The recent 10.5.3 update introduced built-in syncing with Gmail Contacts in Address Book.

Despite this, developers of third-party Address Book-Gmail syncing apps are soldiering on. Both SpanningSync and Syncman developers point out that 10.5.3 offers this only for Leopard users and, even then, only for Leopard users with an iPhone or iTouch device.

Jeff Nichols, Syncman developer, has just released a new improved version of his sync app, lending credence to his claim that Wateree (his software firm) is a “small and agile company that can adjust quickly to our customers needs and desires”.

Syncman 1.1 can now be configured to run as a menubar utility and to load automatically when you fire up Mac OS X.

Behind the scenes further tweaks have improved the way Google Talk address are mapped to Jabber addresses in Address Book, and improved treatment of how Address Book’s Last Name field is handled.

But the number one request of users was for scheduled syncing, and Syncman delivers on that too.

The Preferences allow you to set the period of the sync and to customise the level of confirmation you want before it makes any changes:

Confirmation is another nice feature of Syncman, that is lacking in Address Book’s default sync option. As Jeff puts it:

Syncman respects the effort you’ve put into maintaining your Address Book, and therefore gets your confirmation before making any changes that could potentially cause you a whole bunch of headache.

So Syncman offers a confirmation dialog displaying potential changes before it makes them:

SpanningSync has also recently launched a 2.0 beta of its software, which is addition to syncing iCal and Google Calendar, will also sync Address Book data, including photos (Syncman is promised to have this feature soon too). The beta is free (but is a beta, so backup!).

SpanningSync costs either USD 25 for a year’s subscription or USD 65 for a once-off, unlimited licence.

Syncman is shareware and costs USD 15 (€9.95). You can get a 30-day free demo from Wateree’s web site.

Tags: Address Book, contacts, GMAIL, Google calendar, menubar, nimble agile developers, scheduling, syncing

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Ryan Cuthbertson has written an AppleScript which offers an unusual solution to organising your “To Do” tasks in iCal.

Listing all your To Dos all the time is not always helpful. Scheduled To Dos could help you to be more productive as Ryan explains:

Don’t you wish you could make some iCal To Do items appear in iCal’s To Do list only after a certain date? For example, have you ever had an assignment due in four weeks’ time but which it was only possible or efficient to work on in the fortnight before? Currently iCal provides no real facility for this situation—you can’t enter a start date for a To Do.

Now you can. Using Ryan’s Event2ToDo AppleScript, you can create an event at the time you want the To Do to appear in your To Do list and fill in the details according to the instructions in its readme file.

The readme file also explains how to set the script to run 0 minutes before the event is due. Then you can forget about it and focus on the To Dos that need to get done right now.

Hey Presto, When the time is right, the script inserts your To Do into the list just when you need to focus on getting it done. Productive!

Event2ToDo is freeware and is available from Ryan’s web site .

Tags: Apple Mail Tips, applescript, events, getting things done, iCal, Productivity, scheduling, todos

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TUAW is running a post about iCalMail, an AppleScript that allows you to schedule the later sending of an email via iCal.

iCalMail creates a new iCal calendar. Events that you schedule in that calendar are then translated into emails using the text that you enter in the event’s Notes field as the body of the email.

Nifty, but there is a better way.

Using Andreas Mann’s “Schedule Delivery” script (part of his Mail Scripts collection), you can schedule delivery without leaving Mail and without restricting the way you compose your email. You can compose your message as you normally do, without the restrictions of iCal’s Notes field, and add any attachments you want to send.

Save it in the Drafts folder and run the “Schedule Delivery” Script (via a hotkey or a quick launcher like Quicksilver). It presents you with a window that allows you to schedule the delivery of all emails in your Drafts folder:

Obviously your computer needs to be on at the scheduled delivery time in order for the email to be sent.

Mail Scripts is freeware (donations not refused) and is available from Andreas’ web site .

Tags: applescript, email, iCal, plugins, scheduling

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