David Chartier at The Unofficial Apple Weblog took one look at a recent macOSXHints tip about emailing files quickly with Finder’s Folder Actions, and decided it was way too much work to set up.

Instead he developed an Automator Action to do the same job.

When you have configured, it does the same job as the Folder Action, and can be placed as a droplet in the Dock or added to the Finder’s Contextual menu.

It’s available with some instructions on the TUAW web site .

Alternatively, you could look at the bundle of three Automator Actions that make up Desktop Mailer on the Automator.us site.

This Collection of Autmator Actions was featured on Hawk Wings way back in the olden days.

It provides workflows to create a new message containing the selected file, another to send the file off automatically to a predetermined email address or a final one that archives the file(s) first.

Whichever way you go, this is a time-saver for anyone who frequently emails files. mail.app, apple mail, automator, folder actions, files, email, productivity

Murphy at Murphy Mac has created a few screencasts that walk viewers through the process of using an applescript Folder Action to email files quickly and painlessly to a predetermined email address.

He suggests that it could be used to configure a folder that shoots off any file dragged into it to someone you frequently send files to.

Another option is to configure a Folder Action so that any file dragged onto a particular folder is automatically send to your Gmail address for archiving.

Other possibilities are not hard to imagine — emailing photos to your Backpack account or whatever.

One screencast shows the Folder Action at work , as Murphy emails some iPhone graphics (very topical) to his Gmail account.

After the Folder Action is set up, all you have to do is drag the file over the enabled folder:

Enter a subject line when prompted, and whoosh!–Mail.app sends off the file–which arrives at Gmail, ready for archiving and storage:

A second screencast describes how to edit the applescript he provides so that this will work for you:

It’s a clever solution for people who are always emailing attachments to particular people or who are looking for a simple way to archive files online. mail.app, apple mail, gmail, finder, folder actions, applescript, archiving, storage, productivity, tips, google

Jochen Wolters at MacDevCenter likes the new to-do and notes features in Leopard Mail. He thinks that

The addition of to-do’s and notes to Mail may indicate that Apple has some useful ideas for enhancing a “non-glamourous” application like Mail beyond just beautiful eye candy.

But his ambitions for Mail don’t stop there. He would like to see the development of “Folder action”-like workflows through AppleScript and Automator. Some of this is already here, he notes, with Mail Act-on and other plugins. Nonetheless,

I’d love to see the equivalent to the Finder’s Folder Actions for every mailbox in Mail, multiple varieties for core functionality like ‘Reply’…, message threading across mailboxes, automatic filing of messages based on those threads, etc…
…Adding workflows which average users could create and edit, and which would advance automated email handling in ways that makes even die-hard productivity geeks smile, could make Apple Mail stand out from the crowd for more than just its good-looking UI.

mail.app, apple mail, automator, applescript, filing, workflow, productivity, rules, folder actions

There are ways to assign hotkeys or keyboard shortcuts to just about everything.

Service Scrubber brings them to Services, FastScripts to AppleScripts, you can even roll your own for a Menu item in any app.

Now, using Shortcuts 1.0, you can add them to Contextual Menu items as well.

It only works with Contextual Menu items that are provided by plugins, like items Automator and Folder Actions add to the Contextual Menu by default.

Assigning the shortcuts is easy. The app’s window lists the items that can be assigned hotkeys. Here is a screenshot half-way through assigning one to the Automator action, “EmailObject” (something I used a lot before I discovered Quicksilver):

click on the image for a full-sized view

Another window pops up prompting you to define the keystrokes for that item, say, Command-Control-Option-E. That’s it.

Now all I have to do is highlight a file in Finder, hit the hotkey combination and the file is passed to a new message in Mail.app. Clever.

It comes with a plugin of its own, called “CocoaTextSelectionHelper” which is an optional helper to get text selection from the front text view in Cocoa applications.

Shortcuts is freeware and available from the developer’s web site where you can also find a fuller online explanation of how it works.productivity, contextual menu, shortcuts, hotkeys, keyboard shortcuts, automator, folder actions, cocoa text