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Hawk Wings lists 10 Mac OS X tools for Getting Things Done
Tim Gaden at Hawk Wings has compiled a list of ten Mac OS X tools that can help you implement the Getting Things Done philosophy in the way you work. The tools are broken down into three categories: email clients, dedicated GTD apps and web-based solutions for that ultimate cross-platform effect. Mail.app, of course, starts off the list. Once combined with a few Smart Folders and the powerful Mail Act-on and MailTags plugins, Mail.app can become a most powerful GTD tool indeed. Other featured tools include kGTD (an OmniOutliner Pro template), a Todo.txt script for the ultimate in plain-text GTD, EasyTask Manaager (a stand-alone app without the GTD learning curve), iCommit (a web-based PHP tool), Backpack, Gmail and even wikis. Check out Hawk Wings' list for more ideas and tools to help you, well, get things done.
Use Mail.app as a remote torrent client
An enterprising Mail.app user by the name of Matt Comi has ironed out a simple yet powerful trick for using Mail.app as a remote bittorrent client, of sorts. Basically, he set up a rule in Mail.app with a custom AppleScript that looks for torrent file attachments. This AppleScript then sends the torrent file to Azureus for downloading. Check out his site, Big Bucket Amusement, for instructions, screenshots and the script you'll need.[via Hawk Wings]
Give names to your .Mac aliases in Mail.app with a simple AppleScript
I.heart.macosxhints.com. An enterprising reader of their site submitted an AppleScript that offers you a simple dialog for each .Mac alias you have, allowing you to enter custom names to be associated with each alias in Mail.app (something Apple badly, badly needs to add themselves). It works wonderfully, but here's a tip: make sure Mail.app isn't running when you use this script, as it's doing nothing more than editing Mail.app's preference file in order to add these names to each alias.Here is a link to the AppleScript, which I recommend you simply copy into a new window in Script Editor. Enjoy!
Three-pane Mail.app turns into a plug-in
Well that was quick. First Mail.app received a widescreen, three-pane face-lift, and now it's been morphed into a plug-in. The author provides two different sets of instructions for installing: drag and dropping into your ~/Library/Mail/Bundles/ directory or using a couple of commands in Terminal. Go nuts ladies and gentlmen.
Give Mail.app a three-pane view
For those of you longing for the often-requested three-pane view in Mail.app, Tim Gaden at Hawk Wings has dug up yet another stellar find: an actual working version.This Ars Technica forum thread begins with the typical "gee, it'd be great if..." post which oh-so-often yields productive results such as the screenshot you see in this post: a hacked version of Mail.app with a three pane view. Fortunately, this hacked version of Mail.app has a different name (MailWidescreen) so you don't have to bite your nails over whether to overwrite your original Mail.app. Still, it would be good practice to back it up anyway for good measure.Personally, I think the three pane view in email apps is one of those needless 'change for the sake of change' developments that seems to have oozed out of an admittedly old email UI industry. Email subjects can be pretty useful and revealing, while most emails are never long enough to warrant all the space a three pane view gives to the message, and this view seems to enhance both of these complications: subjects are cut short, while white space is wasted on typically short emails. Just note Exhibit A - this post's screenshot.With my $0.02 out of the way, however, check out the forum thread for details on this hack's development, or simply use the direct link to the .ZIP file right here.
Changing Mail.app's icons
I'm a pretty boring guy when it comes to my OS UI. I don't change the default icons, I don't change the sounds, heck I hardly even change the desktop picture. Now, I know some other folks like to go crazy and if Mail.app's defaults are too bland for you, this tutorial is the cure.
Widget Watch: miniMail
Today's widget is a no-frills Dashboard widget that gets the job done. miniMail by Duhsoft allows you to very quickly compose text email messages and send them off from the Dashboard. No configuration or set up required. I used it to send a few test messages to my various accounts using my .Mac address as the sender and it worked fine. It seems like a nice way to quickly send a short message when you don't feel like launching your email client. Check it out.
Create events and todos from Mail.app messages with Event Maker
Event Maker allows you to create iCal events and todos from Mail.app messages, or simply from scratch. It looks like it has a more navigable UI, especially for keyboard junkies like myself, and a side drawer allows for adding alarms.Event Maker is available right now from Mac Update, where the author has posted a request for server space to enable an automatic update feature. Also, the app's author, Mike Abdullah, has requested help with drawing some toolbar icons, so head over to Hawk Wings for the details and contact info if you can lend an illustrative hand.
