I saw a favorable mention of Braintool (Chrome browser extension) and thought I'd pass it along.

https://braintool.org/

Thanks @jimspoon. BrainTool is a kind of personal knowledge management tool. As a Chrome extension it's as good a bookmarks/sessions/tabs manager as there is out there (compare to TabsOutliner, Session Buddy etc). It makes it super easy to file any browser accessible resource (web page, file:/// link, trello board, gmail etc) as related to one of your hierarchal 'topics'. Where it is unique is that it stores all its data in a org-mode formatted text file. In this way it integrates with any text-based productivity workflow.

Check it out and LMK what you think!

jimspoon wrote:

I saw a favorable mention of Braintool (Chrome browser extension) and
thought I'd pass it along.

https://braintool.org/

Wish it worked on firefox. It seems pretty nice. I have been looking for a tool like this. Pretty impressive.

Another vote for a Firefox add-in.

+1

I wish more browser plugins used such open formats for saving their data; kudos Braintool!

Franz Grieser wrote:

Another vote for a Firefox add-in.

Yep, let’s move away from Chrome, everyone!

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

+1

I wish more browser plugins used such open formats for saving their
data; kudos Braintool!

Franz Grieser wrote:
Another vote for a Firefox add-in.

You can stick with Chromium while leaving Chrome. Ungoogled Chromium, Brave Browser and others will let you use the tremendous variety of Chrome extensions while having the tracking innards of Chrome excised. On the desktop I use Firefox, Safari and Brave, but mostly Brave (maybe 80% of the time). It's a terrific browser that comes with a built-in an-blocker based on uBlock Origin (which itself can also be added as an extension for more customization if you'd like), along with a number of privacy and productivity-related extensions that don't have equivalents on other browser platforms.

I don't recommend Microsoft's Chromium-based Edge browser because it uses a hard-coded ID based on hardware components from which you cannot opt-out, and I read (but have not confirmed) that Vivaldi does something similar.

There are a number of different angles to look at the Chromium vs Firefox debate. I like it when extensions are available for both, as both Chromium and Firefox browsers each have their advantages, but I understand how that is difficult.

There are different levels to ungoogling, and while using chromium based browsers instead of chrome is a step in the right direction, there is alot of confusion about what that actually means in terms of privacy, security, tracking etc... Beyond that, there are broader issues the more chromium/chrome browsers become the "standard". Having a selection of tools available to choose from while engaging online is important.

That being said, I also use chromium based browsers in my workflow. I actually really like Vivaldi (even though it seems dated) and Brave (despite not living up to the speed/privacy hype) and use Google Chrome most often when I need to use Google's services. The issue is that none of them remain stable when left open and running for a length of time. They slow down, and then tabs begin to crash. This is one of the major reasons why I prefer Firefox more than the alternatives. I have certainly thought about how I could change my browsing habits. Less windows and less tabs, more frequent shut downs etc....

The Braintool chrome extension is attractive because I could see it help add a layer of organization to my browser. I also like that organization is easily accessible outside the browser as an text file.

I hope it finds it way to firefox, or that I am able to find a similar tool. I am looking at Braintool after considering looking into some sort of bookmark/link manager.

Chrome is a RAM hog, so people with limited memory might indeed have problems in some circumstances. I currently have 45 tabs open in Brave, in three different windows. Never had a problem, but my machine is packed with 40Gb RAM. I recommend the Auto Tab Discard extension for those using a Chromium app with limited RAM, which sleeps/discards unused tabs and restores RAM to the system.

https://add0n.com/tab-discard.html
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/auto-tab-discard/jhnleheckmknfcgijgkadoemagpecfol

Franz Grieser wrote:

Another vote for a Firefox add-in.

BrainTool developer here - My plan is to make BrainTool available on Edge and Firefox, but probably not for a couple of months until I finish up the 1.0 version (search being the major outstanding feature). Firefox definitely seems to be the most requested!

BTW I posted a writeup of my personal org-mode and BrainTool process:
https://braintool.org/2021/04/21/My-BrainTool-orgmode-and-emacs-workflow.html

Well, that’s very good news. I blush to say this, but I rather like Edge and use it in preference to other Chromium browsers (a colleague uses Brave, I’ve used and like Vivaldi, Opera used to be brilliant until it was swallowed up by a Chinese developer).

BrainTool wrote:

Franz Grieser wrote:
Another vote for a Firefox add-in.

BrainTool developer here - My plan is to make BrainTool available on
Edge and Firefox, but probably not for a couple of months until I finish
up the 1.0 version (search being the major outstanding feature). Firefox
definitely seems to be the most requested!

BTW I posted a writeup of my personal org-mode and BrainTool process:
https://braintool.org/2021/04/21/My-BrainTool-orgmode-and-emacs-workflow.html

BrainTool developer here - My plan is to make BrainTool available on
Edge and Firefox, but probably not for a couple of months until I finish
up the 1.0 version (search being the major outstanding feature). Firefox
definitely seems to be the most requested!

Great. Could you drop us a note when the Firefox add-in is finished?

BrainTool wrote:

Franz Grieser wrote:
Another vote for a Firefox add-in.

BrainTool developer here - My plan is to make BrainTool available on
Edge and Firefox,........... >BTW I posted a writeup of my personal org-mode and BrainTool process:
https://braintool.org/2021/04/21/My-BrainTool-orgmode-and-emacs-workflow.html

Excited to hear firefox is on the roadmap. I am going to try and play with it on chrome in the next week or so. I will echo others who have said that it is pretty mature given how long it has been in development.

