I can never remember the format for defining an emailed task. I've been a fan of AutoHotkey for a long time, and decided today to make a GUI for a quick way to set it up for me. Now, all I do, once set up the forward or new message to my RTM "contact" and set up the subject line, is type "_rtm" at the top of the email text to pop up the GUI. The GUI is set up with my Lists, Priorities, and Tags, and also has a field for entering due date/time. Finally, it has a check box to create the text note separator at the end of the RTM fields.

Here is the text of my AutoHotKey script:

::_rtm::
; Format text in RTM email
Gui, Add, Text,, Select a List:
Gui, Add, DropDownList, vListChoice, Inbox||Home|Ministry|Personal|Work
Gui, Add, Text,, Select a Priority:
Gui, Add, DropDownList, vPriorityChoice, 0||1|2|3
Gui, Add, Text,, Select a Tag:
Gui, Add, DropDownList, vTagChoice, none||+pending|+next
Gui, Add, Text,, Define a due date (and time):
Gui, Add, Edit, vDueDate
Gui, Add, Text,, Add a note?
Gui, Add, Checkbox, vAddNote
Gui, Add, Button, Default, OK
Gui, Show,, RTM
return
GuiClose:
Gui, Destroy
Exit
ButtonOK:
Gui, Submit
IfNotEqual ListChoice,Inbox, Send List: %ListChoice%`n
IfNotEqual PriorityChoice,0, Send Priority: %PriorityChoice%`n
IfNotEqual TagChoice,none, SendRaw Tags: %TagChoice%`n ; Send interprets "+" as shift
IfNotEqual DueDate,, Send Due: %DueDate%`n
IfNotEqual AddNote,0, Send `n---`n`nAdd Note here
Gui, Destroy
Exit

Edit this in your favorite text editor (I recommend Notepad++, as it does syntax highlighting for ".ahk" files), adjust the lists for your tastes, and save it off as as rtm.ahk (or some other prefix that you want - but use the .ahk extension). Note that I use a "+" in front of my next and pending tags, and AutoHotKey wants to interpret that as a "Shift" - so the line command displaying the tags has a slightly different format. Otherwise, it should be pretty easy to understand. Not also that I don't use Locations or Time estimates much, and my tag set if generally very simple. You can add Location and time estimates in as lists or edit fields using the same format as what I currently have displayed. Finally, note that the "default" selection for any list has two "pipe" characters after it. If these are also the defaults for RTM (for instance, tasks go to the Inbox list as default), then I don't bother writing the associated line into the email message.

Hope this helps any Windows users out there that have trouble remembering something more complicated than "_rtm". Now if I can just get a script configured to find my car keys...

- Kurt Woodham