Pocketlight brings (some) Spotlight to Panther
If you're still using Panther for one reason or another but drool when you hear the word 'Spotlight,' an app by the name of Pocketlight can bring a little bit of Tiger to your Panther. Pocketlight isn't nearly as all-encompassing as Spotlight, but it can search Mail.app mailboxes, iCal events, Address Book contacts and files in a specified folder. In an odd turn of events, Pocketlight is only available for Mac OS X 10.3; not 10.4.Pocketlight is free, but the author states that it isn't going to be updated or enhanced from here on out, so grab it while you can.[via Hawk Wings]
Use CSS in your Mail signatures
I'll have to agree with Dvorak that mail apps that don't allow HTML are lame lame lame. Apple's Mail will allow you to see HTML emails, but not compose them. I guess that's supposed to be a security/annoyance feature, but sometimes I would really like to make an HTML email... But at least we can have CSS for our signatures. CSS, for those who don't know, is a way of styling web pages. It's more precise than plain ol' HTML, and quite frankly, more powerful and better looking. My personal site uses CSS exclusively (much to the chagrin of Netscape Navigator 4.7). Anyway, Melvin Rivera has a step-by-step tutorial on using CSS in your Mail.app signatures. You may want to learn a little CSS first, if you've never tried it before. Just like using a Mac, you may never go back.
Mail slowing you down? Rebuild its database
Apple's flagship email client had me banging my head against a wall again when I finally dug up this tip on rebuilding Mail.app's 'Envelope Index' SQLite database at Hawk Wings (If you're wondering what that file is all about, check out Hawk Wing's "What's in your Mail folder?" post). Forcing Mail.app to rebuild this file is as simple as quitting the app, browsing to your ~/Library/Mail/ folder and dragging out the file called 'Envelope Index' to your desktop (I'd recommend making a backup of your Mail support folder before attempting this. Don't say we didn't warn you). Start Mail.app back up and it will give you a message about re-importing or re-indexing all of your messages (sorry, I forgot to screencap the message), and depending on how many you have it could take a couple minutes. I have over 13,000 emails and it didn't take my G4 PowerBook long at all. My Envelope Index was over 300 MB before I started this, and after it was all said and done that file weighed in at less than 4 MB. Putting Mail.app on this kind of a weight loss program can seriously speed it up and generally improve its performance; no more clicking on a new message 10 minutes after Mail.app notified me about it only to be greeted by "this message has not been downloaded yet..." silliness.It is also worth mentioning that this tip is probably more of a troubleshooting technique than something you should work into your regular maintenance tasks. A commenter on this tip at Hawk Wings pointed out that this rebuilding operation nullifies a couple of mailbox settings. If you have set any specific IMAP mailboxes to be used for trash or junk, Mail.app will forget those settings after this rebuild. Still, I think the performance gain and all-around less-schizophrenic behavior of Mail.app was worth having to reset a couple of preferences.[UPDATE: Some commenters have pointed out that Mail also has a Rebuild option under the Mailbox menu (at least in Tiger). I tinkered with this on one of my 4 IMAP accounts and it seems to do the same trick with far less fuss. Thanks for the tip!]
Make a Delivery Automator app
I haven't tested this yet, but Make a Delivery sounds like a handy little Automator action that will create a .dmg file from the Finder items you have selected, then attach that .dmg to an email. One quirky thing, however, is that you have to move a resource folder into your Applications directory; it isn't just an action that you can use or turn into a right-click Finder plugin.In any case, if you prefer an easy way to create .dmg's for emailing (instead of zip archives), Make a Delivery might be just what you need.
MailTags 1.2.1 available, 1.3 to feature IMAP syncing
Dave Caolo posted about MailTags last August, but in case you're unfamiliar: MailTags is a fantastic plugin for Mail.app that allows you to both tag your messages and create iCal todos right from within Mail. MailTags' abilities go far beyond simply adding a few keywords though; you can also set projects, categories and priorities for messages and use all this new metadata to create a far more robust organizational system than simply filing messages in a 'todo' folder. Once MailTags is installed, a whole new set of search and rule criteria (such as due date, project, keyword and more) are baked into Mail.app for running searches or creating Smart Mailboxes and rules. It's a pretty amazing plugin, and I urge you to check out Scott Morrison's Indev site for the full details on everything MailTags is capable of.While MailTags 1.2.1 issues a host of bugfixes but no serious new features, I found out about it from this Hawk Wings post in which Tin Gaden states that MailTags 1.3 will have a new feature many users have been wishing for: IMAP tag syncing. So if you use Mail.app and MailTags on more than one Mac, you can soon keep your tags, as well as (I'm hoping) projects and priorities all in sync.With all that said, go take MailTags for a spin. It's donationware, so show Scott some PayPal love for the hard work he's putting into this most excellent of plugins.
