OmniFocus-Mail Links
 

Inspired by zooids post in another thread. I've created a pair of scripts that allow round-trip linking between OmniFocus and Mail.

The pair of scripts here allow you:
• to create OmniFocus actions from messages in Apple Mail
• jump from linked OmniFocus actions back to the Mail message.

Download: [URL="http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~clifton/software.html"]the most recent version is available here[/URL]

[B]Installation[/B]
1. Copy the Add OmniFocus Action script into the folder:

~/Library/Scripts/Applications/Mail

creating the folder(s) if necessary.

2. Copy the Open Linked Mail Message script into the folder:

~/Library/Scripts/Applications/OmniFocus

creating the folder(s) if necessary.

3. Add the Scripts menu to your menu bar if you haven't already by opening the AppleScript Utility, located in Applications/AppleScript/, and selecting the “Show Script Menu in menu bar” checkbox. The menu should appear on the right side of the menu bar.

[B]Running[/B]
When running Mail, the Add OmniFocus Action item should appear in the scripts menu. Select a message in Mail, then run the script. You should find a new action in your OmniFocus Inbox awaiting a context and project designation.

When running OmniFocus, the Open Linked Mail Message item should appear in the scripts menu. Select a linked action in OmniFocus, then run the script. The mail message should open.

[B]Disclaimer[/B]
I haven't tested the scripts with IMAP accounts. OmniFocus is still in alpha testing, so the scripts may break at any time. I suspect that I'll continue to use and maintain them until the Omni Group provides built-in support, so I'm likely to maintain the scripts for awhile at least.

Awesome. This is great. This makes OF twice as useful to me.

One request – does anyone know how to make the script select the message in the main mail window (and have it open in the preview pane) instead of opening it in a new window? It's really helpful to see the message in the context of it's thread / folder / mailtags, etc instead of just opening it.

[QUOTE=johnrover]Awesome. This is great. This makes OF twice as useful to me.[/QUOTE]

I'm glad you like it. It was like pulling teeth to get Mail to behave!

[QUOTE=johnrover]One request – does anyone know how to make the script select the message in the main mail window (and have it open in the preview pane) instead of opening it in a new window? It's really helpful to see the message in the context of it's thread / folder / mailtags, etc instead of just opening it.[/QUOTE]

That's a good idea. Let me make sure I understand what you're looking for. You would like the front message viewer window in Mail to switch to the mailbox of the linked message with the linked message selected. Is that right?

Should the current behavior of opening a new window also be retained as an option? I can imagine some people not wanting the script to change what their message viewer is already displaying.

Haven't tried it but like the jail bird says... "That is hot!"

BZ

[QUOTE=curt.clifton]
That's a good idea. Let me make sure I understand what you're looking for. You would like the front message viewer window in Mail to switch to the mailbox of the linked message with the linked message selected. Is that right?
[/QUOTE]

Yes!

[QUOTE=curt.clifton]
Should the current behavior of opening a new window also be retained as an option? I can imagine some people not wanting the script to change what their message viewer is already displaying.[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE]

To be honest, I don't care. I would never use it that way. If I'm linking to something from OF, chances are I'm not already reading a message in mail. And in the few cases where I [I]do[/I] want to keep the message I'm reading open, I would open [I]that one[/I] first, because I'm already trained to work that way while working exclusively in mail.

The I thinking linking OF to the message in context, highlighting it (thus causing it do display in the preview pane) would be the most "seemless" workflow option. It would make OF feel more like an extension of mail, or vice versa.

Thanks again!

OT: Leopard Mail will have some interesting ways to connect to OF: Notes and autorecognition of dates (connecting to iCal) and addresses (connecting to Address Book) could be tapped for some subtle integration.

On Topic: I'd expect to move from OF to Mail with the message displayed in the main (read only) Mail window but could see a modifier key causing it to open in it's own window.

New version
 

Here's a new version of the OmniFocus-Mail Links scripts. This one displays the linked message in the front message viewer of Mail.

