How I use "Okay, Google - Note To Self" handsfree to add RTM task when driving, using Android Auto, Gmail filters, and ifttt.com
So, just like when I'm in the shower, I get some of my best ideas when I'm driving to and from work... Previously I simply used the 'Okay, Google - Note to Self' command via Android Auto to send myself an email to my Gmail account. Later on, I would then copy and paste the subject of the email into RTM. But I really wanted to save myself the bother.
So I connected my 'Ok, Google - Note To Self' voice command to RTM to save my reminder as a task in the following manner:
1. Use voice command 'Ok, Google' to send a Note To Self via Gmail
2. Gmail employs a filter to add a label to this email
3. ifttt.com recipe is triggered, and sends an email to your RTM inbox
4. RTM adds a task based on the email's body text
Here are the details:
As I was driving, I used a voice command to send a note to myself using gmail: Android Auto pickd up my 'Ok Google - Note To Self - pick up bananas for bob the monkey' voice command, and sent an email message to my Gmail account.
I located the email which subsequently arrived in my Gmail inbox and noticed that the subject of the email is 'Note To Self'. The body contained the words I spoke after saying 'Ok, Google - Note To Self'. So, the command 'Ok, Google - Note To Self - pick up bananas for bob the monkey' sent an email with a subject line 'Note To Self' and with a body reading 'pick up bananas for bob the monkey'.
So from that email, I created a Gmail email filter corresponding to that subject line ('Note To Self').
Now, I didn't want my 'Note To Self' emails cluttering up my inbox, and possibly leading me to think I need to add these 'Note To Self' items to my 'RTM' list - the whole reason I did this was to reduce clutter and duplicate tasks. That would be just too much for my delicate soul to handle. So I wanted the filter to automatically archive them. Also, I wanted the filter to mark them as 'read' so they wouldn't appear as unreads - because, again, my soul is just too delicate to have to to to the effort of manually marking them as unread, in the event that I perform a search for unread emails in my Gmail account. Additionally, I wanted the task to be a highest priority, so I wouldn't lose track of it in my list - I could change the priority later. Finally, I wanted to add a date of 'today', because doing such a thing, simply speaking, is the manner in which I roll, baby.
In order for the ifttt.com rule to be triggered, it needs to see an email with a particular label. So I had the filter add 'Note To Self' as a Gmail tag. Here's the Gmail filter (please note that the value 'myemailaddress@gmail.com' is just an example... replace that with your real Gmail email address):
Matches: from:(myemailaddress@gmail.com) subject:(Note to self)
Do this: Skip Inbox, Mark as read, Apply label "Note To Self"
My ifttt.com applet/recipe is described as follows: If new email in inbox labeled Note To Self, then send an email to my Remember the Milk (RTM) email address.
ifttt Trigger: Gmail - New email in inbox labeled
Label: Note To Self
* note that ifttt.com treats gmail labels as case sensitive. You can use '/' to separate sublabels if for any reason you wanted to do this - for example, you could add both 'Note To Self' and 'Driving Inspiration' labels in your Gmail filter for reviewing later in your life which ideas came to you as you drove around.
ifttt Action: Send an email
To address: username+abc123@rmilk.com
* this would be your personal remember the milk inbox email address - see https://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/email/
To that recipe, add the 'ingredient' entitled 'Subject'.
Enter this as your 'Subject':
{{BodyPlain}} !1 ^today #notetoself
That's it. Hope it works for you too!
So I connected my 'Ok, Google - Note To Self' voice command to RTM to save my reminder as a task in the following manner:
1. Use voice command 'Ok, Google' to send a Note To Self via Gmail
2. Gmail employs a filter to add a label to this email
3. ifttt.com recipe is triggered, and sends an email to your RTM inbox
4. RTM adds a task based on the email's body text
Here are the details:
As I was driving, I used a voice command to send a note to myself using gmail: Android Auto pickd up my 'Ok Google - Note To Self - pick up bananas for bob the monkey' voice command, and sent an email message to my Gmail account.
I located the email which subsequently arrived in my Gmail inbox and noticed that the subject of the email is 'Note To Self'. The body contained the words I spoke after saying 'Ok, Google - Note To Self'. So, the command 'Ok, Google - Note To Self - pick up bananas for bob the monkey' sent an email with a subject line 'Note To Self' and with a body reading 'pick up bananas for bob the monkey'.
So from that email, I created a Gmail email filter corresponding to that subject line ('Note To Self').