I appreciated your write up on your process. Bookmarks and browser history often live in a silo, The braintools org file looks like a way to free the information from the silo. It also offers a good workflow to capture and take notes on those links.

I am curious what the limitations might be on notes you can add for each link? Is limited to short notes, or can you add/copy significant text from the page?

Thanks

Thank you for the positive perspective! Thanks also for the writeup of your process, which also sheds light on the BrainTool logic.

So here's a potential challenge. Like Nomatica, I also use more than one browser. Would it be possible to for more than one browser to use the same BrainTool org file? (Ideally, but not necessarily, concurrently.)


BrainTool wrote:

BrainTool developer here - My plan is to make BrainTool available on
Edge and Firefox, but probably not for a couple of months until I finish
up the 1.0 version (search being the major outstanding feature). Firefox
definitely seems to be the most requested!

BTW I posted a writeup of my personal org-mode and BrainTool process:
https://braintool.org/2021/04/21/My-BrainTool-orgmode-and-emacs-workflow.html

BrainTool looks very promising! Many thanks. The key future for me would be the ability to save all open tabs in all windows (like in Session Buddy, etc). Right now, BrainTool seems to only be able to save tabs in the current window, unless I'm missing something. But it's an awesome start!

Once BT is open, clicking on the toolbar icon gives you the opportunity to hit 'All unsaved tabs'

MenAgerie wrote:

Once BT is open, clicking on the toolbar icon gives you the opportunity
to hit 'All unsaved tabs'

Yes, but as I said, it only saves the tabs in the current window, rather than all windows (at least on my system).

Ahh, sorry, I should read things more closely. Apologies.

Lucas wrote:

MenAgerie wrote:
Once BT is open, clicking on the toolbar icon gives you the opportunity
>to hit 'All unsaved tabs'

Yes, but as I said, it only saves the tabs in the current window, rather
than all windows (at least on my system).

Will do!

Will do!

Franz Grieser wrote:

BrainTool developer here - My plan is to make BrainTool available on
>Edge and Firefox, but probably not for a couple of months until I
finish
>up the 1.0 version (search being the major outstanding feature).
Firefox
>definitely seems to be the most requested!

Great. Could you drop us a note when the Firefox add-in is finished?

Nomatica wrote:

BrainTool wrote:
Franz Grieser wrote:
>Another vote for a Firefox add-in.
>
>BrainTool developer here - My plan is to make BrainTool available on
>Edge and Firefox,........... >BTW I posted a writeup of my personal
org-mode and BrainTool process:
>https://braintool.org/2021/04/21/My-BrainTool-orgmode-and-emacs-workflow.html
>

Excited to hear firefox is on the roadmap. I am going to try and play
with it on chrome in the next week or so. I will echo others who have
said that it is pretty mature given how long it has been in development.


I appreciated your write up on your process. Bookmarks and browser
history often live in a silo, The braintools org file looks like a way
to free the information from the silo. It also offers a good workflow to
capture and take notes on those links.

I am curious what the limitations might be on notes you can add for each
link? Is limited to short notes, or can you add/copy significant text
from the page?

Thanks

There's no limit to the amount of text entered although the display is currently less than ideal for anything over a few hundred charcters. The underlying org-mode structure is just text so you can write forever!

Hi Alexander,
I'm trying to answer all the BrainTool questions but being challenged by the threading format of the discussion group!

At the very least you can manually export-to and then import-from a local text file. So you can manually keep two browsers synced. I haven't really designed for multiple concurrent use at this point, but given the ability to sync to a Google Drive file I think it could work if you are careful. With both browsers reading and writing the GDrive you'd just need to make sure to hit the 'Refresh from Google Drive' button each time you start work in a new browser. (Also the GDrive file is automatically versioned so there's always a safety net to restore a previous version of the file.)

BTW since its kind of hidden here's a pointer to the Overview writeup on the web site describing some more of the philosophy and roadmap: http://braintool.org/overview
and there's a BT specific Google discussion group here: https://groups.google.com/u/0/g/braintool-discussion

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

Thank you for the positive perspective! Thanks also for the writeup of
your process, which also sheds light on the BrainTool logic.

So here's a potential challenge. Like Nomatica, I also use more than one
browser. Would it be possible to for more than one browser to use the
same BrainTool org file? (Ideally, but not necessarily, concurrently.)


BrainTool wrote:
>BrainTool developer here - My plan is to make BrainTool available on
>Edge and Firefox, but probably not for a couple of months until I
finish
>up the 1.0 version (search being the major outstanding feature).
Firefox
>definitely seems to be the most requested!
>
>BTW I posted a writeup of my personal org-mode and BrainTool process:
>https://braintool.org/2021/04/21/My-BrainTool-orgmode-and-emacs-workflow.html

Following up on this thread to note that the latest version of BrainTool is out [1] and that it is now available on the Edge store [2] and also has support for Brave and Vivaldi. Unfortunately FireFox does not support tab groups and errors out on my calls to that API (unlike Vivaldi which safely ignores them), so no support for FF just yet :-(

BTW this is my last planned version before a pending 1.0 release. I have a couple of subscription offers for early adopters that might be of interest [3].

Tony
[1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/braintool-beyond-bookmark/fialfmcgpibjgdoeodaondepigiiddio
[2] https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/braintool-beyond-bookma/igibjpnabjgljgnfajjpapocagidmeol
[3] https://braintool.org/pricing