I recently got my first Mac and was facing the same situation concerning my mail-writing habbits (using Thunderbird with external editor and vi on Linux). So far, I could not find an appropriate answer. Thus I started to look into Applescript.
I would like to enter mail addresses or add attachments in Apple Mail's composer window, while editing the message body in vi. So, I start with a composer window (either for a new mail or with a reply to another email) and when finished with addresses, I close the composer window and save the message as draft.
With the following Applescript script I can then extract addresses, subject, and message body into a textfile and open it with vi:
tell application "Mail"
# Set global variables.
set msgfilename to "/Users/me/Documents/message"
set msgheaderdelimiter to linefeed & "#+#+#+#+#+#This line serves as delimiter for applescript.#+#+#+#+#+#" & linefeed
set msgdraft to first item of messages of drafts mailbox
# Open file to edit message.
try
set msgfile to open for access msgfilename with write permission
on error number -49
say "Error, file already open."
close access msgfilename
set msgfile to open for access msgfilename with write permission
end try
set eof msgfile to 0
# Extract information from the message and write it to the file
set msgrecipients to to recipients of msgdraft
write "To: " to msgfile as «class utf8»
repeat with rcp in msgrecipients
set addr to address of rcp
write addr to msgfile as «class utf8»
write "," to msgfile as «class utf8»
end repeat
write linefeed & "CC: " to msgfile starting at -1 as «class utf8»
set msgrecipients to cc recipients of msgdraft
repeat with rcp in msgrecipients
set addr to address of rcp
write addr to msgfile as «class utf8»
write "," to msgfile as «class utf8»
end repeat
write linefeed & "Subject: " to msgfile starting at -1 as «class utf8»
set msgsubject to subject of msgdraft
write msgsubject to msgfile starting at eof as «class utf8»
set msgcontent to content of msgdraft
write msgheaderdelimiter to msgfile as «class utf8»
write msgcontent to msgfile starting at eof as «class utf8»
close access msgfile
delete msgdraft
end tell
Start gvim with the prepared message file
do shell script "/usr/local/bin/gvim /Users/me/Documents/message"
After editing the message body, I save the textfile and close vi. With the following script, I can then open a new message composer window with the information from the textfile:
tell application "Mail"
# Set global variables.
set fillinToAddresses to false
set fillinCCAddresses to false
set defaultDelimiters to AppleScript's text item delimiters
set msgfilename to "/Users/me/Documents/message"
set msgheaderdelimiter to linefeed & "#+#+#+#+#+#This line serves as delimiter for applescript.#+#+#+#+#+#" & linefeed
# Open file to create outgoing message.
set msgfile to open for access msgfilename
set fields to read msgfile from 1 for 10000 using delimiter linefeed as «class utf8»
# Extract To addresses
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to " "
set bufferarray to every text item of item 1 of fields
if (count of bufferarray) = 2 then
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ","
set msgtoaddresses to every text item of item 2 of bufferarray
set fillinToAddresses to true
end if
# Extract CC addresses
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to " "
set bufferarray to every text item of item 2 of fields
if (count of bufferarray) = 2 then
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ","
set msgccaddresses to every text item of item 2 of bufferarray
set fillinCCAddresses to true
end if
# Extract subject
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "Subject: "
set bufferarray to every text item of item 3 of fields
set msgsubject to item 2 of bufferarray as «class utf8»
# Extract mail body
set buffer1 to read msgfile from 1 for 10000 as «class utf8»
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to msgheaderdelimiter
set buffer2 to every text item of buffer1
set msgbody to item 2 of buffer2
# Create outgoing message object
set newmsg to make new outgoing message
tell newmsg
if fillinToAddresses then
repeat with addr in msgtoaddresses
make new to recipient at end of to recipients with properties {address:addr}
end repeat
end if
if fillinCCAddresses then
repeat with addr in msgccaddresses
make new cc recipient at end of cc recipients with properties {address:addr}
end repeat
end if
set the subject to msgsubject
set the content to msgbody
end tell
# Close file
close access msgfile
end tell
Now, I would add attachments and send the mail.
There are obviously still some weaknesses: The BCC and reply-to fields are still missing, but can easily be added. A bit worse, attachments are lost, when switching from the message composer to vi and back. It would be desired, that the new message composer window is opened automatically as vi is closed, without a manual script start as above. So, I am not completely happy with it yet, but maybe it's a starting point where some more advanced users can add improvements.
.authinfoprofile if you’re dedicated to usingEmacs. – njboot May 19 '15 at 08:17