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Schedule creation of To Dos in iCal Apps
iCal on its own currently doesn't allow you to create To Dos with start dates—only finish/due dates. So if you want to enter a task that you can only work on after a certain date, you have to either add it to your To Do list and ignore it for now, or remember to add it later.

I wrote a free AppleScript called Event2ToDo (76KB disk image; 8KB hints mirror -- source only) solves this problem. To use it, just create an event in iCal representing the start of your To Do, and attach this script to the event as an Open File Alarm. The event will later move itself onto your To Do list automatically. More specifically, the steps involved (as taken from the Read Me on the disk image) are:
  1. Make a new event that begins at the time you would like the item to be added to your To Do list. The end time/date of the event can be anything.
  2. Make the name of the event as you want the name of the To Do when it is converted. If you precede the name of the event with Start or Begin, then it will automatically be removed when the To Do is created.
  3. Type due, due date: or due on or likewise, and then the due date into the Comment for the event. This will become the To Do item's due date.
  4. Give the event an open file alarm (in Panther) or a run script alarm (in Tiger) which runs Event2ToDo, 0 minutes before.
That's it; the event will be moved to your To Do list when its alarm runs.

[robg adds: There's more in the Read Me included with the disk image. I mirrored the source of the script here, just in case the site providing the disk image ever goes away, but I'd recommend trying the disk image download first.]
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Schedule creation of To Dos in iCal | 3 comments | Create New Account
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Schedule creation of To Dos in iCal
Authored by: SimonDorfman.com on Sep 12, '06 11:10:00PM
For to-do's with iCal integration, I highly recommend Kinkless GTD. It's an applescript-based implementation of Getting Things Done. http://kinkless.com/

Watch the screencast to get up to speed: http://kinkless.com/kgtd/intro

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Schedule creation of To Dos in iCal
Authored by: jrtoy on Sep 14, '06 03:33:18PM

how can I make the date i create the event on the due date, I.E. make event on 9/30, run script 4 days before. I want the due date to be 9/30. I know if i put due .... that will work but this is a reoccuring task, i.e. pay car bill every 15th of the month.



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Schedule creation of To Dos in iCal
Authored by: ryancu on Oct 24, '06 04:43:57PM
A couple of people have asked for a version where the due date of the To Do is read not from the event comment but from the event start date instead. So here is the variant (10K).

The open file alarm can run any time now (not only 0 minutes before) and by setting when the alarm runs you can choose when the To Do is converted (previously this was chosen by the start date of the event). For no due date, type "no due date" in the comment.

Note this variant no longer works in Panther's iCal, still doesn't work with recurring To Dos and I prefer my original version :-)

Ryan

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