Things to Merlin – Transfer selected todos to Merlin on another mac
Vicky Stamatopoulou on 3. December 2012
We have posted information for transferring activities from Merlin to Things and todos from Things to Merlin. Mentioned approaches require both applications (Merlin and Things) to be installed on the same mac.
But… how to proceed if you want to transfer your data to another Mac where you may have installed Merlin, or when wanting to forward to a PM using Merlin? By a similar approach.
Just use another AppleScript we specifically wrote, which reads the selected todos from Things and writes in a Merlin XML file, which you can open in Merlin by drag&drop. For an easy file transfer, the script creates an email message and attaches the Merlin file. Cool, isn’t?
Installation:
- Just download the applescript
- Expand the zip archive
- Install the contained AppleScripts 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
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
Workflow:
- Start your Things and view your todos
- Select the todos to be transferred
- Call the script “Things > Mail > Merlin” from the scripts menu of Things
- Enter the email address of the recipient in the mail message which is automatically created in Mail.app and contains a Merlin-XML file
- Send the mail message.
- 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.
Tags: Applescript, Mail, Things, Transfer
Merlin Server – get the direct URL to open a shared project
Vicky Stamatopoulou on 8. November 2012
Is there a way to have a URL that takes you directly to a project shared by Merlin Server?
Just select the project in Merlin Server‘s ‘Projects’ view
click onto the ‘Link’ button to get its direct URL.
Select the URL as shown on the dialogue
and copy.
If you now enter this direct URL in a web browser, you will access the project without viewing first the start page listing other projects.
Tags: direct link, Merlin Server, Merlin Web, URL
Applescript – MS Excel to Merlin
Vicky Stamatopoulou on 1. October 2012
Can I import a selected range of cell from an MS EXCEL sheet into Merlin as tasks?
Merlin can import various file formats. For a complete list please check related topic in Merlin online help.
The official way to import MS EXCEL documents is to save them as csv files, and to open the csv file in Merlin in a second step.
- So you select in MS EXCEL File > Save as… > Comma Separated Values (.csv)
- You drag the csv text file to Merlin’s project listing and
- map the fields of the csv files to Merlin columns.
- Merlin will then import the file into the existing project.
To quicken things however, we have created a small Applescript sample, which handles the current MS EXCEL selection, goes through its rows and enters them as tasks into an existing Merlin project.
If interested, feel free to download, use or modify as you like. (more…)
Tags: Applescript, CSV, MS Excel
Applescript – MS Word to Merlin
Vicky Stamatopoulou on 12. September 2012
Can I import a selected list of activities from a MS Word document into Merlin as tasks?
Merlin can import various file formats. For a complete list please check related topic in Merlin online help.
MS Word documents are most commonly used for long texts and maybe project or task scope description. Lists are usually recorded in MS Excel, GTD applications, or even mindmapping software. To import tasks out of an MS Word document, you should export it into a compatible format.
- So you select in MS Word File > Save as… > Plain Text
- MS Word prompts for the desired formatting and encoding
- You save the file
- You drag the plain text file to Merlin’s project listing and
- map the field in the plain text to Merlin’s <title> column.
- Merlin will then import the list into the existing project.
To quicken things however, we have created a small Applescript sample, which handles the current MS Word selection, goes through its paragraphs and enters them as tasks into an existing Merlin project.
If interested, feel free to download, use or modify as you like. (more…)
Tags: Applescript, Merlin, MS Word
Merlin Server: MacOS X Firewall
Vicky Stamatopoulou on 11. July 2012
With Merlin Server you can publish your saved Merlin project files for remote access by:
- other Merlin for Mac OS X applications. This will allow you to collaborate with other Merlin users on the same project file.
- a web browser. This allows you to collaborate on files on the go or even when using a Windows machine.
- iPhone, iPad or iPod touch using Merlin’s own app for iOS devices.
When allowing external access to your machine you should consider setting up a Firewall. This is usually done in your router, but some users would like to use the built-in MacOS X Firewall. Here is a small description of how to set your Firewall for Merlin Server on a current MacOS X 10.7.4 (Lion) configuration.
