Re: [Orgmode] [OT] Emacs for email?

[David Maus]

At Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:31:05 +0100,
address@hidden wrote:
> 
> 
>     These and the others you will find allude to this approach fitting
>     in with the more general GTD view, which is why org-mode is
>     critical (for me) to get this working.
> 
> I actually do something similar, but keeping the physical emails.  I
> maintain (in wanderlust) an Inbox folder and a General folder to hold
> my emails.  I process the Inbox in a GTD style.  For each message:
> 
>     1) If it is not interesting, delete.
>     2) If it is useful for reference, archive it in the ref system and
>        move the email to General, without storing any link to it in my
>        reference system.
>     3) If it is an email that I can answer quickly, do it and move the
>        email to General.
>     4) If it is an email that I want to answer but that requires some
>        previous investigation/action, I move the email to General and,
>        using remember, create a new NEXT item in my todo.org.  The NEXT
>        item has an hyperlink pointing to the email in the General mbox.
> 
> Now, I wonder if is it possible to implement the previous system
> without having to maintain the General mbox (that is huge).  It is
> clear that I could simply remove the emails in 2) after archiving its
> contents in my reference system.  But, what about the emails in 3) and
> 4)?  How do you store an email that you will eventually answer if not
> in an mbox?

I just started to stop maintaining my inbox at all appr. 3 weeks ago
and up to now it's working fine. I am currently not getting that much
email so I can't tell if it will work out but I seems to be a
interesting way to go.

So, what I do is this:

- I do not use the regular orgmode link to wanderlust messages,
  because up to now the folder a message is in (or is refiled to) is
  part of the link; what means that if I move the message somewhere
  else I know for certain that the link in orgmode is broken.

  I want to store a link to a message regardless where the message
  resides, so I use a "Namazu search folder" (Manual 3.9). That is: I
  index my messages regularly (once per hour is enough for me) with
  Namazu (www.namazu.org) and use a special remember template for
  messages with a hand-crafted link to the search folder:

  ,----
  | [[wl:%5B%:message-id%5D~/.elmo/namazu#%:message-id][%:message-id]]
  `----

  Opening these links with Orgmode works fine: It fires up Wanderlust
  and opens the message with the particular message id.

  The only thing that bugs me is that I have to hand craft the
  search-folder-links manually and hence need a special remember
  template for messages. 

  Luckily Orgmode is free software so I started to work on a patch
  that expands Orgmode's capabilities on storing links to wanderlust
  messages, including Namazu search folders[1].

- all new messages go in the inbox

- I do not access the inbox directly but use a "Filter Folder" (Manual
  3.11) that shows unread messages and messages flagged as "important" ($)

  .folders
  ,----
  | /flag:digest/%INBOX                 "Inbox (Digest)"
  `----

- If new messages are in the inbox they are show in this folder; I
  read every message:

  - if the message is useful for reference, I use a remember template
    that stores a special hand-crafted link mentioned above

  - if the message requires an answer, I mark it "important" und file
    a remember template that references this message with the
    hand-crafted link

  - if I am not certain whether I should answer the message or not it
    is marked "important"; so they stay in sight.

  - in all other cases reading the message moves it out of the filter
    folder next time I open it

- I archived received and sent messages of the previous year in january
  but playing with Wanderlust's build-in archive functions (Manual,
  Chp. 9: Automatic Expiration and Archiving of Messages) is on my
  list

To sum it up: I solved the problem of "Zero Inbox" not by moving
and/or deleting mails but by using Wanderlust's capabilities of
showing messages based on different criterions. So maybe the question
is not where to /store/ messages but how to access them.

Regards,

  -- David

PS: Hum. While writing this I notice that marking messages as
important and filing a todo-item is redundant. So "mark important"
should go for messages I am not certain about whether I should reply
or not.

[1] There will be a proposal soon.
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