Submit Hint Search The Forums LinksStatsPollsHeadlinesRSS
14,000 hints and counting!

Document Palette - Slick 'new document here' app Pick of the Week
Document Palette imageThe macosxhints Rating:
9 of 10
[Score: 9 out of 10]
One thing that's easier to do on Windows than on the Mac is to create a new document at a given location. For instance, I have a folder for each week's weblog entries on macworld.com. To create a new entry, I would have to activate my text editor, type some content, then do a File: Save, and navigate to the proper weblogs folder to save the new file. On Windows, there's a New Document Here (or something close to that) option available in the contextual menu. There are workarounds available, such as using touch in the Terminal, or creating an Finder plug-in using Automator's New Text File action, but neither are really ideal.

While digging through the Mac Gems archives, I stumbled across Document Palette, which Dan reviewed back in March. This handy background app lets you create a new document in the current Finder folder with the touch of a hot key (Control-Command-Option-N). As shipped, Document Palette can create new plain text, rich text, and HTML documents.

But the real power in Document Palette comes from the fact that it's easily extensible with your own templates. Open the program that you'd like to use for your new document, enter whatever text you'd like, save the document somewhere, and then add it to Document Palette's preferences. This lets you set up a basic templating system, wherein you can create different templates that can be created with the touch of a hot key. For instance, I set up a jEdit template for my Macworld blog entries, and another for posts to my personal site. Both templates are jEdit documents, but have compeltely different starting text. So now, if I want a new blog entry, I hit the Document Palette shorcut, then 'b,' which is the shortcut key I assigned for blog entries. If I hit 'g' instead, I get a new document for my personal site.

This handy little utility, though I just discovered it this weekend, has already saved me quite a bit of Finder navigation time (as well as copy-and-paste time for the setup info I include in each blog entry). As a result, my shareware payment is on its way today...
    •    
  • Currently 1.55 / 5
  You rated: 1 / 5 (11 votes cast)
 
[12,666 views]  

Document Palette - Slick 'new document here' app | 10 comments | Create New Account
Click here to return to the 'Document Palette - Slick 'new document here' app' hint
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
New File
Authored by: guardian34 on Dec 19, '05 07:46:10AM
Document Palette - Slick 'new document here' app
Authored by: MJCube on Dec 19, '05 08:13:17AM

I just keep my two most frequently used templates in the right side of my Dock. If such items have the same icon, you can still tell them apart by their positions, and by the names when you hover over them. Or of course one can make custom icons …



[ Reply to This | # ]
Document Palette - Slick 'new document here' app
Authored by: maguirer on Dec 19, '05 08:35:01AM

I use the Staionery Pad feature built in to OS X, but it's always good to have different ways of doing things.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Document Palette - Slick 'new document here' app
Authored by: maguirer on Dec 19, '05 09:04:19AM

Dang! I meant Stationery Pad, of course. Still missed that, even with the preview.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Document Palette - Slick 'new document here' app
Authored by: bdjones on Dec 19, '05 09:51:40AM

Another good way to save a lot of navigation time is Default Folder



[ Reply to This | # ]
Document Palette - Slick 'new document here' app
Authored by: ewelch on Dec 19, '05 06:21:07PM

Another option is to use a program like Stickybrain or DevonThink. They don't create files in folders, but places the information into a searchable database. Documents that can be emailed or exported or whatever you want.

---
Eric

Ernest Hemingway's writing reminds me of the farting of an old horse. - E.B. White



[ Reply to This | # ]
Document Palette - Slick 'new document here' app
Authored by: ventifact on Dec 19, '05 09:33:16PM

Services Menu/TextEdit will place any selected content into a new document and into a new folder from TE's Save dialog box.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Document Palette - Slick 'new document here' app
Authored by: leitch on Dec 19, '05 09:46:58PM

I've been looking for an app like this since I bought my laptop. Thank you for finding this.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Document Palette - Slick 'new document here' app
Authored by: wallybear on Dec 20, '05 08:52:01AM

Cool GUI, but it simply makes a duplicate of a document model in the front window folder.
It could be made (GUI bells and whistles apart) with a simple script.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Document Palette - Slick 'new document here' app
Authored by: mysty on Dec 28, '05 02:21:24AM
There was a hint on how to 'create files here' in thishint using applescript, and an icon that sits at the top of every finder window.

And there is no shareware fee ;)

[ Reply to This | # ]