Feature Request - Apple Mail Plugin

Feedback
#1

In my workflows, using the concept written in 'Don't Check Your Email First Thing in the Morning', I tend to have a set time mid-morning and late in the day in which I clear my emails, creating an empty inbox. Anything I can answer immediately, I will do so. Using GTD principles, everything else that is not easily answered goes into the In-Tray to be analysed later to be planned for action.

I like that you can drag emails from Apple Mail to Good Task, but it would be great if there was a plugin for Apple Mail so that you can send an email to Apple Mail. This would be more efficient. Todoist and a number of other apps do this and so I would love to see this become one of the many great features!

#2

Hi @docrameous, thanks for the feedback.

Would you let me know some more details about the feature you're requesting for? If there is an equivalent in other apps, please point it to me too.

Thanks!

#3

Hi there -- sorry I got my apps muddled in my mind.

The app that allowed you to make a task out of an email without dropping and dragging was Daylite.

https://support.marketcircle.com/hc/en-us/articles/360036136214-How-to-Add-Tasks-Using-Daylite-Mail-Assistant

I used Daylite for a while, but the Daylite ecosystem was too limiting, particularly when I have a lot of work with entities that use Exchange. I did however, like Daylite's deep integration with Apple reminders, calendar, siri, etc.

Todoist does not have a plugin for Apple Mail. It does however have one for Spark. I would consider using Spark, but I am a big user of BusyContacts and the ability to see my emails (and calendar items) according to contacts as a contact manager is too important to me.

Apple Mail does pretty much everything I want anyhow and I do drag emails every single day into Good Task. It's the best way to keep your inbox from being cluttered and becoming a really bad task manager.

#4

Thanks for the details. It seems like sharing on Mail.app Mac version doesn't work like iOS which gives proper link to the mail itself.

There is a plug in named MailTag that can make a task by sending it to Reminders app which will make it show on GoodTask. I don't personally use it so I can't give you how it's working at the moment though.

I'll keep your feedback on the list to consider. Thanks!

#5

On Mac OS the share behavior is not as plain as on iOS but it's there: to share an email from Mail.app to Reminders (or GoodTask itself) you have to highlight the email title then right click and you'll find the "share" option.

I don't know why it's buried in there instead of having its own share icon in the toolbar but it works all the same.

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#6

Oh WOW!!!!

I never noticed that. That works pretty well!

A mystery why it does not have a share icon, but it works!

#7

Hi, you mention of a link back to original email caught my eye. I just tried it on iOS, where I highlighted text in the email and shared it to GoodTask. A task was created, but I can't find a link back to the original email.
Am I doing it right?

Thanks

#8

You can share it to Reminders. It'll show you the link then. Thanks!

#9

Okay, I thought it would have a link in Good Task.
Thanks

#10

If you make a task through Reminders in share sheet, it'll show link in GoodTask. Thanks!

#11

Yep, you have to do it in reminders. I can confirm this works both in OSX and IOS. It is wonderful and is much more efficient than dropping and dragging an email to make a task out of it.

#12

I want to say this is a huge improvement in my workflow. Dragging and dropping an email is good, but to be able to highlight a key text in an email and then make a task out of it is so much faster.

#13

Interesting...can you please explain / show how you do that?

#14

Just select the text (in the Mail title or body) then right click and select "Share" > "Reminders".
It will prompt you a window with the text you selected as Reminder title (for longer chunk of text I usually copy/paste that in the note section and I write the title myself).

As GoodTask rely on default Reminders to sync between devices you'll have it right away in both app so you don't even have to open Reminders at all, it needs just the creation dialog window prompted in the Mail app.

And both apps (Reminders and GoodTask) will show a link back to the email that will work even after you archive the mail or move to a different folder (as long as it's in Mail app it will show, the link is generated by Mail.app via a unique ID shared on all devices so it will work even if you create the reminder on desktop and you'll try to open it on mobile as long as you have that email account and you're using Apple Mail as mail client on both devices)

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#15

Appreciated! Very clear and very helpful!

#16

This is so cool, because as @ironicmoka says, you can select text which can form the basis of the headline for the task, even if you need to edit it a bit.

Then you can archive or file the email away, freeing up your inbox because the deep link to the email is part of the reminder if you need to refer to it.. My workflow philosophy is to never use my email inbox as a task list, so I like to get followups and tasks out of there into the proper tools.

The other method is that you have both apple mail and goodtask windows open, dropping and dragging email. It works, but then you have to go edit the task in Reminders to give it a better title. There are also extra mouse clicks and it is slower.

This has been one of my biggest wishes for Good task has been to have a more efficient way to create a task out of a reminder and have a deep link to the reference email. This is a real big workflow enhancement. :slight_smile:

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#17

Yep! That sounds like my workflow too :smiley: : transforming emails into actionable objects (to dos) so the inbox is dedicated to the newer last messages I still have to dealt with.

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