Things to Merlin – Transfer selected todos to Merlin

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This is a  dream come true for Merlin and Things users: Merlin and Things can finally work together.

With just a few clicks you can now export Merlin activities as todos to Things or import todos from Things as activities into Merlin. The two market-leading applications for project management and personal task management on Mac are finally not only complementary on paper but also in practice. An easy and self-explanatory data exchange workflow, implemented in AppleScript, makes this possible.

This article describes the installation procedure of the scripts and the workflows we specifically defined in the latest Merlin 2.7.9 update for the following 2 use cases:

Prepare your Todos in Things and install the scripts

1. Use case „Transfer tasks to Merlin on the same Mac“

2. Use case „Transfer tasks to Merlin on another Mac“

Preparation

Work in Things. Create todos in Things and name them. Add on those todos, if required, due dates, tags, notes and may click the todos to define that they are completed

Installation

  • Download

    • the scripts

  • Expand the zip archive
  • Copy contained AppleScript Application Packages into the ‘Things Scripts’ directory
    /Users/[your user name]/Library/Containers/com.culturedcode.things/Data/Library/Application Support/Cultured Code/Things Scripts/

 

  • Restart your Things


1. Use case „Transfer tasks to Merlin on the same Mac“

As a Things user you have created your todos and want to transfer them to Merlin in order to use them for Project Management. You  also have  installed Merlin on you mac, and want to insert the todos as tasks in an existing Merlin project.

Workflow:

  1. Start your Things and view your todos
  2. Open your Merlin project. (The todos will be inserted into the topmost project in Merlin).
  3. Switch to Things and select the todos to be transferred
  4. Call the script “Things > Merlin” from the scripts menu of Things

Result:

    The selected todos are now transferred in the opened Merlin project.

Notes:

In case you forgot to open a Merlin project priorly to starting the script, a dialog will appear prompting where to insert the todos.

 

2. Use case „Transfer tasks to Merlin on another Mac“

As a Things user you have created your todos and want to transfer them to Merlin on another Mac to be used for Project Management. For file transfer email communication should be used.

Workflow:

  1. Start your Things and view your todos
  2. Select the todos to be transferred
  3. Call the script “Things > Mail > Merlin” from the scripts menu of Things
  4. Enter the email address of the recipient in the mail message which is automatically created in Mail.app and contains a Merlin-XML file
  5. Send the mail message.
  6. As the recipient of this mail… Drag the XML file as displayed in the email message onto the activities area of an opened Merlin project.

Result:

    The todos will be inserted as activities in the Merlin project.

20 thoughts on “Things to Merlin – Transfer selected todos to Merlin”

  1. Nice scripts!

    Would be good though if the projects were also copied to Merlin and that tasks ended up under each project as in Things.

    And it would of course be fantastic if dates could be exported back to Things.

  2. Thanks HÃ¥kan Olsson for your comment.

    For the project…
    You mean to be able to tell out of which project a task comes and to transfer the tasks to Merlin as sub activities of this “project” group?

    How would you map the dates?
    Due Date
    Created
    Modified

    Best regards, Vicky

  3. Yes that is what I meant.
    Hmm it is true that there are no fields for start and duration, etc in Things, as far as I know.
    Things is good for making lists.
    Merlin is good for planning those lists.
    If there was a start and duration field in Things, then
    Things could export those to Merlin as a base for planning, then
    Merlin could export back the new dates.
    Is there a way maybe to add fields to Things?

    HÃ¥kan

  6. these are the values one can access over applescript in Todos of Things:

    creation date (date) : Creation date of the to do
    modification date (date) : Modification date of the to do
    due date (date) : Due date of the to do
    activation date (date, r/o) : Activation date of the scheduled to do
    completion date (date) : Completion date of the to do
    cancellation date (date) : Cancellation date of the to do

    Which Things dates should be mapped to which Merlin dates?
    I guess we are discussing how to customise the standard script…

  9. What a great thread Vicky and Hakan. Thank you both.

    Hakan – I too am a big things advocate and user and yes it has a few shortcomings but is a trade of I goes for the great task manager it is. Cudos to CultureCode. After their support directing me to this post I’ve now purchased Merlin 2 (with Novamind Bundle).

    Reading through your post here I agree with you Hakan and today have also put a request in for a duration field in Things.

    Other fields needed I will request as I come across them.