Download: [URL=http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~clifton/software.html]the most recent version is available here[/URL]

(You can change one line in the appropriate script to use the old "open in new window" behavior. The zip file includes instructions for doing this.)

Nice job! Thanks for updating the scripts.

[QUOTE=zooids]Nice job! Thanks for updating the scripts.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the inspiration!

I probably should have just sprung for MailTags, and I still might, but it was fun to figure out how to make the scripts work with the stock version of Mail.

Nice work, good integration. Only problem—for me—is that the ID your script generates for messages in Mail only holds true while they are in the same mailbox (folder) within Mail. Move a message, and the link from OmniFocus no longer works. The Message IDs generated by zooids' original script, however, are unique to the message, and don't get broken when you move messages between mailboxes. I do really like being able to open linked messages within the preview pane of the main Mail window, but I think it's more important that the links continue to work, regardless of where you move the message to!

Plus, the latest builds seem to recognize the IDs generated by zooids' scripts as URLs, so you can now right-click on the links in the note attached to an Action in OmniFocus, and choose 'Open URL' to open the original message very easily in Mail.

Hope that makes sense…

Awesome! Thanks again Curt!

FYI – These scripts DO work with IMAP accounts.

Also: I have both OF scripts side by side. One is named "open in mail_NewW". The other is named "Open in mail_PPane". I get the best of both worlds.

[QUOTE=Richard Flynn]Nice work, good integration. Only problem—for me—is that the ID your script generates for messages in Mail only holds true while they are in the same mailbox (folder) within Mail. Move a message, and the link from OmniFocus no longer works. The Message IDs generated by zooids' original script, however, are unique to the message, and don't get broken when you move messages between mailboxes. I do really like being able to open linked messages within the preview pane of the main Mail window, but I think it's more important that the links continue to work, regardless of where you move the message to![/QUOTE]

I'll see what I can do. The moved message problem bothers me too.

zooids's original script required MailTags. Most of the effort in the new scripts has involved trying to eliminate that dependency. I haven't yet figured out how to open arbitrary messages in Mail after they have been moved.

Maybe it would be best to just require MailTags?

[QUOTE]the ID your script generates for messages in Mail only holds true while they are in the same mailbox (folder) within Mail.
[/QUOTE]
Yes. I just realized that. The "preview pane" script only works if the message is not moved. Close, but no cigar yet.
[QUOTE]you can now right-click on the links in the note attached to an Action in OmniFocus, and choose 'Open URL' to open the original message very easily in Mail.[/QUOTE]
Omni - could this have visual conformation of a link (defualt = underline and blue) and a regular click instead of a right click?

Version 0.3
 

OK, here's a new version that will search all mailboxes if the linked message is not in the expected mailbox. The first time I ran this it was really slow, but subsequent times it was lightning fast. I don't claim to know why.

Also new in this version is the ability to run the Add OmniFocus Action script as part of a rule in Mail. This lets you automatically create actions for messages matched by the rule. Instructions are included in the zip file.

Download: [URL=http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~clifton/software.html]the most recent version is available here[/URL]

This is great and I love it - one of the very first features I requested from Omni, and this certainly does the trick until they integrate something.

As an aside, I'm using the older version - the open in preview pane didn't work (dunno why), but opening it up in its own window works great, even if I have moved the mail. I use Mail Act-On to first run the script then I archive it. Fast and easy Mail inbox management.

For people that want slightly different functionality and are as script-challenged as I am, I noodled around about and ended up changing the set message_content line to now read:

set message_content to (content of selected_message)

Which dumps the body of the letter into the note field, which I really dig.

Thanks again!

EDIT - Now that I think about it, I'm probably using the new version of the script, unless you changed the DL link. Duh. But the rest of what I said stands.... :-)

Thanks again Curt

Bug fix
 

Here's version 0.3.1 that corrects a regression bug for nested local mailboxes.

