OS X Service: Send to Instapaper
tl;dr
Send to Instapaper is an OS X 10.8 (or later) service used to send URLs to Instapaper from any link in any app:
- Add a Instapaper record to Keychain with your Instapaper username and optional password.
- Download and install the service.
- Right click on any link in any app and choose Services -> Send to Instapaper.
Background
Instapaper is still my read it later service of choice. It is widely supported, but I wanted the possibility to send URLs to Instapaper from any app in OS X.
The Send to Instapaper OS X service works in any app that hasn't completely customized its context menu (I'm looking at you Kindle). Even Apple's own apps now support Instapaper
Installation
In order to use this service, you need an Instapaper account.
Add an Instapaper record to Keychain using the Keychain Access app. Input your Instapaper username and password. If you do not use a password, anything can be written in the password field.
Download and extract the service. Open the service to install it (double click or right click -> Open).
Usage
Right click on any link in any app and choose Services -> Send to Instapaper. The screenshot below shows a link being sent from ReadKit:
The URL from the link will be extracted and sent to Instapaper. After it is successfully added to your Instapaper queue, a notification will appear showing the sent URL:
If the selected text contained multiple links, the last one will be sent.
Source
I've uploaded the source to this repository at GitHub. The automator service is a mix between shell and python scripts, together with some standard Automator actions. The structure is as follows:
- Extract a URL from the selected text.
- Find the user's username and password in Keychain.
- Send the URL to Instapaper.
- Show a notification to user.
I use terminal-notifier to show OS X notifications.