Recurring Projects and Smart Add
hogan82 says:
This may not be news to anyone else, but I just did an experiment with e-mailing a task list to RTM for a recurring project to see if I could use the new Smart Add syntax to automatically populate the priority, date, tags and other fields. It worked like a charm. I now create task lists for recurring projects (e.g., quarterly patch updates) in Microsoft Word that include all the required task fields. Whenever the time comes to repeat the project, I just cut and paste from Word into an e-mail using my RTM import e-mail address and the name of the list I want it to go to as the subject and I'm good to go!
Not only does this make it easy to set up my task list each time I need to complete the recurring project; it forces me to think through the process carefully. I’m coming up with steps that I might have easily missed if I hadn’t thought it through. This is a great way to document a recurring process.
The only problem I’m running into at the moment is that certain e-mail systems/clients automatically word wrap at 72 characters and this causes RTM to treat each line of a long task as separate tasks. I found a website for submitting task lists so that this doesn’t happen, but am going to implement my own PHP form for security reasons. For those of you who are interested the submission site I found is here:
http://www.filmnut.org/html-php/blogger_archives/2009/01/batch-submit-tasks-to-remember-milk-web_21.php
Below is a very simplified list to show what a recurring project list might look like in the body of your e-mail:
First task Monday #na #karen !1 @work
Second task Tuesday #na !3 @work
Third task next Friday #na !2 @home
Here’s RTM’s instructions on how to e-mail a list, although they haven’t updated it to use the Smart Add features:
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/help/answers/sending/importemail.rtm
The Smart Add syntax is here:
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/smartadd/
Not only does this make it easy to set up my task list each time I need to complete the recurring project; it forces me to think through the process carefully. I’m coming up with steps that I might have easily missed if I hadn’t thought it through. This is a great way to document a recurring process.
The only problem I’m running into at the moment is that certain e-mail systems/clients automatically word wrap at 72 characters and this causes RTM to treat each line of a long task as separate tasks. I found a website for submitting task lists so that this doesn’t happen, but am going to implement my own PHP form for security reasons. For those of you who are interested the submission site I found is here:
http://www.filmnut.org/html-php/blogger_archives/2009/01/batch-submit-tasks-to-remember-milk-web_21.php
Below is a very simplified list to show what a recurring project list might look like in the body of your e-mail:
First task Monday #na #karen !1 @work
Second task Tuesday #na !3 @work
Third task next Friday #na !2 @home
Here’s RTM’s instructions on how to e-mail a list, although they haven’t updated it to use the Smart Add features:
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/help/answers/sending/importemail.rtm
The Smart Add syntax is here:
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/smartadd/
I know a number of people on these boards do this, but no one has written it up so cleanly. I nominate this for a RTM blog post and the free Pro membership. This is just the sort of tutorial that new RTM user's can use.
The use of weekdays to generate dates is as close to relative dates as RTM gets; it's very clever.
The use of weekdays to generate dates is as close to relative dates as RTM gets; it's very clever.
Smart move, clever of you to test this!
It could also be used as a template to populate a list with several subtasks, each with it's own tags, location, duration and due date. Earlier e-mail methods left you with loads of task with no meta information what-so-ever, this is much better!
It could also be used as a template to populate a list with several subtasks, each with it's own tags, location, duration and due date. Earlier e-mail methods left you with loads of task with no meta information what-so-ever, this is much better!
(closed account) says:
nice writeup!
I nominate this as tip of the week. It gives users a way to set up templates with all the tasks, tags, due dates etc they need.
If you add Excel to the mix you could have Excel calculate all the dates for the project and then copy the dated tasks to your e-mail program and send all to RTM.
If you add Excel to the mix you could have Excel calculate all the dates for the project and then copy the dated tasks to your e-mail program and send all to RTM.
hogan82 says:
I hadn't thought of using Excel to calculate the dates. That's an excellent idea. I'll have to give that a shot!
jaap.kramer says:
If you experience the problem of the word wrap in MS Outlook just go to:
Tools -> Options -> Mail Format -> Internet Format...
