[MlMt] Helping MailMate and TaskPaper get along for better living

[Emory L.]

hello,

I'm really delighted to have Markdown working so well in MailMate, as 
you'll soon realize.

# Summary

I could use some help or feedback in how to integrate MailMate with 
Taskpaper from Hog Bay Software.  And to be blunt, it doesn't have to 
work with Taskpaper as much as the Taskpaper files or be able to hand 
things off to osascript(1) for insert.

I have some ideas about how it could or should work, but I don't know 
how to implement this best or if it would be something I'd have to ask 
Benny for as a feature enhancement.

This may also help people using OmniFocus since once we get things out 
of MailMate we can do the rest via AppleScript with Applications that 
support it.  Right?  (Disclaimer: I don't understand all the moving 
parts well enough to have confidence)

# Longer version

I use a piece of software called 
[Taskpaper](http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/taskpaper) to manage 
lists of tasks.  The lists are plain text documents with a basic markup 
syntax for determining if a line is a task, project, or note.  They live 
in a Dropbox folder.

Most of the time I try to keep my "system" to Taskpaper because it's so 
easy to work with.  There is good support for Services and scripting in 
Taskpaper, so integrating with Mail.app is a cinch to do things like:

## Example workflow

This is the workflow in Mail.app as reference

1. Select a message
2. Hit a hotkey (such as Command-Ctrl-T)
3. Create summarized task with a link to the email in an open task list
  31. This uses the Summarize service in a neat way

This lets me triage my Inboxes very quickly, and then go back later to 
work on something that came in via email and easily access the original 
message that started it off for easy access after I've Archived the 
email to get it out of the way.

But alas, MailMate doesn't make this easy for me without scripting 
support!  I am pretty ignorant of the emate CLI tool and the new service 
that is exposed so maybe someone feeling generous can do a proof of 
concept with me or aim me in the right direction?

# user story

User receives an email in MailMate and can use a selectable/assignable 
hotkey that creates a summarized task to Taskpaper.  The task should 
contain some information about the message and a msg link that will 
refer to the email when you click the URL in Taskpaper (or Terminal or 
any other application that can let the user click a URL).

That information about the message may be a Summarize Text OS X Service 
output, or even simply the subject of the email.

## formating

The line that is added (prepended or added to an Inbox: project or 
handed off to an AppleScript for delivery to TaskPaper) should look like 
this:

	- Re: Question about using MailMate with TaskPaper 
message://%3cCOL103-W6ECFBLAHBLAHBLAH26443A16C52CC0B80@phx.gbl%3e

or with summary:

	- Re: Question about using MailMate with TaskPaper 
message://%3cCOL103-W6ECFBLAHBLAHBLAH26443A16C52CC0B80@phx.gbl%3e
		Blah blah blah summary summary summary lore ipsum summary email is 
dumb but MailMate makes it much better blah

The second line will show up as a Note associated with the task above it 
when viewed in TaskPaper (or any application that parses TaskPaper 
files, e.g. the plugin for vim or emacs or BBEdit etc)

## possible methods I can think of

Prepend to a .taskpaper document specified by user either via option or 
pre-defined string.  I have a project filed in 
~/Dropbox/TaskPaper/@personal.taskpaper named:

	Inbox:

Most people use Taskpaper probably have an Inbox: project at the top of 
their list like I do.  Some may have an Inbox file!

Somehow getting the Subject of a selected email in MailMate and/or 
sending that message to the Summarize service and then prepending or 
smartly inserting the task into the Inbox: project at the top of the 
document would be perfect.


# supplemental

The [TaskPaper 
Wiki](http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/wiki/AddCurrentMailToTaskPaper) has 
one or two example AppleScripts that insert stuff into TaskPaper for 
reference.  One that can be used as a service is also available.

Thanks for making it to the bottom, if anyone else finds this 
interesting I'd love to have a conversation or advice on how I can best 
proceed.

//e
// +1-646-543-6679, @incumbent, & http://incumbent.org/
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