Introduction
This edition of the GNU Hyperbole Manual is for use with any version 9.0.2pre or greater of GNU Hyperbole. Hyperbole runs atop GNU Emacs 28 or higher. It will trigger an error if your Emacs is older.
This chapter summarizes the structure of the rest of the manual, describes Hyperbole, lists some of its potential applications, and explains how to subscribe to its mail lists.
Throughout this manual, sequences of keystrokes are delimited by curly braces { }; function and variable names use this typeface.
In brief, Hyperbole lets you:
- Quickly create typed hyperlink buttons either from the keyboard or by dragging between a source and destination window with a mouse button depressed. Activate Hyperbole buttons by pressing/clicking on them or by name;
- Activate many kinds of implicit buttons recognized by context within text buffers, e.g. URLs, pathnames with section anchors, grep output lines, and git commits. A single key, {M-RET}, or mouse button automatically does the right thing in dozens of contexts; just press and go;
- Build outlines with multi-level, numbered outline nodes, e.g. 1.4.8.6, that all renumber automatically when any cell (node) or tree is moved in the outline. Each cell also has a permanent hyperlink anchor that you can reference from any other cell;
- Manage all your contacts or record-based, unstructured texts quickly with hierarchical categories; each entry can have embedded hyperbuttons of any type. Or create an archive of documents with hierarchical entries and use the same search mechanism to quickly find any matching entry;
- Use single keys to easily manage your Emacs windows or frames and quickly retrieve saved window and frame configurations;
- Search for things in your current buffers, in a directory tree or across major web search engines with the touch of a few keys.