And change the value in the box "Automatically wrap text at" to something like '130'.
And your problem should be gone.
Tools -> Options -> Mail Format -> Internet Format...
And change the value in the box "Automatically wrap text at" to something like '130'.
And your problem should be gone.
hogan82 says:
Thanks for the suggestion. I previously tried setting word wrap in Outlook because that's what other posts had suggested, but it didn't do any good. I guess it must have more to do with the mail server than the client. I've tried using my work and Gmail accounts with the same results.
harryl says:
sweet diggity!
exactly what i was looking for
exactly what i was looking for
emily (Remember The Milk) says:
Hi hogan82,
I just wanted to let you know that you're this week's Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner. We've upgraded your RTM account to have a free year of Pro. :)
I just wanted to let you know that you're this week's Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner. We've upgraded your RTM account to have a free year of Pro. :)
This is great! I had tried this but just the individual one, not the import email. This is a HUGE time saver!!
I created an excel sheet to give me due dates too. I used the TEXT function for it:
=B16&" ^"&TEXT(D16,"mm/dd/yyyy")&" #"&C2
which gives (as an example):
To do item ^2/28/2011 #client
B16 is the cell with my task
D16 is a cell that is my due date (example)
C2 is my tag
It gets more complicated than that (D16 is actually a calculation based on another date) but all in all it works great!
I also had to setup a private PHP script to send my mail (using Contact Form 7 on a private WP page). Gmail wraps at 72 characters ;-(
RTM: It would be AWESOME if the subject could start a list if it didn't exist. At this point I have to go create the list and then send the email - it's not the end of the world, just one extra step.
THANK HOGAN82!!!
I created an excel sheet to give me due dates too. I used the TEXT function for it:
=B16&" ^"&TEXT(D16,"mm/dd/yyyy")&" #"&C2
which gives (as an example):
To do item ^2/28/2011 #client
B16 is the cell with my task
D16 is a cell that is my due date (example)
C2 is my tag
It gets more complicated than that (D16 is actually a calculation based on another date) but all in all it works great!
I also had to setup a private PHP script to send my mail (using Contact Form 7 on a private WP page). Gmail wraps at 72 characters ;-(
RTM: It would be AWESOME if the subject could start a list if it didn't exist. At this point I have to go create the list and then send the email - it's not the end of the world, just one extra step.
THANK HOGAN82!!!
hogan82 says:
Sweet! Thanks to all of you who recommended me for tip of the week (and for the other great ideas).
rmcmullan says:
To get around the 72 character limit, you can also start up a Yahoo Mail account and switch it to "Yahoo Classic" (the new version has the 72 character limit). I now have a Yahoo mail account that is solely used to mail big Excel-generated lists of Smart Adds to RTM.
hogan82 says:
Glad I could help pianodork! Thanks to you and and rmcmullan for the additional ideas. Excel is a great way to automatically adjust the dates. I have a Yahoo account so I'll have to give rmcmullan's idea a try!
whobot,
As rajjan mentioned, there are 2 email addresses you can use to import tasks. One is used to import individual tasks, and the other is the "import" address designed to add multiple tasks at once. Each address expects a different format for the emails.
Both addresses can be found on the "Info" tab of your Settings screen, and you can find more information about the required formats in our FAQ.
Hope that helps!
As rajjan mentioned, there are 2 email addresses you can use to import tasks. One is used to import individual tasks, and the other is the "import" address designed to add multiple tasks at once. Each address expects a different format for the emails.
Both addresses can be found on the "Info" tab of your Settings screen, and you can find more information about the required formats in our FAQ.
Hope that helps!
kwenglish says:
For the email client problem, on Ubuntu I use Evolution and set the format to preformatted. Pain in the neck that gmail cannot get this sorted.
arhoover says:
This excel suggestion is money. Batch add just became as easy as using the iGoogle module for adding a single task (I use the XP toolbar trick to have my tasks always in front of me on my work computer). This is great!
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