Event Maker is a small app that creates all-day iCal events, appointments or To Dos from a Mail.app message.

An updated version released today features substantial improvements over the first release.

The app will now offer to install a “Quick Launch” applescript in Mail’s Script menu.

The initial screen has also been redesigned and now offers the option of creating a new blank event as well as making one from the selected email:

The way that events are created, modified and displayed in iCal has also been improved with a number of minor tweaks. Among them, the app now brings iCal to the foreground when asked to display the created event.

The developer is putting a lot of work into making this app better, and it shows.

Event Maker is freeware and you can download it from MacUpdate .mail.app, apple mail, email, ical, event, applescript, productivity

Event Maker is an app that creates an iCal event or to do from a selected email in Mail.app.

There are no release notes or instructions provided by the developer.

I got this to work by putting it in my Mail scripts folder (~/Library/Scripts/Applications/Mail), highlighting an email and running it from the Script menu.

It pops up a dialog allowing you to select either an event or a to do:

The subject and contents of the message are copied over into the Title and Notes fields, but the rest you need to fill in yourself.

After the event is created, the app offers you a number of options:

The developer points out that this is “an early release that is missing many features”. He is looking for some user feedback and for an icon for the app. You can contact him by email.

There are various other ways to perform the same task, among them the Mail2iCal and fuhgeddaboutit scripts. The new version of MailTags will also create iCal to dos.

Event Maker is donation-ware and is available from the developer’s web site .ical, mail.app, event, to do, apple mail, feedback

Georg Klein has released updated versions of Mail2iCal (1.4) and Mail2iCalToDo (1.4), applescripts that will create an iCal event or ToDo from a message in Mail.app.

There doesn’t appear to be a changelog anywhere, but I am guessing that these new scripts are better than the old ones in several interesting and important ways.

UPDATE: And I guessed right. Georg posts in the comments:

1.4 adds a (limited) means for calendar designation: when run from a rule, the scripts will place the calendars in a calendar named after the rule, creating a new calendar if necessary. Since many users seem to use the scripts with Mail ActOn, the scripts try to determine the Mail ActOn prefix and delimiter, using only the last part of the rulename as calendar (e.g. “ActOn: e | Important” will lead to a calendar named Important). Manual execution is unchanged.

You can get the latest versions from Georg’s web site.

Mail2iCal and Mail2iCalToDo have been updated.

These AppleScripts will create an event or a ToDo in iCal from a highlighted message in Mail.app.

The new versions of the scripts fix a hiccup that could occur if no message was selected and add a feedback option for users in the event of an error.

The author has also added comments throughout the source code.

Mail2iCal 1.3.1 and Mail2iCalToDo 1.3.3 are freeware and are available from the developer’s web site.