Download: [URL=http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~clifton/software.html]the most recent version is available here[/URL]

I've got this half right - I can flick an email to OmniFocus using this script incorporated into an Act On action - works superbly. But I can't figure the link back. For some reason I can't get the script menu to show in the menu bar of omniFocus. Am I missing something simple here?

[QUOTE=coolie21]I've got this half right - I can flick an email to OmniFocus using this script incorporated into an Act On action - works superbly. But I can't figure the link back. For some reason I can't get the script menu to show in the menu bar of omniFocus. Am I missing something simple here?[/QUOTE]

Did you do this bit from the instructions:

Add the Scripts menu to your menu bar if you haven't already by opening the AppleScript Utility, located in /Applications/AppleScript/, and selecting the “Show Script Menu in menu bar” checkbox. The menu should appear on the right side of the menu bar.

[QUOTE=curt.clifton]Did you do this bit from the instructions:

Add the Scripts menu to your menu bar if you haven't already by opening the AppleScript Utility, located in /Applications/AppleScript/, and selecting the “Show Script Menu in menu bar” checkbox. The menu should appear on the right side of the menu bar.[/QUOTE]
Yes, but for some reason the script menu doesn't appear in the omnifocus menu bar. It appears in finder, browsers, everywhere else, just not in OF...

[QUOTE=coolie21]Yes, but for some reason the script menu doesn't appear in the omnifocus menu bar. It appears in finder, browsers, everywhere else, just not in OF...[/QUOTE]

Are you running on a smallish display with lots of "menu bar widgets" on the right side?

If there isn't enough room to show all menu items and all menu bar widgets, then Mac OS hides some of the widgets. OF has a fairly wide menu bar.

I wondered about that. I'm on my PB at the moment, will have to wait until I am back on the 23" later to get the wider view. Is there no way to show 'hidden' items then?

Hi,

I tried just this script. It is great. Finally the end of the copy paste from Mail to OF.
However, I get some problems with the "Open Linked Mail Messages" script. It does not only take ages the first time I run it, but also the second time and mail is not responding in the mean time at all.
The CPU load remains reasonable, but the disk activity is very high and is slowing down of course the entire machine.

Do you have any idea, what I could do to make that work?

Cheers

Mario

Hi,

I use MAil Act-On with this great script. Perfect to have just a keyboard shortcut to get your mail into OF.

Would be nice to be able to make rules where a context and or a project could be assigned right away when running the script. That would be a better capturing process and would speed up the emptying the Inbox in OF later.

Cheers

Mario

[QUOTE=Mario.Batz@cern.ch]I tried just this script. It is great. Finally the end of the copy paste from Mail to OF.
However, I get some problems with the "Open Linked Mail Messages" script. It does not only take ages the first time I run it, but also the second time and mail is not responding in the mean time at all.
The CPU load remains reasonable, but the disk activity is very high and is slowing down of course the entire machine.

Do you have any idea, what I could do to make that work?
[/QUOTE]

Mario,

I'm glad you like the scripts. The slowness stems from having to search all mailboxes for the message if it has been moved. If you create the OmniFocus link [I]after[/I] filing the message in mail, then the link back will be faster. This is because the appropriate mailbox is known. I think Mail Act-On would facilitate this, but don't know for sure.

(This doesn't apply when using the script as part of a Mail rule. In that case, Mail doesn't provide the script with the mailbox of the message, so we always have to search all mailboxes on the first link-back.)

If any other Mail scripters out there known how to speed this up, I'd appreciate suggestions.

Cheers,

Curt

[QUOTE=curt.clifton]Mario,
If any other Mail scripters out there known how to speed this up, I'd appreciate suggestions.

Cheers,

Curt[/QUOTE]
Great work Curt, and I've found my script icon now....

Unfortunately I don't know anything about Mail scripting, but what you have described must be possible, because it is implemented in iGTD. There is a lightning fast link back even if you subsequently move the email to another folder.