    It would be awesome to see the two teams get together and implement a seamless integration. … just thinking out aloud of course. 🙂 Hint Hint.

    I look forward to getting into Merlin 2.

    Cheers
    Lordy

  10. Bonjour,

    Je viens d’installer les scripts sur things (version2.1.1), ils apparaissent bien dans le menu script, mais rien ne se passe avec Merlin 2 (version évaluation). Je suis sur Mac OS X.7.5.
    Comment faire?

  11. Hi,

    which script have you used?
    Things > Merlin or Things > Mail > Merlin ?
    Have you also selected the to-dos in Things which should be forwarded to Merlin?
    Is your Merlin 2 already running on your Mac?
    How many to-dos have you selected in Things?

    What happens exactly when you call the script? Error messages? Dialogues? Nothing?
    Best regards, Vicky

  12. Merci de votre réponse,
    J’ai utilisé les deux scripts l’un après l’autre pour essayer, mais dans les deux cas, l’icone du script reste noir quelques instants, mais rien ne se passe. Merlin etait en route.
    J’avais sélectionné un to-do.

    Cordialement,

    Bertrand

  13. Hi Bertrand,

    maybe you need to first allow your system to start all applications downloaded from ‘anywhere’ (System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General > Allow applications downloaded from > Anywhere), let one after the other the scripts run, and then re-enable your usual ‘security & privacy’ settings.

    I have just tested the scripts and they both worked on my Mac.

    Best regards, Vicky

  14. Mes paramètres de sécurité sont déjà sur “download from anywhere”. Mystère!
    Cela ne vient-il pas que Merlin est en version d’évaluation?
    Cordialement,

    Bertrand

  15. very strange. I have removed my license and it worked just fine.
    Let’s see… none of the scripts is working… is there an issue with AppleScript on your Mac?
    Things > E-Mail > Merlin should create an email with an XML file for you to send.

    Is this script doing anything at all on your mac?

    Note:
    1. The scripts should be placed under /Users/[your user name]/Library/Containers/com.culturedcode.things/Data/Library/Application Support/Cultured Code/Things Scripts/
    2. And started using the Scripts menu of Things

    Is this how you start them? Otherwise, please select another to-dos out of things, is the script working better?

    This is a very strange effect.
    Best regards. Vicky

  16. and you can also try following:
    – Switch to Things
    – Choose Scripts menu > Open Scripts folder
    – Ctrl-Click one of the scripts (let’s say Things > Mail > Merlin)
    – Select ‘show package contents’
    – Go to Contents > Resources > Scripts
    – Double click the script ‘Things > Mail > Merlin.scpt’
    (it will get opened in Applescript Editor)
    – Select your to-dos in Things
    – Start the script over the Applescript Editor

    What happens now?
    Best regards, Vicky

  17. Bonsoir,

    Merci pour votre aide
    Super, cela fonctionne!
    Mais comment retrouver l’accès au script sans cette manipulation? Qu’en pensez vous?

    Cordialement,

    Bertrand

  18. Great 🙂
    Maybe if you add in the script in AppleScript Editor a return, remove it and save the script (File>Save) again, maybe it allows you to start it out of the Scripts menu of Things from now on.

  19. Encore une fois merci,
    Je ne connais pas le langage “script”.
    Mais si j’ai bien compris vos instructions,
    j’ai ouvert le script, j’ai rajouté l’instruction return à la fin et j’ai lancé le script depuis l’éditeur apple script. Cela a marché. Puis, j’ai ressayé depuis things, cela n’a pas marché. J’ai réouvert le script, j’ai supprimé le return que j’avais ajouté et j’ai ré-enregistrer le script. Cela ne fonctionne toujours pas.
    Peut-être est-ce que j’ai mal compris votre explication? Je lis mal l’anglais!
    Si vous trouvez une autre solution, je suis prêt à l’essayer, sinon je exporter mes to-do par l’éditeur apple script, ce n’est pas la fin du monde!
    Encore mille merci pour votre solution et le temps que vous avez pris pour m’aider.
    Bonne soirée

    Cordialement,

    Bertrand

  20. Thank you Bertrand for your feedback. You are welcome.

    Yes, you’ve done as I’ve suggested but the script still does not run when called out of Things.

    That’s very weird, I don’t have any new ideas at the moment. Maybe Things Support could be able to help further? Best regards, Vicky

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