Now, I didn't want my 'Note To Self' emails cluttering up my inbox, and possibly leading me to think I need to add these 'Note To Self' items to my 'RTM' list - the whole reason I did this was to reduce clutter and duplicate tasks. That would be just too much for my delicate soul to handle. So I wanted the filter to automatically archive them. Also, I wanted the filter to mark them as 'read' so they wouldn't appear as unreads - because, again, my soul is just too delicate to have to to to the effort of manually marking them as unread, in the event that I perform a search for unread emails in my Gmail account. Additionally, I wanted the task to be a highest priority, so I wouldn't lose track of it in my list - I could change the priority later. Finally, I wanted to add a date of 'today', because doing such a thing, simply speaking, is the manner in which I roll, baby.
In order for the ifttt.com rule to be triggered, it needs to see an email with a particular label. So I had the filter add 'Note To Self' as a Gmail tag. Here's the Gmail filter (please note that the value 'myemailaddress@gmail.com' is just an example... replace that with your real Gmail email address):
Matches: from:(myemailaddress@gmail.com) subject:(Note to self)
Do this: Skip Inbox, Mark as read, Apply label "Note To Self"
My ifttt.com applet/recipe is described as follows: If new email in inbox labeled Note To Self, then send an email to my Remember the Milk (RTM) email address.
ifttt Trigger: Gmail - New email in inbox labeled
Label: Note To Self
* note that ifttt.com treats gmail labels as case sensitive. You can use '/' to separate sublabels if for any reason you wanted to do this - for example, you could add both 'Note To Self' and 'Driving Inspiration' labels in your Gmail filter for reviewing later in your life which ideas came to you as you drove around.
ifttt Action: Send an email
To address: username+abc123@rmilk.com
* this would be your personal remember the milk inbox email address - see https://www.rememberthemilk.com/services/email/
To that recipe, add the 'ingredient' entitled 'Subject'.
Enter this as your 'Subject':
{{BodyPlain}} !1 ^today #notetoself
That's it. Hope it works for you too!
tomcal says:
That's great. I do something similar with iOS. I have an IFTTT recipe set up to automatically anything added to my todo reminder list (the default) and email it to RTM. So, I just tell Sirit to "remind me to..." and it shows up in RTM. It's been working great.
cavanaughmm says:
Tom also, I'd like to know how you set up iOS Reminders/ifttt to create RTM tasks. Would you please share some details on how how to set that up?
Thanks for your suggestion @Simon.
What you are proposing is very similar to something I have proposed in summer 2015 but I wanted to try your solution since yours included an auto archiving approach of the gmail inbox (https://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/tips/18955/ )
I must say that the first attempts to recognized the labeled email didn't work initially from IFTTT and I thought the moving out of inbox was causing problems. But eventually it start to work even with the "skip inbox" approach.
The part that I have kept from my original setting is the subject line in the email sent from IFTTT to RTM. While testing with your setting it was not clear where you are setting the "subject ingredient" and for this reason all my notes appeared in RTM with the same title. Instead, my subject contains the IFTTT "Ingredient" name "BodyPlain" which is basically what follow in Google Now the "OK Google Note To Self", generating an RTM note with the note sentence.
Now I have a clean inbox when I use Google Now "Note to self"... If I could, I would vote for you to have the 1 year free RTM subscription... ;)
What you are proposing is very similar to something I have proposed in summer 2015 but I wanted to try your solution since yours included an auto archiving approach of the gmail inbox (https://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/tips/18955/ )
I must say that the first attempts to recognized the labeled email didn't work initially from IFTTT and I thought the moving out of inbox was causing problems. But eventually it start to work even with the "skip inbox" approach.
The part that I have kept from my original setting is the subject line in the email sent from IFTTT to RTM. While testing with your setting it was not clear where you are setting the "subject ingredient" and for this reason all my notes appeared in RTM with the same title. Instead, my subject contains the IFTTT "Ingredient" name "BodyPlain" which is basically what follow in Google Now the "OK Google Note To Self", generating an RTM note with the note sentence.
Now I have a clean inbox when I use Google Now "Note to self"... If I could, I would vote for you to have the 1 year free RTM subscription... ;)
digitap says:
I've tried to do this, but I can't get the content of the email body to be the task name in rtm. Is that how you see the task appear in your rtm?
test.ios001 says:
1
Here is a more flexible approach utilizing Google Scripts. It's better because it removes the need for IFTTT, a third-party, to be accessing your email. Furthermore, it allows you to add due dates, priorities, etc. directly with your voice. I've modified this script further for myself, but it's an excellent start:
https://gist.github.com/westonruter/4528421
https://gist.github.com/westonruter/4528421
robfreundlich says:
Thanks, @maciek.ziernicki! I've been looking for a way to use Note To Self to get things into both RTM and Evernote, but never knew about Google Scripts. This looks like a perfect solution! I can modify the script to look for "task" or "note" in the body and route it appropriately.
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