I’m considering archiving my large email collection in DEVONThinkPro 3.
I’ve used MailTags extensively to assign keywords and project names to my most important messages.
When I’ve tested using the Import command to transfer some of these emails into DEVONThinkPro3, the keywords come across but the Project tags do not.
Is that expected behavior? If so, that makes me less eager to use DEVONThinkPro 3 for email archiving.
Thanks, Victor
That’s right, only the keywords/tags of the emails are currently used.
Alas, that is disappointing! Thanks anyway.
One way round is to use a keyword to identify projects & then use smart groups to organise them.
Bill
True…but I assigned them to projects so I wouldn’t have to assign more keywords to them…now I have to duplicate my efforts.
Sorry, it was the simplest solution I could think of.
Bill
Ha! No need to apologize. I was just grumbling to myself. Out loud. In public…it’s not difficult to add one keyword to a big pile of messages, so it will work out.
When I said I had been trying out the Import command, I misspoke. I meant I had been using the Archive command.
But just now I used the Archive command to bring in from Mail several hundred messages that I had meticulously keyworded in MailTags and not a single keyword survived the trip.
Any idea what’s getting in the way?
Victor
Did you install the plugin for Apple Mail and is it enabled in Mail’s preferences?
Yes, on both counts. And both the Mailbox and Message menus contain the “Add to DEVONThink 3” command, so I assume that means it’s working.
Which version of MailTags do you use? And how exactly did you import/archive the the emails?
SmallCubed MailSuite 2019
MailBundle: 2.0.0 build 334
Core Component: 2019.0.5 build 413
MailTags: 2019.0.6 build 6522
Hmmm…In DEVONThink 3 I switched to the Import tab of the Sidebar, selected a mailbox, right-clicked and chose Archive Mailbox from the menu.
But looking at the “Archiving Email” page in Help, it sounds like perhaps MailTags metadata is preserved only when using the Import command.
That page could use some help, because some of the text treats “archive” and “import” interchangeably, but there’s also an entire section devoted to “Import or Archive” that draws a clear distinction between the two.
In both cases the MailTags should be imported. Is anything logged to Windows > Log?
No, the Log window is empty. But does the log get cleared from time to time? My attempt at archiving email was over two weeks ago.
The Log is cleared when quitting and relaunching DEVONthink.
I just tried the Archive command again with a fresh set of emails. This time, the keywords were preserved.
But I looked over a mailbox I had imported some weeks ago, and found that the keywords were lost, but the project tags did come through. I thought that wasn’t supposed to happen?
Do you remember whether the Mail plugin was installed & enabled while importing these emails? This is necessary as the email files don’t contain the necessary information any longer in the latest versions of MailTags and therefore this information is retrieved via the plugin if possible.
I always keep the DEVONThink Mail plugin installed—but a few weeks ago I noticed it had turned itself off without saying a word. Of course, I turned it back on.
But I just now checked, and discovered that was turned off again. Why does this happen, and why is there no notification?
DEVONthink doesn’t enable or disable the plugin in Apple Mail. That is controlled by Mail. Did you update your operating system recently?
Yes, I think so—my iMac is enrolled in the Apple Developer Seed Program and once a month or so there’s a new beta of a Security Update (I’m on Mojave).
The next time I perform one of these updates I’ll try to remember to check on the status of the DEVONThink Mail plugin.