[QUOTE=coolie21]
Unfortunately I don't know anything about Mail scripting, but what you have described must be possible, because it is implemented in iGTD. There is a lightning fast link back even if you subsequently move the email to another folder.[/QUOTE]
Aha, a clue!

Off to download iGTD and see what's what...

[QUOTE=curt.clifton]Aha, a clue!

Off to download iGTD and see what's what...[/QUOTE]
Hmm, nothing to learn from the scripts in iGTD. The only stuff done in scripts is the Mail-to-iGTD half of the equation. The rest is embedded in the compiled code.

coolie21, do you have MailTags installed by chance?

Is there any chance to implement the following feature?

- if you have MailTags installed, and write a note and select 'show note as subject line"
- the script would them pick up "Follow up on WORDS IN THE NOTE"

This would be immensely helpful to me, as people often send emails with very poor subject lines. It doesn't help a lot to have "follow up on Re:re:fw:Update".

How do you access the scripts?
 

Dear all,

I have a problem downloading Curt's scripts. The link to the attachment (yes, the most recent one) only pops up a vBulletin form asking for credentials, but no dice (even with a correct password). Other attachments work fine for me.

Curt,

would you consider re-posting this thing?

Kind regards,

Klaus

[QUOTE=Beckes]Dear all,

I have a problem downloading Curt's scripts. The link to the attachment (yes, the most recent one) only pops up a vBulletin form asking for credentials, but no dice (even with a correct password). Other attachments work fine for me.

Curt,

would you consider re-posting this thing?

Kind regards,

Klaus[/QUOTE]

Klaus,

The latest attachment downloads fine for me, so I doubt uploading a new one will change what you're seeing. Send me your email address in a private message and I'll send the scripts directly to you.

Cheers,

Curt

[QUOTE=smew]Is there any chance to implement the following feature?

- if you have MailTags installed, and write a note and select 'show note as subject line"
- the script would them pick up "Follow up on WORDS IN THE NOTE"

This would be immensely helpful to me, as people often send emails with very poor subject lines. It doesn't help a lot to have "follow up on Re:re:fw:Update".[/QUOTE]

Something like that should be doable. But I don't use MailTags, which means that I'm likely to get to other feature requests first.

What if the script had an optional setting where it would prompt you for the Action description? The prompt would be pre-filled to the default Action description, so you could just hit enter to send the item to OF. But you could also edit it before sending. Would that suffice?

[QUOTE=curt.clifton]
What if the script had an optional setting where it would prompt you for the Action description? The prompt would be pre-filled to the default Action description, so you could just hit enter to send the item to OF. But you could also edit it before sending. Would that suffice?[/QUOTE]

That would be great.

[QUOTE=curt.clifton]Hmm, nothing to learn from the scripts in iGTD. The only stuff done in scripts is the Mail-to-iGTD half of the equation. The rest is embedded in the compiled code.

coolie21, do you have MailTags installed by chance?[/QUOTE]
Yes, I have MailTags 2.0

trouble with download
 

Hi there,
I am having trouble downloading the mail scripts - all links just move me around through the thread.

Curt, can you help?

Thanks
Joss

[QUOTE=coolie21]Yes, I have MailTags 2.0[/QUOTE]

That's probably why iGTD link back is so fast. It's using MailTags' message URLs. I don't use MailTags, so can't easily script that part of it.

I'm testing a new version of my scripts that (optionally) work with Mail Act-On and include some speed improvements. Hopefully I'll work out the kinks and post those later today.

[QUOTE=catten]
I am having trouble downloading the mail scripts - all links just move me around through the thread.

Curt, can you help?
[/QUOTE]

Joss,

Just keep following the links, they'll eventually take you to the newest version, which currently is in post #17.

Since these scripts seem to be getting some use, I'll post the next version to my web page and edit the links to point there. Hopefully later today.

Thanks
 

Hi Curt,
Thanks for the tip... and I've downloaded them from your site!

