Tour Part 6 - Using the TaskWorks mail agent
Now you can create To-Do items by sending an email to the TaskWorks mail agent.
If you also use the Outlook 2007 freeware addin you can also have the To-Do item
placed in your Outlook Task list.
You can add To-Do items to projects using email messages
to the TaskWorks mail agent. Send a message to robot[AT]task-works.com with a structured
subject line and the TaskWorks system will create a To-Do item with an optional
due date. The subject line tells the mail agent what project to attach the To-Do
item to, what optional due date to set and also whether to assign the item to the
whole Project team or just you!
Each email you send to the TaskWorks mail agent has a
keyword on the first line that uniquely identifies your email as a genuine instruction
and protects your TaskWorks workspace from Spam. You set your Keyword in the "My
Settings" section of the Menu after login.
A mail agent instruction message to create a To-Do item must have the following
case insensitive command embedded in the Subject line [Pxxxx:yyyy-mm-dd:zz] The
opening square bracket and letter P indicates this to be a To-Do item instruction
and the closing square bracket is also mandatory. The other fields shown above are:
xxxx is the Project ID for the To-Do item and this is the only mandatory field.
EG [P221] would create a To-Do item for Project 221. Note you can only create To-Do
items on projects you are assigned to.
yyyy-mm-dd is an optional due date. The date can be left blank for no date to be
added. EG [P221:2007-12-01] creates a To-Do item on Project 221 that will be due
for completion on the 1st of December 2007. The date format MUST
be expressed in the form shown including any leading zeroes in the day or month
values.
zz is an optional identifier for the person to whom the To-Do is to be assigned.
At present you can only put the word "Me" (Case insensitive) to assign the To-Do
to yourself. Future versions of the TaskWorks mail agent will allow assigning to
other people in the Project team. Remember that a To-Do item with no assignment
appears in everybody's Alert list.
Example1 [P221:2007-12-01:Me] Create To-Do item on Project 221
due for completion by 1st December 2007 and assign it to me.
Example2 [P221::Me] Create To-Do item on Project 221 and assign
it to me. Note how the date field is left blank if you are going to specify an assignment.
Example3 [P221:2007-12-01] Create To-Do item on Project 221 due
for completion by 1st December 2007 and assign it to the whole project group.