Clip Magic 2.01

as presented at the TPC March Meeting
by new Disk Librarian,

Mike Kato

Last month, I revived a long forgotten tradition of the TPC, the Disk Librarian. Wanting to start out with a bang, rather than a whimper, I looked for an applcation that I would most certainly use. What I found was not only worth using, but was actually a vast improvement over something I was already using and that I had even upgraded previously.

This is, to me, the best proof of the real value of a piece of software. If it convinces you to buy, not only as a supplement to what you use already, but to replace something you own and use, then the software is really worth something!

ClipMagic 2.01 is not only a great clipboard enhancement, it is an indispensable tool for someone who often uses a word processor, uses the Web to surf sites for research, and needs to clip a variety of items that are often reused. In particular, I write a lot of proposals, specs, and other kinds of documentation for Website and software projects. I also write articles, primarily for the AJ and for Web-based publishing. For me, the discovery of ClipMagic was absolutely Heavenly.

To begin with, the installation executable is just over 1.1 Mbytes, easily fitting on a floppy disk. The installation is quick and easy. It does not even require a reboot to take effect.

Installed, my current ClipMagic directory is around 1.5 Mbytes. It contains dozens of clips, but with the exception of images, the text itself is likely to keep the directory small.

ClipMagic, from the first install, shows its true colors. Unlike many applications, when you start the software, rather than running open on the Windows desktop, it runs in the background, occupying a small space in the Windows taskbar (by the system clock).



Likewise, when you double-click the ClipMagic icon and open the full application interface, you can see that the menu itself is pretty original. Rather than a single pane where the clips reside or, at most, an additional pane where catogories (for clips) can be added or modified, the ClipMagic Interface has three primary panes. These panes are for Categories, Clip Properties, and a Viewer. The Viewer pane, in addition, has three tabs, showing the Clip itself, Comments, and a Web Browser.

Clipping a variety of items into the clipboard, I found the clipboard to be extremely powerful and intuitive. URLs copied to ClipMagic automatically revert to the Web Browser mode, showing the Website in the clip. Text and images clipped revert to the Clip mode, showing the text of the clip or the image itself. Clips written in HTML display as HTML, even if the page is not a URL but a file on your hard drive.

Clips can also contain pretty good formatting, including multiple fonts, bold, italic, and underlined text, as well as bulleted lists.

In the category pane, I was able to add new categories easily, as well as move clips to new categories. Using the Shift + left mouse click, I was able to move more than one clip at a time to a new category. While I was unable to use the Ctrl + left mouse click action, to activate non-contiguous items, this was only a minor shortcoming.

The real power of ClipMagic, however, is not just from the way it can take and organize clips. Of course, the ability to keep a clip history is a powerful function in itself. Imagine what it would be like if you could not keep a history of your email. This would be disastrous in terms of keeping records of correspondences. In addition, your email is best filtered into mailboxes, so that you not only have a record of your past mail correspondences, with some data/time reference information, but also a pretty good way of categorizing them.

ClipMagic offers a very similar set of Filters/Rules to categorize and store clips automatically. Under the Tools Menu, I found the Filters/Rules tool. Clicking New, I created rules for storing my clipped images and URLs. The logic and syntax for creating my rules was not much different than creating filters for my email, so it was very easy. Now, whenever I clip an image, or a URL, it automatically is saved in these categories, rather than the main ClipMagic default category. The images I use often in documents, including logos, buttons, and other similar items, are never more than a clip away.

By moving Filters/Rules up or down in priority, one can save images, URLs, and other clips in specific categories. The possibilities are endless. For now, I save in three categories, default, images, and URLs. Trash is where things I don't need go. But, unless I throw out the trash manually, the clips I toss still are retained in the Trash category. Pretty cool.

ClipMagic 2.01 is made by MJT Net Ltd. Download a 30-day demo copy at the following URL:

http://www.clipmagic.com/download.html

System requirements are Windows 95, 98, NT4.0 or 2000. It is recommended that Clipmagic is used on a PC with at least 16Mb RAM and a Pentium Processor. ClipMagic can be purchased for $29.99. After you purchase ClipMagic you will receive a license code that removes the 30-day evaluation period.

I have no doubts that it will be one of the most useful $30 you ever spent on software.

Stay tuned to next month's Disk Librarian!

The author can be reached at:   mikekato@tokyopc.org.

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