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Having Sandy remember larger blocks of text
I want to be able to use Sandy to remember longer blocks of text that span multiple lines -- kind of like a small Stikkit. It's okay with me if certain rules apply (like: no blank lines permitted, no lines other than the first may begin with a keyword like "remember").
For instance, this list of steps for a technical task:
remember
How to boot up in single-user mode:
- restart
- command-S
- /sbin mount -uw /
- /sbin/SystemStarter
If I send that to Sandy, she does remember it, but she strings all the lines together -- and cuts off after a certain number of characters (which isn't quite enough for that example).
The original email is saved, so for instance if I "lookup single-user", a reference to the email (but not the contents of it) is provided in Sandy's reply, e.g., as #5, with a link -- but when I click the link to view the email, I can't edit it.
And I can't tag the email with "update #5 @tech" -- if I do, I get a blank reply from Sandy. (This is presumably a bug, perhaps due to the tech team overlooking the possibility that anyone might try to update an email referenced in a Sandy reply?)
Ideally, I could forward an email to Sandy with the subject line "remember @projectname" and she would remember it forever, in a way that made it accessible to me.
For instance, this list of steps for a technical task:
remember
How to boot up in single-user mode:
- restart
- command-S
- /sbin mount -uw /
- /sbin/SystemStarter
If I send that to Sandy, she does remember it, but she strings all the lines together -- and cuts off after a certain number of characters (which isn't quite enough for that example).
The original email is saved, so for instance if I "lookup single-user", a reference to the email (but not the contents of it) is provided in Sandy's reply, e.g., as #5, with a link -- but when I click the link to view the email, I can't edit it.
And I can't tag the email with "update #5 @tech" -- if I do, I get a blank reply from Sandy. (This is presumably a bug, perhaps due to the tech team overlooking the possibility that anyone might try to update an email referenced in a Sandy reply?)
Ideally, I could forward an email to Sandy with the subject line "remember @projectname" and she would remember it forever, in a way that made it accessible to me.
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The best point from the company
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Hi Non-Sequitur,
This is on its way today! David is prepping a deployment right as I type this and should be pushing it to our servers within a couple of hours.
The list stuff we've taught Sandy about works just about as you mention it above -- using *'s instead of -'s, like so:
Remember grocery list @groceries @weekly
* eggs
* butter
* milk
At any time if you want to update something, you can reply with:
update #1
* cheese
And she'll add it to the list.
And of course there's the same power move we have for tags where you can remove something from the list with:
update #1
-*eggs
We'll be writing up further details as Sandy works with you folks to test out this new feature.
—R
The company and 4 other people think
this is one of the best points
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Inappropriate?This is something I'd like, too. I wanted Sandy to remember driving directions in an email for me. Really, I'd just like her to remember an entire email, perhaps by putting "Remember" all by itself in the subject line. This would make it easy for me to dump info on her and have her look it up for me later. -
Inappropriate?me too. I'd like Sandy to provide me all the information I'll need to work on the todo. -
Inappropriate?Well, I did notice that Sandy remembers every email you send her, and can find them when you ask her to "lookup" something. I was confused when I first sent her the email to remember because she responded that she couldn't find anything in the email that I had asked her to do. If there was a note in that response that said she'd file the email in case I needed it later, that would have cleared up my confusion.
A few other things:
1. I can't search for an email from the search box on the iwantsandy site. I can only do a lookup through email, which can be inconvenient at times.
2. If only one email matches the lookup request, it would be great if sandy would send the whole email, rather than just a link to it. If multiple emails were found, they could all be attached. This way, when I ask Sandy to lookup something, she'd send me the whole email and I could then do something with it, like forward it to someone else.
3. I can't seem to browse the emails that Sandy has stored. This would be great since during my experimenting I sent several of the same emails. So now when I ask her to lookup something specific, I get a list of five matches which are all the same. I'd like to be able to browse the emails that Sandy is remembering so that I could clean them up.
Overall, Sandy's a pretty slick virtual gal. And she's always happy, even at 1:00 am.
1 person thinks
this is one of the best points
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Inappropriate?I didn't think about stored e-mails.
Sandy could be more efficient in retrieving this information.
The reminder mail should say that there is more information in a related e-mail with a link to that mail. -
Inappropriate?Sandy does remember the emails you send her (as "related" links) -- but you can't retrieve those emails by email, as far as I know. When she tells me that there is an email #4 that is related, she should send me some amount of matching context from the email (like 5 words before and after my search term), and I should be able to "g[et] #4" to have the full message forwarded back to me. (And if there is only one match, she should just send it back to me as my results lookup, as Jason requested above.)
