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Dragging a URL from web browser

What selections can be dragged from a web browser?

Whether Tinderbox receives both URL and a link title/anchor text is depends on the browser, Tinderbox will use both if passed, otherwise a bare URL is received.

Browsers do not allow dragging of a selection webpage content unless it includes at least one link (a visible URL or a link anchor text).

Clicking in the location bar of a browser, where the (partial) URL is shown will select it and allow it to be dragged.

Note that if dragged page content contains HTML such as lists of links, Tinderbox may try to parse these into a container holding two or more discrete notes. However, this article is intended to cover dragging content with a single URL into either the view pane (to make a new note) or into a note's text area.

Dragging a URL onto a view background

Drag a URL from Safari or other web browser onto a view window background makes a new note (in all view types except Attribute Browser, Crosstabs and Hyperbolic). The location of the new note varies by view type:

What note content is added for drag-to-view created notes?

If the drag is from the browsers location (URL) bar the dragged data is usually only the (full https://...etc.)

The drop action always sets $URL value, adds $URL as a Displayed Attributes, sets the note's title and its text. There can be some variations depending on the data supplied with :

Dragging a link from a webpage onto a note's text

At the drop position, the receiving note's $Text is set to the value of the source URL, unless a title (e.g. the source page's anchor text) is parsed out in which case the title is added as a weblink, pointing to the URL. in preference. If only the URL is added, no weblink results.

The drop also sets window sets the note's $URL value (but will not overwrite any pre-existing $URL value).

See also results of pasting webpage data to $Text.

Dragging a link from a webpage onto a note's Displayed Attributes table

If the URL is dragged onto the Displayed Attributes and the drop target is a URL-type attribute, then that attribute rather than $URL receives the dropped URL as its value.

Resolving the link title

If the browser does not supply enough data, a drag to the $Text area results in the just the URL string being added to the note as text.

If the dragged object is a browser bookmark the note name will be taken from the bookmark. If the dragged object is a bare URL, Tinderbox will attempt to fetch the title from the URL and set the note name accordingly.

Dragging images from Safari

Dragging an image from Safari to a note window imports the referenced image as opposed to setting the URL attribute.


See also—notes linking to here: