GTD Tickler file: Another approach with MailTags
Somewhere between the full, ‘classical’
I figured out a much simpler system using a SmartMailbox and MailTags. The SmartMailbox (I call mine @INBOX) is set to show unread or mail whose due date is ?¢‚Ǩ?ìbefore 1 day from today?¢‚Ǩ¬ù.
I then can set a due date on my mail using
MailTags . When the date rolls around it will appear in my @INBOX (it will then stay there until I remove the due date or set a due date in the future).I might modify this further and instead of having unread as one of the conditions, set it to untagged mail. That way I can read my mail from work on .Mac and not have it screw up my @INBOX.
That will also allow me to set Tags for @Action, @Waiting For, and Archive to remove mail from the @Inbox. I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ll have to make sure my MailAct-On scripts for these actions also remove any due date.
Very clever! Is there no end to the things that MailTags can do?
Tags: applescript, gtd, mailtagsRelated posts
December 2nd, 2005 at 4:34 pm
I played around with this some more. Because Mail’s rules do not have an ‘or’ statement, I had to create a ‘@Defer’ keyword. So my inbox rule is any of the following: no keyword, due date before 1 day from today. I have some Mail Act-On rules set up to assign things to Action, Waiting For, Archive, and Defer. The scripts for the first three clear any keywords, set due date to none, and then assign an appropriate keyword. The Defer script is the same except for the final step. I set due dates to on and give it a due date 7 days from the current date. If I need to fine tune the date, I can go into my Defer Smart Mailbox and adjust the due date. My only problem now is that Mail seems less stable since adding Act-On and Mail Tags. Also, the Smart Mailboxes don’t always update properly.
December 3rd, 2005 at 5:58 pm
Heh. Nothing seems to flush really cool code out of the woodwork (or is that network?) than writing some slightly lame code. :) I have just run out to grab a copy of MailTags.
Cheers!
–zak
December 6th, 2005 at 9:25 am
[...] Using MailTags you can add notes (and keywords) to emails, although not in roll-over form. You can also set due dates to make emails “reappear”. See Roger Eberhart’s GTD set-up for doing this, easily adaptable for non-GTD use. Technorati Tags: SNARF, Mail.app, MailTags, GTD [...]
December 15th, 2005 at 8:34 am
[...] This is a third way to make reminders to deal with a certain email at a future date. You could also use Zak Greant’s full-blown GTD Tickler file script or Roger Eberhart’s MailTags approach. Technorati Tags: iCal, AppleScript, Mail.app, email [...]
December 30th, 2005 at 8:38 pm
[...] Got some things done in Apple Mail, Part I Got some things done in Apple Mail, Part II AppleScript to create and run a GTD ?¢‚ǨÀúTickler file?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ GTD Tickler file: Another approach with MailTags [...]
January 23rd, 2006 at 9:25 am
[...] One way around this is to run a Tickler file with MailTags. Although due to the way that Mail.app handles IMAP support, a mailbox rebuild will rebuild your local cache and wipe out the MailTags info, which is appended to the cached copy of each emlx file. [...]
August 3rd, 2006 at 11:48 pm
[...] There are ways to get a tickler file going inside Mail.app itself using MailTags or AppleScript, but for those who prefer a web-based solution, MyTicklerFile will do the job nicely. [...]
December 8th, 2006 at 9:03 am
Thank you for this! Love this use of MailTags. Very handy.