Review: MailTags 1.0 ($20 suggested donation)

I recently tried out MailTags 1.0. The idea - a sound one - is that people often use their emails as a way to determine tasks they have to do. While definitely a step in the right direction, the software has a way to go before reaching its potential.

My number one complaint is that this is not integrated into iCal. MailTags are way too similar to iCal's to-do items to not scream out for integration. The two compare as follows:

iCal to-dos	MailTags
n/a	General Flag
n/a	Project
to-do title	n/a
completed	n/a
priority	Priority
due date	Due Date
calendar	n/a
url	n/a
Notes	Comment

Screaming. Just screaming. My basic idea would be that making a mail tag in Mail would automatically put it into iCal, with drag and drop support from iCal to Mail.

However the differences do need to be dealt with.

Obviously General Flag has no equivalent in iCal (but I think a flag next to a to-do item would be cool if General Flag were checked).

Organizing by projects is something that Apple hasn't even approached in their products. However, if a sister plug-in could be made for iCal, that would be awesome. If not, I'd just leave it out of iCal for now (but definitely keep it in MailTags).

Calendar and URL could be places in MailTags so you know what calendar to put it in.

Why is it that when I double click on the MailTags pane, the preview pane minimizes? If this is the intended behavior, I find it bizarre. If it's a bug, it should be fixed.

Finally, I'd like to make a note about the interface. I found the MailTags header to be a jarring and sloppy set off from the rest of the Mail interface. I would suggest losing the header altogether. If there must be a header, I would simply use the text "MailTags" in the same font and on the same background as the title of the whole Mail window. Then at the bottom a discreet "MailTags © 2005 Scott Morrison."