ADVANCED TUTORIALS

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Capturing by email

You can collect stuff in the FacileThings Inbox by sending an email to the [email protected] address. In addition to the email address you use to access FacileThings, you can send emails collected from any other email addresses you have verified in the Emails section of your Account.

Here we discuss some things you need to consider and explain special options that might give you some help if you want to import data that you already have in other systems.

1. Attachments

Email attachments are included in the generated task whenever 10MB of data are not exceeded.

email with attachments imported

Have in mind that task attachments will be automatically deleted one day after the task is marked as Done. This way, the use of your file storage quota is kept to a minimum. If you need a file to be always available for consultation, you must create an entry in the Reference Material list.

You can check your current usage of the file storage in your Account:

file storage quota

2. Managing emails already processed

It may happen that you have already processed an email in your email program, that is, you’ve executed the second GTD stage outside FacileThings.

To avoid having to process the task again in FacileThings, you can type in the email subject the :processed command, before the email is redirected to FacileThings. The task created will be placed in the specified list, instead of the Inbox. These are the options you can use:

Command Destination list
:processed action Next actions
:processed waiting Waiting for
:processed someday (or maybe) Someday/Maybe
:processed reference Reference Material
:day date (see date formats) Calendar

3. Importing multiple tasks

If you have some stuff already collected in another system (a text file with meeting minutes, a project management system, an app for to-dos, etc.), you can send them at once to the Inbox using an email with the command :import tasks.

The email text must contain the tasks separated by the # symbol:

Task 1#
Task 2#
Task 3#

You can have checklists associated with each task. They must be written in square brackets, separating the check points by commas:

Task 1[check point 1, check point 2]#

import tasks

Some precautions you should take when using the :import command:

  • These imports are added to the jobs queue to get dispatched one by one. If you send an import email with 100 tasks twice, you will end up with 200 tasks in your inbox, 100 of them repeated. So, be patient and always wait for the notification you will be sent once the work is completed.

import finished notification

  • Beware with the email signature or text that is sometimes added at the end of emails. They will be understood as tasks and will not produce the desired result.
  • The body of the email will be completely imported, unless you indicate where the import must finish, by introducing a special line that starts with ###. The lines that run after ### will be ignored.
  • Do not send a lot of tasks in one email. If something goes wrong, you’ll have plenty of stuff to delete. Send just a few, and if all goes well, send the rest in blocks of manageable size (more than 100 tasks by email are not recommended.)

4. Importing projects

If you type the :import project command in the email subject, a project with the subject as title.

The option to import projects can be used as a template to create repetitive or similar projects whenever you need them. For example, if you have a project like this that you usually repeat:

  • Action 1
  • Action 2
    • Check point 2.1
    • Check point 2.2
    • Check point 2.3
  • Action 3
    • Check point 3.1
    • Check point 3.2
  • Action 4
  • Action 5

You can create an email with the subject Project X :import project and the following text:

Action 1#
Action 2[Check point 2.1, Check point 2.2, Check point 2.3]#
Action 3[Check point 3.1, Check point 3.2]#
Action 4#
Action 5#

And send it to [email protected] every time you need to create a similar project:

email to import a project

Precautions commented in the previous section remain valid here.

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