Merlin Server
If you want to add exceptions for the Merlin Server services on this MacOS X, locate first the MerlinServer.prefPane on your machine. You will find it in one of the following paths:
/Library/PreferencePanes (recommended location)
~/Library/PreferencePanes
Right click it to ‘Show Package contents’ and locate the ‘MerlinProjectServer ‘and ‘MerlinWebServer’ applications under Contents/Resources.
Now add them both by drag & drop onto the exceptions list in the ‘Advanced’ Firewall dialogue. (more…)
Tags: Firewall, Merlin Server
Merlin to MS Project – exchanging files
Vicky Stamatopoulou on 2. July 2012
To exchange Merlin project files with MS Project users of contemporary versions, choose File > Export > MS Project > XML
For the MS Project users to open the thus exported XML MS Project files,
- they start MS Project
- click on folder open symbol (more…)
Tags: Export, File Exchange, Merlin, MS Project, Open, XML
Applescript – Evernote to Merlin
Vicky Stamatopoulou on 17. April 2012
Merlin project management software integrates easily with lots of other Mac and Windows applications. For some applications you need to export/import files, with others you simply sync from Merlin. If you use Evernote to record your notes and want to transfer them to Merlin, you may now do so, by the use of the following script sample created in AppleScript.
It reacts on the Evernote selection and transfers selected notes to Merlin. Just select the notes you want to transfer in Evernote, call the script and see selected notes transferred in the top most opened Merlin project as file elements. Those elements can be then viewed even without connection to the Evernote account or the Evernote app on your Mac and are now part of your project.
Download: Evernote > Merlin AppleScript sample
Update on Jan 16th, 2013: Activated an alert informing about the inserted elements. Saved the AppleScript application as Applescript to avoid issues with Lion and Mountain Lion Gatekeeper.
Tags: Applescript, Elements, Evernote, Note
MerlinDayliteLink Update available
Vicky Stamatopoulou on 29. November 2011
Our partner LgoConsulting updated MerlinDayliteLink.
What’s that?
MerlinDaylite-Link is a tool that allows information to be shared between the two programs, Merlin and Daylite. This gives you access to the power of Merlin for professional project management to manage and plan a project, whilst sharing the outcome with Daylite’s team and business management tools.
What’s new, why updating?
- Allows you to send selected items to Daylite
- A few other minor changes that correct issues with dates, Lion etc..
More information on MerlinDayliteLink can be found here
Tags: Daylite, MerlinDayliteLink, Update
Mac OS X Lion specialities… may affect Merlin reports or iCal sync
Vicky Stamatopoulou on 4. August 2011
Lion has some new specialities:
- A mounted disk image (dmg) will be mounted again on Mac re-start
- Per default “Show indicator lights for open applications” are disabled in the “Dock” system preference
So it is possible that…
You may start Merlin in Lion out of your /Applications folder
and a second time out of the mounted disk image, you had downloaded from our website in order to install Merlin on your Mac.
In the dock you don’t see the indicator lights so you don’t realize that it is running twice.
However it will be shown twice in the dock and will be twice listed, should you call Command + Option + Escape
Results for Reports… (more…)
Mac for Business
Vicky Stamatopoulou on 18. July 2011
Our friend and partner LgoKnowledge Ltd promotes very successfully solutions over the web for running a business using a Mac and iOS devices. Users of Merlin, Daylite, Billings or MoneyWorks have probably already checked their blog and offers in the past.
LgoKnowledge Ltd scheduled now a series of events. First one will take place next Wednesday (27th July) at AT Computers Swansea.
If you are a Project Manager and located near Swansea, don’t miss it.
At this event they will demonstrate project management and customer relationship management using Merlin and Daylite for Mac, iPhone and iPad.
Please check for more information on this or coming events on ‘Mac for Business’ events’ page
Tags: Business, Events, Mac, Project Management, UK
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