Cheers,

Joss

Don't know if this has been posted... but if you go to customize toolbar... there's an icon there that can be added to the toolbar...

very nice...

Can't get link back to Mail to work
 

Have installed both scripts.

Resulting Action in OmniFocus looks like this:

*Main heading:

Follow-up on Weekend Health News from healthfinder.gov, 6/17—List Subscriber

*Info beneath it:

INBOX
000101c7b11f$acf4dee0$34da66c6@prod.odphp
?*****Weekend Health News from healthfinder.gov

But there's not actually a "live" link to that INBOX message.

Thanks so much,
Any ideas?

Jennifer

Jennifer,

The script doesn't create a live link. It isn't possible to do that with Applescripting alone.

To jump back to the mail message, just select the action in OmniFocus and run the Open Linked Mail Message script. You can use Customize Toolbar to add that script to OmniFocus's toolbar if you want.

Cheers,

Curt

Oops, yes, I realized that right after I posted my message. Sorry about that. :)

However, when I run the Open Linked Mail Message script (while in OmniFocus, to go back to the message), OmniFocus appears as if something is about to happen, but no message actually opens.

Any ideas appreciated...

Best.
Jennifer

A while after clicking the script mentined above, I get an error message from OmniFocus that says:

AppleScript reported the following error:
Mail got an error: Connection is invalid.

[QUOTE=jenniferp]AppleScript reported the following error:
Mail got an error: Connection is invalid.
[/QUOTE]
I haven't seen that one before. Did you happen to close Mail or OF while the script was running?

Note that the link back can be quite slow in two cases: when the message is in your Mail inbox and when the message has been moved since it was last jumped to. These problems are due to limitations in Apple Mail.

I'm testing a new version of my scripts that (optionally) work with [URL="http://www.indev.ca/MailActOn.html"]Mail Act-On[/URL] (a plug-in for Apple Mail) and include some speed improvements. I need to write up the instructions for using the additional features, then I'll post the scripts.

No, I had both applications open and also hadn't moved the message in Mail.

Jennifer

Tried it again and got this msg:

AppleScript reported the following error:
Mail got an error: AppleEvent timed out.

BTW, I use Mail Act-On (got it when I was using Kinkless) so would love to see that script!

Jennifer

[QUOTE=jenniferp]No, I had both applications open and also hadn't moved the message in Mail.
[/QUOTE]


But the message was in you Mail inbox, which is the other problem case.

Yes, the message was in my Mail inbox at all times.

Jennifer

Version 0.4
 

This update adds better support for Mail Act-On that helps with faster link-back. New options include the ability to change the prefix of generated actions and to easily adjust the amount of message content included in the action's note.

Download it from [URL="http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~clifton/software.html"]my software page.[/URL]

See the included installation instructions for use with Mail Act-On to get better performance.

(smew, I tried to add the prompt for action description that we talked about. Unfortunately that causes Mail to crash. :-( I'm hoping that the new version of Mail has better scripting support.)

Hi Curtis,

The script does work with my imap account but only, if the message is in the inbox. If the message is moved to e.g. the archive folder of the imap account, the back link does not work. It doesn't matter if i add the task by mail-act-on or by the script (after manually moving the message to the archive). Everything works perfect, if i'm using a folder under "On My Mac".

You don't use imap so i guess you can't help me. But do you have any tips or hint for debugging?

[QUOTE=Obyor]
The script does work with my imap account but only, if the message is in the inbox. If the message is moved to e.g. the archive folder of the imap account, the back link does not work. It doesn't matter if i add the task by mail-act-on or by the script (after manually moving the message to the archive). Everything works perfect, if i'm using a folder under "On My Mac".

You don't use imap so i guess you can't help me. But do you have any tips or hint for debugging?[/QUOTE]

Obyor (and anyone else with IMAP accounts that wants to help debug this),

Try creating and running the following Applescript:

[CODE]
tell application "Mail"
return name of every mailbox of first imap account
end tell
[/CODE]

Let me know what values are returned. Private message is fine if you don't want to create noise in the thread.

