File: README — Documentation for zzamboni-things2thl (0.8.4)

Things2THL 0.8.4 zzamboni.github.com/things2thl/

Conversion program to transfer data from Things (culturedcode.com/things/ ) to The Hit List (www.potionfactory.com/thehitlist/ ).

Written by Diego Zamboni <[email protected]>

INSTALLATION:

You need Things 1.1.1 or later, since things2thl requires Applescript support.

Then install things2thl by running:

$ sudo gem install zzamboni-things2thl --source http://gems.github.com/

Note: things2thl need the rb-appscript (appscript.sourceforge.net/rb-appscript/) and hpricot (wiki.github.com/why/hpricot) . If you don’t have them already, they will be automatically installed by gem.

USAGE:

Usage: things2thl <mode of operation> [options]

Modes of operation (required):

-L, --projects-as-lists          Convert projects in Things to lists in THL
-T, --projects-as-tasks          Convert projects in Things to tasks in THL
-B, --projects-areas-as-tasks    Convert both projects and areas in Things
                                   to lists in THL. This implies that
                                   projects are not nested inside areas.
-I, --inbox                      Transfer only Inbox tasks.

Options:

    --[no-]areas                 Transfer areas from Things (default: yes)
    --areas-as-tags              Transfer areas as tags in THL.
    --areas-as-contexts          Transfer areas as contexts in THL.
    --[no-]time-tags             Consider tags of the form Xmin/Xsec/Xhr as
                                   time estimates, set them in THL
                                   accordingly (default: no).
    --[no-]context-tags [REGEX]  Regular expression to identify tags that
                                   should be interpreted as contexts.
                                   (default: ^@).
                                   Use with no- to disable this feature.
    --sync                       Only transfer new items (default: no)
    --top-level-folder FOLDER    Do the import inside the named folders,
                                   instead of the top level
                                   (Inbox, etc. will also be created there
                                   instead of their corresponding places)
    --projects-top-level FOLDER  The named folder will be created to
                                   contain all projects when
                                   --projects-as-lists is used (otherwise
                                   they will be in the top folders group).
                                   If --projects-as-tasks is used, a
                                   'Projects' list is always created, but
                                   this option can be used to specify
                                   its name.
    --areas-top-level FOLDER     The named folder will be created to
                                   contain all areas.
-c, --completed                  Transfer also completed/canceled tasks
                                   and projects (default: no)
    --[no-]archive-completed     If transferring completed/canceled tasks,
                                   also mark them as archived (default: yes)
-q, --quiet                      Do not print items as they are processed.
                                 Twice: do not print stats at the end.
-h, --help                       Shows this help message
-v, --version                    Shows version

Options you should seldom need:

--things THINGSAPP           Location of the Things application
                               (default: /Applications/Things.app)
--thl THLAPP                 Location of the The Hit List application
                               (default: /Applications/The Hit List.app)

Functionality still missing:

Handling delegation (“People” feature in Things)

Not sure how to transfer this to THL. Ideas are welcome.

Known issues:

Cancellation/completion dates are not transferred, because THL handles those attributes as read-only. So if you choose to transfer completed/canceled tasks, they will all appear in your “completed today” view.
One-time tasks in the Things “Scheduled” focus are transferred, but repeating tasks are not. The Things Applescript interface does not provide access to repeating tasks.
The format of time estimate tags is fixed for the moment. May add customization if I get any requests for it.