This is just a quick post to mention a new idea I had while working on Marked today. I was, as usual, using TaskPaper to organize the project and track my progress. I use a different TaskPaper file in the main folder for each project I have going. The last script I posted is effective enough, and I should probably leave well enough alone, but I had to try one other thing.

I basically wanted to run a script with launchd at 11pm every night that would find all of my TaskPaper files and locate tasks finished during the previous 24 hours, creating a single log entry for them in Day One. So that’s what I did.

I put a gist up on GitHub, and everything you need to know is in the comments at the top. It’s pretty simple: mdfind to Spotlight for recently-changed TaskPaper files, a little string scanning and then create an XML entry in the Day One folder. There are some caveats and potentially necessary customizations, but if you’re at all interested in running something like this, I’ll assume you’re capable of making a couple of tweaks.

By the way, did you see Jered Benoit’s script for logging the day’s completed OmniFocus tasks to Day One? Beautiful!

Also, Gabe over at MacDrifter has found Day One to be most useful for it’s intended purpose (personal journaling). Weird, I know1, but a really great post you should take a moment to read.

  1. I kid. It’s weird that I’m using it for more technical things. I feel a need to more eloquently explain why I’ve opted to keep these logs in Day One and how I differentiate the various types of notes in my life, but that’s another post. ↩