Thanks!

Cheers,

Curt

Newest O.F. Build Crashes w/ Script
 

Great script! Really adds to OF. I installed the latest build and it crashes when I use the Open Linked Mail Message. Mail to OF is good. OF to Mail freezes both apps. Worked yesterday... not with today's build.

Again... I want to say this is a great script and add a lot to both apps.

-bob

[QUOTE=Guern]Great script! Really adds to OF. I installed the latest build and it crashes when I use the Open Linked Mail Message. Mail to OF is good. OF to Mail freezes both apps. Worked yesterday... not with today's build.

Again... I want to say this is a great script and add a lot to both apps.

-bob[/QUOTE]

Bob, I'm not seeing the crash with OF build 88176. I am seeing that the Mail to OF script is hanging before the item shows up in OF's inbox. But if I exit Mail, then the item shows up.

Can anyone verify that behavior?

Thanks!

Cheers,

Curt

First of all Curt, thanks for the scripts - they're great! I look forward to the day when this functionality is built into OF, but they're a big help in the meantime.

[QUOTE=curt.clifton]Thanks for the inspiration!

I probably should have just sprung for MailTags, and I still might, but it was fun to figure out how to make the scripts work with the stock version of Mail.[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure what you mean here by using MailTags. iGTD integrates MailTags very effectively to makes mail messages into action items with a hot key, but MailTags on their own won't do anything for OF, will they?

[QUOTE=kened]I'm not sure what you mean here by using MailTags. iGTD integrates MailTags very effectively to makes mail messages into action items with a hot key, but MailTags on their own won't do anything for OF, will they?[/QUOTE]

MailTags adds support to Mac OS for message:// URLs that allow efficient links back to Mail messages from any application. Without that, my scripts go through a bunch of acrobatics to get Mail to open the message in something approaching a reasonable amount of time.

(For the technically inclined, MailTags seems to be using a custom Spotlight importer that adds unique IDs, and other metadata, to the Spotlight database for each mail message. Very cool approach.)

Downloaded the new scripts, but I now get this message when I try to open the Mail message (using the script, with the relevant Action highlighted in OmniFocus)

>>AppleScript reported the following error:
Mail got an error: NSReceiverEvaluationScriptError: 4

[QUOTE=jenniferp]Downloaded the new scripts, but I now get this message when I try to open the Mail message (using the script, with the relevant Action highlighted in OmniFocus)

>>AppleScript reported the following error:
Mail got an error: NSReceiverEvaluationScriptError: 4[/QUOTE]

Jennifer,

Would you be willing to help me debug this?

If so, please select the action in OmniFocus. Then hold down the option key and select the script from the script menu. This should open the script in Script Editor. Click the "play" triangle in script editor. The script should run and the offending line should be highlighted when the error occurs.

If you could let me know what line it is, I would appreciate it. To avoid adding noise to the thread, please just contact me by email (curt <dot> clifton <at> mac <dot> com).

Thanks!

Cheers,

Curt

[QUOTE=Guern]Great script! Really adds to OF. I installed the latest build and it crashes when I use the Open Linked Mail Message. Mail to OF is good. OF to Mail freezes both apps. Worked yesterday... not with today's build.

Again... I want to say this is a great script and add a lot to both apps.

-bob[/QUOTE]
OF r88192 build works all the scripts once again. I know you need more specific feedback and if it freezes the apps again I will try to be more specific the the events that lead up to it.

Hi Curtis,

this is the output of your script:
[QUOTE]{"Action", "Archive", "Fun", "Trash", "INBOX", "Drafts", "Sent Messages", "Deleted Messages", "Junk"}[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Obyor]Hi Curtis,

this is the output of your script ...[/QUOTE]

Thanks, Obyor. I have a hunch about what's going on. If you're willing to do some testing, please drop me an email. I can send you a prototype off-forum.

Cheers,

Curt