction except invoking the workflow (it just needs the finder window you want to save it to is open).