Create Google Tasks by sending email to Google GMail

*Goals:*

– Send email to a specified address – in this case to Gmail address
named yourgmail+task@gmail.com. (If Gmail ID is ittichai, the email
address to send to will be ittichai+task@gmail.com.) Read more about the
hidden feature with Gmail –

http://ift.tt/GIyuhr

– Script will parse that email based on a Gmail label assigned by
filter, and grab the email’s subject to create a new Google task.

*Instructions:*

– Create two new Gmail labels – *newtask* and *newtaskdone*.

[image: create_new_label1.jpg] [image: create_new_label2.jpg]

– Create a Gmail filter to apply “newtask” label to all incoming
yourgmail+task@gmail.com.

[image: filter1.jpg] [image: filter2.jpg]

– Create a new Google Sheet. Enter *Processed tasks* in cell A1. It will
be used to display how many tasks have been processed. Start the *Script
Editor* from Tools menu.

[image: GDoc_Script.jpg]

– Create a new blank project.

[image: create_blank_proj.jpg]

– Copy and paste the whole script here. Note below will walk through the
codes.

// Original Source:

http://ift.tt/Ne8Hn4

// —————————————————–
// Globals, constants
// —————————————————–
TASKLIST = “Ittichai’s list”;
LABEL_PENDING = “newtask”;
LABEL_DONE = “newtaskdone”;

// —————————————————–
// getTasklistId_(tasklistName)
// Returns the id of the tasklist specified
// Oddly, we should be able to use:
// Tasks.Tasklists.get(tasklistName)
// but it always gives an error “Invalid Value”.
// —————————————————–
function getTasklistId_(tasklistName) {
var tasklistsList = Tasks.Tasklists.list();
var taskLists = tasklistsList.getItems();
for (tl in taskLists) {
var title = taskLists[tl].getTitle();
if (title == tasklistName) {
return taskLists[tl].getId();
}
}
}

// —————————————————–
// processPending(sheet)
// Process any pending emails and then move them to done
// —————————————————–
function processPending_(sheet) {

var label_pending = GmailApp.getUserLabelByName(LABEL_PENDING);
var label_done = GmailApp.getUserLabelByName(LABEL_DONE);

// The threads currently assigned to the ‘pending’ label
var threads = label_pending.getThreads();

// Process each one in turn, assuming there’s only a single
// message in each thread
for (var t in threads) {
var thread = threads[t];

// Grab the task data
// This email’s subject will be task’s title.
var taskTitle = thread.getFirstMessageSubject();

// This email’s body will be task’s body. Most email message
now is HTML-based.
// It is desirable to remove all HTML tags so that only actual
content will be populated.
// Use a custom function getTextFromHtml to strip out all HTML tags.
// In addition, the string size will be limited to 3000
characters in case an email is very long.
var taskNote =
getTextFromHtml((thread.getMessages()[0]).getBody()).substring(0,3000);

// Insert the task
//addTask_(taskTitle, TASKLIST);
addTask_(taskTitle, taskNote, TASKLIST);

// [Optional] Send email for every new task
//MailApp.sendEmail(‘ittichai@gmail.com’, taskTitle, taskNote);

// Set to ‘done’ by exchanging labels
thread.removeLabel(label_pending);
thread.addLabel(label_done);
}

// Increment the processed tasks count
var processedRange = sheet.getRange(“B1″);
processedRange.setValue(processedRange.getValue() + threads.length)
}

// —————————————————–
// addTask_(title, taskListId)
// Create new task and insert into given tasklist
// —————————————————–
function addTask_(title, message, tasklistId) {
//var newTask = Tasks.newTask().setTitle(title);
var newTask = Tasks.newTask();
newTask.setTitle(title);
newTask.setNotes(message);
Tasks.Tasks.insert(newTask, getTasklistId_(tasklistId));
}