Also, as Jason requested above, being able to forward Sandy a random email (or generate one to her) with "remember this @work" in the subject or message body, and having her reply "I'll keep this email for later, and I've tagged it with @work," would be fantastic. In other words, Sandy should treat "file this" as a requested action.
Of course, there are storage capacity implications for the service if you allow it to be used in this way ... on the other hand, you're already keeping all the emails anyway, so probably you've already thought about them. :-) -
Inappropriate?There's a related thread here: http://getsatisfaction.com/iwantsandy...
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Inappropriate?Seconding the idea, as something that would be useful to me. -
Inappropriate?I agree I use the notes on my Blackberry quite extensively to remember short technical procedures and tidbits of info. I would love to be able to send and email to Sandy with using the example below.
To: Sandy
From: Me
Subject: Remember @note @procedures
How to perform some task:
- Step 1 - Blah blah blah...
- Step 2 - Blah blah blah...
- Step 3 - Blah blah blah...
- Step 4 - Blah blah blah...
- Step 5 - Blah blah blah...
I’m Anxiously awaiting this capability
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Inappropriate?Hi Rich,
We're working on some of the details mentioned in this thread, but I at least wanted to pop in to let you know that you can look up more info on any of the items Sandy lists in her replies with: lookup #1 or lookup #4 (if you wanted to retrieve that email message itself).
So, for instance, if you wrote to Sandy with:
lookup today
And she returned, let's say:
#1 8-9am Meeting with Patrick Dempsey ...
...
#4 Re: Patrick
You can always send her email with:
lookup #4
And she'll return the full message to you.
And of course if you looked up that meeting with:
lookup #1
You'd get back more detail on that appointment, including the emailed context.
Hope this helps!
Rael -
Inappropriate?Hi Non-Sequitur,
This is on its way today! David is prepping a deployment right as I type this and should be pushing it to our servers within a couple of hours.
The list stuff we've taught Sandy about works just about as you mention it above -- using *'s instead of -'s, like so:
Remember grocery list @groceries @weekly
* eggs
* butter
* milk
At any time if you want to update something, you can reply with:
update #1
* cheese
And she'll add it to the list.
And of course there's the same power move we have for tags where you can remove something from the list with:
update #1
-*eggs
We'll be writing up further details as Sandy works with you folks to test out this new feature.
—R
The company and 4 other people think
this is one of the best points
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Inappropriate?I didn't realize that "update #1 -@tagname" works -- but it does, I just tested it. That's great, thanks!
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Inappropriate?Howdy,
I'm glad to see you so pleased, Pqs and Rich. I'm just in the process of writing up the help page for lists, which will be posted with the next update in the next day or so. (And Rich, I've also added a bit about -@tagname.)
Rael -
Inappropriate?Rael,
This is a great addition. Is there also a way to add a block or paragraph of text?
Bob
I’m Pleased
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Inappropriate?Hi Bob,
We're still working on just the right way to do this so that it is both intuitive and non-intrusive.
Rael
I’m pondering
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Inappropriate?This is awesome. Well done.
I noticed that this does not work when you click "new". You have to send Sandy an email. -
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Inappropriate?Hi Omar,
What doesn't work through "new"? I'm having a hard time discerning which message you're replying to.
Rael -
Inappropriate?Weird it's working now.
I was trying to enter:
remember stuff @test
* one
* two
from the "new" page, and earlier it didn't parse this as a list. Now it does.
I’m happy
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Inappropriate?So I have a an issue and some questions about lists and the exact formatting. I sent the following email.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: Me
To: Sandy
Subject: Remember Shopping List @list
Shopping List
* milk
* bread
* butter
* steak
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I checked the website and it was there just as I emailed it. Now the tricky part. I sent the following email.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: Me
To: Sandy
Subject: Lookup @list
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I expected this to return all things tagged with the @list, including the list above, however it did not. What I got instead is below.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: Sandy
To: Me
Subject: Re: Lookup @list
Aloha,
I looked up "@list" and found:
#1 Shopping List
- tagged with @list
- http://iwantsandy.com/452729
Related messages
-----------------------------------
#2 Remember Shopping List @list
- received on Tue, 12/11/2007 at 6:58pm
- tagged with @list
- http://iwantsandy.com/email/768390
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Now as you can see this is not very useful to have Sandy tell me that I created a list instead of the contents of that list. Just for kicks I then sent the following.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: Me
To: Sandy
Subject: Re: Lookup @list
Update #1 * jelly
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Now not only did Sandy not add "jelly" to my list she changed the title of my list from " Shopping List " to " * jelly ". I would really appreciate any assistance on a complete explanation of the lists and the proper syntax for looking up a list to get the list back in the reply as well as how to properly update the list with addition to & subtraction from them. Thanks in advance
I’m puzzled
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Inappropriate?Hi Non-Sequitur,
Thanks for writing in in such detail -- it really did help me understand what you expected and observed.
