When reading PDFs on my Mac, I use Skim. Although I love the program, Skim has one annoying quirk. I cannot select (or highlight) text in a split screen. This makes it difficult to highlight or download references in real-time.I found a workaround that is fast and efficient. After opening a PDF in Skim, I’ll select “Print” from the File Menu and then, from the bottom left drop down menu, I’ll select “Open PDF in Preview.” This opens a second editable version of the manuscript side-by-side with the original.Let me know how this works for you.
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).