// —————————————————–
// main()
// Starter function; to be scheduled regularly
// —————————————————–
function main_taskconverter() {

// Get the active spreadsheet and make sure the first
// sheet is the active one
var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
var sh = ss.setActiveSheet(ss.getSheets()[0]);

// Process the pending task emails
processPending_(sh);

}

// Strip out all HTML tags.
// Source: http://ift.tt/1QvmXrI
function getTextFromHtml(html) {
return getTextFromNode(Xml.parse(html, true).getElement());
}

function getTextFromNode(x) {
switch(x.toString()) {
case ‘XmlText': return x.toXmlString();
case ‘XmlElement': return x.getNodes().map(getTextFromNode).join(”);
default: return ”;
}
}

– Make sure that the name of the task list in TASKLIST variable is
changed to your primary task list name.

TASKLIST = “Ittichai’s list”;
LABEL_PENDING = “newtask”;
LABEL_DONE = “newtaskdone”;

– Integrate the script with Google API.

Pay attention to the *Integrate the script with Google API* in the *Script
Code* section especially if this is your first time coding this. You will
have to enable Google API service to allow access the Task API –

http://ift.tt/1Qvn0n9.

If not doing so, you will receive an error message saying “Tasks – not
defined” when running the script.

[image: g_api1.jpg] [image: g_api2.jpg]

– Confirm whether or not it is working by forwarding the email to
yourgmail+task@gmail.com, then manually running the script.

[image: run_gtask.jpg]

– If it works, you can now schedule to run this script via the
time-driven even trigger.

[image: schedul1.jpg] [image: schedule2.jpg]

*END*

*Notes*

Here is just a quick walk through explaining what I’ve done differently
from the original codes.

– Add the email’s body in addition to email’s subject.

// Grab the task data
// This email’s subject will be task’s title.
var taskTitle = thread.getFirstMessageSubject();

// This email’s body will be task’s body. Most email message
now is HTML-based.
// It is desirable to remove all HTML tags so that only actual
content will be populated.
// Use a custom function getTextFromHtml to strip out all HTML tags.
// In addition, the string size will be limited to 3000
characters in case an email is very long.
var taskNote =
getTextFromHtml((thread.getMessages()[0]).getBody()).substring(0,3000);

– Most email message now is HTML-based. Without stripping out the HTML
tags, the task’s note will be populated with many useless tags. I use
functions mentioned on this web site

http://ift.tt/1QvmXrI

to
get only text message. Basically, add these two functions in the script.

function getTextFromHtml(html) {
return getTextFromNode(Xml.parse(html, true).getElement());
}

function getTextFromNode(x) {
switch(x.toString()) {
case ‘XmlText': return x.toXmlString();
case ‘XmlElement': return x.getNodes().map(getTextFromNode).join(”);
default: return ”;
}
}

– Add new parameter of task’s note to addTask_

// Insert the task
//addTask_(taskTitle, TASKLIST);
addTask_(taskTitle, taskNote, TASKLIST);

– Update the addTask_ to include setNotes

Thanks Bernard Goldberger (http://ift.tt/1MyyyQe)
for updating script to fix some recent setNotes issue by separating
setTitle and setNotes into separate lines.

function addTask_(title, message, tasklistId) {
//var newTask = Tasks.newTask().setTitle(title);
//var newTask =
Tasks.newTask().setTitle(title).setNotes(message); // 2013-06
.setTitle concatenated with.setNotes Failed
var newTask = Tasks.newTask();
newTask.setTitle(title);
newTask.setNotes(message);
Tasks.Tasks.insert(newTask, getTasklistId_(tasklistId));
}

– Optionally, an email can be sent out for every new task.

// [Optional] Send email for every new task
MailApp.sendEmail(‘ittichai@gmail.com’, taskTitle, taskNote);

Reference:

http://ift.tt/Ne8Hn4

Ameerwww.linuxmails.com | khan@azmuna.comRiyadh,KSA

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