What Sandy did was go ahead and remember the email message itself because of your "Remember Shopping List @list" in the subject line.
All you needed to do was to put that remember in front of the list you wanted to remember itself, like so:
Remember Shopping List
* milk
* bread
* butter
* steak
Sandy would have remembered that list without any trouble at all. And when you'd looked it up later with:
look up lists
or
lookup shopping list
She'd have returned something like:
#1 Shopping List
* milk
* bread
* butter
* steak
At which point you could have replied with:
update * jelly
And she'd have replied with:
#1 Shopping List
* milk
* bread
* butter
* steak
* jelly
I hope that helps! If there's still any confusion, please do let me know -- we want to make sure that we help Sandy understand just what you're getting at and remember just what it is you're needing her to.
—Rael
P.s. We wrote some detailed help on lists which you'll find at: http://iwantsandy.com/help/lists -
Inappropriate?Rael,
I gave it another shot using the subtle differences that you and the help suggested and still am getting the same results. Is any one else out there having problems with the lists?
I sent this to Sandy:
Test Steps
* Do this
* Do that
* Then this
* Then that
I check the website and it was there. Then looked it up and still got nothing but the fact that a list existed. No content of the list.
I tried "Update #1 * Now this"
She replied with: "Updated * Now"
Not only did she not add it to the list she also for got the second word.
I tried "Update #1 -* Do this".
She replied with "Updated -* Do"
Needless to say she forgot the second word again and then also did not remove "Do this" from my list.
Uh...maybe there is something very subtle I am missing here but I don't think so. Ideas or suggestions?
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?Nope, I'm still having trouble. Here's what's happened early this morning:
From: Lista
Date: Dec 13, 2007 2:46 AM
To: Sandy
l MS$
--------------------
From: Sandy
Date: Dec 13, 2007 2:46 AM
To: Lista
Howdy, Lista!
I looked "MS$" up for you and here's what I found:
#1 Wed, 12/12/2007 MS$
- email reminder at 2:15pm
* Figure out what card the monthly TY charge is credited to
* Can I get a Levenger thingy this weekend on sale? Maybe the mag rack?
* Do I want to buy AA miles before 12-31? I get a first-time 10% bonus and also they pick up the $30 fee if I buy more than $25K miles...but that's $650 for 26K! HOWEVER, I already have 33,419 and only need a couple thousand more for CUN...
* Balance Citibank and debit statements using hard copies and Xpenser version of receipts (and for Citi, also Sbook entry from PC)
* Integrate costs: dry cleaning
* Send donation to Friends of the Forest
* Enter billed invoices
* Enter new bills, some of which (Vzon, water) may have been paid already...what about Qwest, Amex?
* Backup the MS$ file using ZIP or FTP when done!
- tagged with @running, @todo
- http://iwantsandy.com/437767
I also found these email messages matching your lookup:
[she gives a complete-looking list of another 20 items]
Onward to organization,
Sandy
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From: Lista
Date: Dec 13, 2007 2:47 AM
To: Sandy"
u 1
-*Integrate costs: dry cleaning
-*Enter billed invoices
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From: Sandy [iwantsandy.com] < gosan@pcc.iwantsandy.com>
Date: Dec 13, 2007 2:47 AM
To: who mister <bmr@mailzone.com>
Hola, Lista!
Yours truly,
Sandy
Yep, that's all she wrote. When I tried the same update request once more, I got back still another blank reply.
The one pattern I've noticed but haven't seen mentioned here before is that when i ask Sandy to delete an entry or two from a list and then also to add an entry or two, if she is able to get part of my request, it's always the bit I asked her to add...although she may not add everything I've asked her to, either. Although perhaps that is only an artifact of my tendency to place the delete requests first and the add requests next when I email her.
Thanks for your time!
Lista
I’m looking forward to having this solved. Having to go to the Website to edit complex lists is too cumbersome!
EMPLOYEE
