Yojimbo FAQs

Is Yojimbo compatible with my macOS version?

For complete OS compatibility information, please see our OS compatibility page.

How do I back up my Yojimbo data?

Yojimbo 4.5 includes a “Make Backup Now” command, which you can use to make a backup of Yojimbo’s database as desired.

We also recommend using a dedicated backup program such as Time Machine or SuperDuper to automatically back up (and if necessary, to restore) all the important data on your Mac, including your Yojimbo data.

When I add a file to Yojimbo, do I need to keep the file?

Yojimbo always copies your data into its database, leaving the original unaffected. So, after you’ve added a file (or multiple files) to Yojimbo, modifying or deleting the originals will not affect the data stored in Yojimbo.

Likewise, any changes you make to an item stored in Yojimbo will not affect the original file.

Is Yojimbo available for Windows or Linux?

No, and we have no plans to develop products for any other platform.

What system version does Yojimbo require?

Yojimbo 4.5 requires macOS 10.13.6 (macOS 10.14.6 or later recommended). It will not run on any earlier version of macOS/Mac OS X.

Why doesn’t typing F8 bring up the Quick Input panel?

The behavior of your Mac’s function keys is controlled by a system prefs option. Additionally, system functions may overlap with Yojimbo’s hot key assignments.

How Function Keys Behave

The behavior of your Mac’s Function keys is controlled by the “Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys” option in the Keyboard tab of the Keyboard system prefs panel. (To get there, choose “System Preferences” from the Apple menu, then select the Keyboard panel, and click on the Keyboard tab.)

When this option is OFF, the function keys will perform preset system actions, for example: brightening or dimming the screen, or launching iTunes. To instead use these keys as ordinary function keys, you must type both the “Fn” key and the desired F# key simultaneously. For example, pressing Fn + F8 will invoke Yojimbo’s Quick Input Panel (or possibly Spaces; if so, see the section below on Keyboard Shortcuts).

(The printed symbol on each function key corresponds to its system action.)

If this option is ON, the function keys will behave as standard function keys, which act according to the Keyboard Shortcuts preferences, or to applications’ own settings. In this case, pressing F8 alone will either invoke Spaces (if that shortcut is active), or bring up Yojimbo’s Quick Input Panel, whereas pressing Fn + F8 would launch iTunes.

Keyboard Shortcuts

The Keyboard Shortcuts panel of the Keyboard system prefs displays all keyboard shortcuts defined by the system, and any shortcuts you’ve manually added.

Applications may also make their own keyboard shortcuts, though a system shortcut can override these.

So, in some cases, you may need to either deactivate or change a system shortcut if it overlaps with an application shortcut. Alternatively, you may want to change the application shortcut; in Yojimbo, you can do this via its own “Hot Keys” prefs panel.

Does Yojimbo support hierarchical (nested) collections?

Yojimbo does not support hierarchical (nested) collections, and we have no current plans to do so since we think it would add clutter and make Yojimbo less approachable and efficient.

Instead, we believe the combination of Yojimbo’s tag collections and Tag Explorer are a cleaner (and more powerful) solution for most purposes.

Will there be an iPhone version of Yojimbo?

We do not currently have any concrete plans to produce an iPhone companion for Yojimbo. However, we are keeping an eye on further developments to the iPhone and the iOS platform.

Yojimbo also now includes Sidekick, a feature for exporting data in a web page format which you can use on your iPhone (or any other device with a modern web browser).

For a basic overview of Sidekick, please see the tour.

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