ScrapX

ScrapX™ 1.3.5

The ScrapX Combined View

ScrapX is a Mac OS X scrapbook utility written in Cocoa. It is localized in English and French. ScrapX is shareware and can be used for 30 days at no cost.

ScrapX stores, displays, and dispenses content that can be copied and pasted or drag-and-dropped among apps running under Mac OS X and classic, or that is imported from classic Mac OS scrapbooks including those created with ScrapIt.

Content can be text, images, movies, or sounds. It is displayed if it is in one of the supported data format or types. Currently these include: aGIF (animated GIF), BMP, EPS, GIF, HTML, JPEG, PDF, PICT, PNG, RTF, RTFD, TIFF, URL, plain text, movie, sound, and (classic) sound resource. Supported sound formats include .m4a (AAC) and .m4p (protected AAC).

Multi-page content can be scrolled, and movies, sounds, and aGIFs can be "played" within ScrapX. Items in supported types can be exported to files or dragged to the desktop to create clippings. Content with no supported type also can be stored and dispensed—Adobe Illustrator images or FileMaker objects, for example. Scrapbooks can be searched and sorted using multiple criteria, and can be displayed in three views. Even when ScrapX is hidden a "Dropbox view" can be kept on the desktop so content or files can be dragged to a scrapbook.

ScrapX 1.3.5 is an update that allows capture of content from "promised files" when content is dragged from Safari or several other web browsers, automatic and manual stripping of duplicate types, and automatic filtering of redundant image types. These new features dramatically reduce sizes of new and existing items and improve the utility of ScrapX as an Internet scrapbook. In addition, this update allows photos to be dragged from iPhoto to ScrapX and content to be option-dragged from ScrapX to the desktop in order to export it. It adds a progress indicator for insertion of files, and displays the expiration date of trial licenses in the "About ScrapX" panel. The speed of changing items has been significantly improved, and bugs have been fixed in which automatically saving could fail when the current item contained a PDF type and the scrapbook size shown in the "About This Scrapbook" panel differed from the file size shown in the scrapbook file Get Info panel.

What's New

Many new features have been added in version 1.3 and later:

Undo and Redo. ScrapX now has Edit > Undo and Edit > Redo commands; an essentially unlimited number of steps is undoable.
Text Editing. Text in the types HTML, RTF, URL, and plain text can be edited or formatted, and new items with text types can be created.
Text Selection. A portion of text content can be selected and copied and pasted or drag-and-dropped.
Image Zoom. In the Combined and Item views, images can be zoomed to levels between 25% to 400%, or to a level at which the image will fill the window.
Checkboxes. Each item has a checkbox that can be used for various purposes including search and sort operations, and selecting items for slideshows.
Slideshows. Items can be displayed in a slideshow view. Items are advanced under timed or manual control.
Display Settings. Several "display settings"—scroll positions and volume selections, for example—are saved and can be reloaded when a scrapbook is opened.
Opening URLs. New commands make it easy to open web URLs that begin "http://" or "https://".
About This Scrapbook Panel. This new panel summarizes scrapbook information.

Additional New Features and Improvements:

Text Preferences. The new "Text" preference allows selection of the default font for display of content in the plain text type.
Improved Search. Text in items of type PDF is searchable when running under Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) or 10.4 (Tiger).
Improved Rendering of Thumbnails. Images displayed in thumbnails are reduced in size only when they must be.
New Error Checking. ScrapX 1.3 makes a "soft landing" if launched on a system that doesn't meet minimum requirements and will not launch if an older version already is running; a given scrapbook is prevented from being opened more than once; and creation of empty items or insertion of broken files is prevented.
Bugs Fixed. (See Release History.)

For more information see the Features page or download the What's New document from the Support page. Go to the Download page to get ScrapX with its documentation.

Reviews and Mentions

Q: I want to upgrade to Mac OS X, but I depend on the Scrapbook in Mac OS 9. Is there a Mac OS X version? A: Apple abandoned the venerable Scrapbook after Mac OS 9. However, Aqueous Software offers a wonderful alternative called ScrapX." MacAddict, March 2005.

"If you liked the old Classic Mac OS Scrapbook, or even if you‘re new to the Mac in the OS X era and the concept is new to you, it‘s well worth downloading ScrapX for a looksee and tryout." Charles Moore Reviews ScrapX Version 1.2: A Scrapbook for Mac OS X.

"This is not your daddy‘s Scrapbook, supporting little more than PICT or aging 3DMF graphic formats. ScrapX is a fine scrapbook utility...with useful new enhancements to the old chestnut..." The Refugee Utilities for the Mac OS X Interface by Loren S. Miller. Rated 4.75/5.00 togs.

What Users Have Told Us

"Thanks for this excellent program for Mac OS X. I used the Classic scrapbook a great deal and was wanting an OS X scrapbook. You have done an excellent job." Gerry

"I am just so relieved to have a scrapbook again! Excellent, excellent design." Liz

"Since reading a review on Version Tracker where someone mentioned you can drag n' drop 'AI' - pdf compatible files from ScrapX, I was hooked. This is an excellent tool for anyone who uses Illustrator." Alex

" I really appreciate your program. Powerful and great looking! Most important—very useful in my printing and graphic arts business. I am recommending this to anyone who needs a great productive tool for the Mac! David

ScrapX Uses

Here are just a few suggestions for how ScrapX can save you time and make you more creative:

Import the content you have compiled in classic scrapbooks and continue to use it in Mac OS X. For more information download the ScrapX Application Note: "Importing Classic Scrapbooks."
Organize content that you use frequently: paragraphs for form letters, signatures, images, and graphics (headers and signatures) for faxes. ScrapX 1.3 makes this content even more useful because you can select or edit text content and in v1.3.5 can export content to a file by just option-dragging it to the desktop.
Create Internet scrapbooks with visual web page bookmarks. When an image is dropped from Safari the title and URL of the web page and the link URL (if any) are captured. These URLs can be opened from ScrapX.
Store content related to particular projects: emails, web URLs, news stories, cartoons, music, digital photos, etc. Create notes using the new Create Text Item command.
Store and display statements and confirmations in PDF format that you receive from your bank or brokerage. When running under Panther or Tiger even PDF content can be searched.
Gather and organize project materials. Use the new slideshow feature to test alternative orders of presenting materials, then copy and paste or drag-and-drop content to word processing, image editing, and other applications to publish it. Even store and dispense Adobe Illustrator images or FileMaker objects. For more information download the ScrapX Application Note: "Storing and Dispensing FileMaker Pro Objects."

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