Have Mario send your mail (via stamps from Japan)
Sure, old Mario has been known to paint, play professional sports, and even do some actual plumbing work on occasion, but he'll soon be able to power your mail through the postal service in the Far East.10-stamp sheets of 80 Yen stamps are now available for pre-order in Japan, where gaming otakus will soon be able to adorn their snail mail with the likes of goombas, magic mushrooms, and mustachioed men. The set will be out next month.Has the government of a country like the US ever done anything this official to honor one of the icons of gaming? Perhaps when we have avid gaming advocates in Congress -- or even, dare we say, in the White House -- things will look a little different with game legislation proposals and the postage of unwanted junk mail.[Via GameBrink]See also: French stamps to feature video game icons (Super) Mario Bros. question mark and POW block speakers
Make iCal automatically email people at a specific time
I've been on a productivity kick ever since I found that kGTD plugin for OmniOutliner, and I thought this script/app would be a nice addition to the collection of anyone who works in a collaborative environment, especially for those who live and die by email or just can't seem to remember to do X at X o'clock.iCalMail 1.3 sets up a new calendar into which you can add events that will automatically email anyone you want at the event's time. iCalMail is clever too, allowing you to use different fields of the iCal event to compose each email, and the breakdown works like this: event name -> subject location -> attachment attendees -> recipients notes field -> message text I haven't tested this yet, but it seems like a great idea, especially since there is a method for including attachments. Check out the script at ScriptBuilders, as well as more information at Chris J. Shull's site.
Hawk Wings wraps up "Talking Mail.app" series
Hawk Wings, Tim Gaden's blog about all things Mail.app, has been running a series for the last couple months in which he chats with various developers and "iCelebrities" about the ups and downs of Apple's default email client. The list boasts around 20 interviewees ranging from Brent Simmons (of NetNewsWire fame), Rob Griffiths (of MacOSXHints and Macworld), John Gruber (of Daring Fireball), as well as devs of all sorts of handy utilities like Textpander, FlickrExport and much more. In the series, Tim asked these individuals a well-rounded set of questions that make for good brain food, such as: what plugins they use, their favorite/most hated thing about Mail.app and the one thing they'd tell the dev team if they could.Conveniently, Tim put together a roundup post linking every interview, so head on over to Hawk Wings and get your learn on with various "iCelebrities" and Mail.app.
Two free book chapters for .Mac members
Check it out, .Mac subscribers: In the "Members Only" folder of your iDisk (that still makes me think of the jackets), you'll find two chapters of Joe Kissell's book, Take Control of .Mac.The first chapter focuses on using Mail, and is extremely thorough. Discussions include making use of aliases, .Mac webmail vs. an email client, working with attachments and configuring the online preferences. Chapter 2 looks at Groups, a relatively new .Mac feature. Topics include creating a group, managing your members, adding content to your homepage and working with the integrated calendar. Again, I found them very informative, and the best part is that you can use a hyperlink within the PDF itself to get the full book at a 30% discount. This one is recommended.
Apple thanks Hawk Wings, mentions open positions
Tim Gaden over at Hawk Wings received a message from Apple's Mail team containing both a mention of two open positions available, as well as a compliment for "all of the work you put into frequently updating Hawk Wings with informative posts." Open spots on the Mail team include a software developer (req. id 2536021) and a QA engineer (req. id 2326207). Use those Job Requisition Numbers at jobs.apple.com to track down the respective listings for more information.Congrats to Tim on the compliment from an Apple software team. Here's hoping they saw the response to our "What would you change about Mail?" post a while back.
Mail annoyances
Dave at The Consultant has written a short rant regarding what he calls "minor annoyances" in Apple's Mail. First, he misses being able to page down from message to message with the space bar, Eudora-style. He also complains about Mail not warning him of invalid addresses prior to sending.I'll add my own. I've only got two, and they are in fact minor, but they still irk me every time I use Mail. For some inexplicable reason, Command-O will not open a message. Also, I cannot use the arrow keys on my keyboard to move from mailbox to mailbox. It's the little things that drive a person crazy.
Apple ad archives: sending "electronic mail" at 670 million mph
Anyone feel like sending mail at 670,000,000 mph? Apparently Apple's customers did, as they used this slogan in an ad back in the (what I believe to be) Apple III days. Check out a much larger version of the ad for more better details on an Apple ad from the days of sending email "late at night (when phone rates are lowest)."[via digg]
