Using AppleScript to append to Draft

Scripting
,
1

I’m currently trying to write an AppleScript to append things to the end of a draft.

What I can’t figure out is if its possible to actual append to a draft. Every attempt I try in bringing data into drafts it creates a new one. Can someone please help point me in the right direction in this?

2

That is not possible at this time. AppleScript only supports creation of new drafts (docs).

Extended AppleScript support for other functions is something on the list, but can’t promise a timeframe for implementation. For now, the /append URL scheme is the only way to accomplish that on Mac (Shortcuts can be used on iOS).

1 Like
3

Thank you.

I think I devised a way to do what I want with the URL scheme. Two questions.

  1. Does anyone know how to not have to answer this every time I use an URL scheme?

    Screen Shot 2020-11-16 at 15.57.43
    Screen Shot 2020-11-16 at 15.57.431313×710 8.94 KB

  2. Is there a way to close the Drafts window without actually quitting the application. Right now I’ve been trying to add it to my AppleScript and I can’t close the window, only quit the application.
    tell application "Drafts" to close every window returns with the following error message: error "Drafts got an error: every window doesn’t understand the “close” message." number -1708 from every window whenever I try and run it.
    I’ve tested this with other apps without AppleScript support, in this case Slack, and it does close their windows.

1 Like
4

If anyone is curious here is the script I developed to do this with AppleScript.

AppendToDrafts

-- Create a markdown style link from a Safari tab and append it to a Drafts.app list

tell application "Safari"
	set siteURL to URL of front document
	set siteName to name of front document
	set markdownLink to "- [" & siteName & "](" & siteURL & ")" as string
	-- Replace UUID-TO-VALID-DRAFT with drafts UUID
	set draftsAppend to "drafts://x-callback-url/append?uuid=UUID-TO-VALID-DRAFT&text=" & markdownLink as string
	tell window 1
		set current tab to (make new tab with properties {URL:draftsAppend})
		-- At this point you will click `Allow` when asked `Do you want to allow this page to open "Drafts" before the delay expires and closes tab?
		delay 3
		close current tab
	end tell
end tell

-- Quits Drafts.app so it is not in the forefront
tell application "Drafts" to quit
5

Initially, I tnought that you might be able to invert the logic: start from a Drafts document and retrieve the URL and name from the current topmost Safari window with a JavaScript action. However, it seems that JXA’s global Application object is not available in Drafts. Maybe it’s possible with an AppleScript from within Drafts?

6

There’s an example here: https://actions.getdrafts.com/a/16h

7

Interesting, I’ll check that out. My thought process with this was I was in Safari and wanted to quickly record things while in it. The current use case is creating a list of things for Christmas.