Search PathfinderWiki from any text document!

[PFWiki Scribe]

I am cross-posting this from the PFWiki, as I think it may be useful to some of you!

OK, this is kinda cool and kinda geeky, so be forewarned. This is unfortunately also for Mac OS users only, as this application doesn't exist for other OS as far as I know. The app I am referring to is called PopClip and can be downloaded from the App Store for US $3 right now. Basically, it allows you to perform extra functions when you highlight something with your mouse. So instead of just copying and pasting, you can search for something, create a note for yourself, send an email, etc.

One of the software's most basic functions is to do a Google search on the selected term. If you go to the app's User Guide, however, it shows you how to use alternate search engines. Take a moment to read how to do that on the page I just mentioned. OK, done? Do you have the app installed? No? Go back and install the app!

Now do a search for "***" in our PFWiki search box on the website, highlight the URL it spits out and select "Select Search Engine" when it the PopClip menu appears (hold down the Shift key to make it the alternate search engine). Bingo! Now every time you do a search using PopClip (or an alternate search, if that's what you selected), you're searching the wiki! How freaking cool is that? This will work in any text document you are reading, including PDFs!

Now if you do a regular search using the app and the term you're looking for is only used in Paizo pubs, there's a good chance that the wiki will be the top Google search result anyway, but this saves you another click.

Let me know if anyone else ends up using this, or if I've gotten something in my instructions wrong.

[Mark Moreland]

Paizo freelancers, take note!

[Jim Groves]

Fascinating.

I am not ready for a new computer, but I thought about getting a Mac next time. Yet, James Jacobs said it wouldn't afford me any special advantage when doing my work. This... this is new.

I'd love to hear how this works out!

[PFWiki Scribe]

It works quite well, and is pretty straightforward and doesn't take long to get used to. It's almost like having any document detailing Golarion hyperlinked like the PFWiki itself. It's a little bit slower, of course, because you can't just click on a word, you have to highlight it first. Now we just have to add more articles to the wiki ...

[PFWiki Scribe]

I'm still using this and it's still very useful when doing research. Has anyone else joined me on this bandwagon?

[Joe M.]

I set PathfinderWiki as a search engine with a shortcut in Chrome, that's good enough for me as a casual user (since I almost always have a Chrome window open anyway when I'm thinking about PF). All I have to do is type "pw [search term]" and it runs.

I do this for all PF stuff, actually. 'pw' for PathfinderWiki, 'p' for the PRD, 'pb' for the messageboards. Saves me a lot of clicks. :-)

[PFWiki Scribe]

Sounds like a useful trick, Joe.

[Garrett Guillotte]

Firefox's and Chrome's right-click menus give you this keyword search for free if you set PFWiki as the default search engine, select text, and right click it.

Joe's trick also works in Firefox. Right-click the PFWiki search field and click "Add a keyword for this search...". This creates a bookmark and prompts you for a keyword, like say pfw, and you can then type pfw Detect Magic to search for Detect Magic.

A free (and Windows-compatible) alternative to PopClip's URL-handling functionality is click.to, which pops up buttons that can pass text when you select something in any app and copy it. Adding PFWiki is pretty easy.