Hey Folks,
I’ve had some trouble with my Mail Salutation script since a recent system update, so I’m rewriting it.
This is far enough along for me to release into the wild, and hopefully someone else will find it as useful as I do.
I still cannot come up with a surefire means of addressing the front outgoing message using Mail’s dictionary, so I finally broke down and used System Events.
The result is probably faster than the old script provided System Events is running and more accurate due to the certainty of getting data from the correct message.
Of course I’m using the Satimage.osax for regex support. If you want to use something else please do, but you can write it yourself. 
I had to move the lookup-table out of the AppleScript code-block below to get it to format coherently. Please put the table back into the correct spot indicated in the AppleScript code.
The regex that reads the table should recognize any horizontal whitespace as long as there are 2 or more between the email address and the associated salutation.
The labeled sections in the lookup-table used to serve a purpose, but they now are simply for convenience.
Note that table-entries may have more than one email address associated with the same custom salutation.
I’ve been using variations of this script for nearly 20 years and find it indispensable. I don’t understand why developers don’t put more intelligence into their email clients, but then I cut my email teeth on Eudora.
–
Best Regards,
Chris
set lookupTable to "
COMPANIES
alldritt@latenightsw.com, support@latenightsw.com Hey Mark,
support@barebones.com Hey Guys,
EMAIL LISTS
¢ applescript-users@lists.apple.com Hey Folks,
¢ bbedit-talk@googlegroups.com Hey Folks,
¢ keyboard_maestro@yahoogroups.com Hey Folks,
INDIVIDUALS
listmeister@thestoneforge.com Hey Chris,
"
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# Auth: Christopher Stone
# dCre: 2010/11/12 16:18
# dMod: 2014/09/21 03:03
# Appl: Apple Mail
# Task: Paste custom salutation using a lookup-table, munging the recipient's name,
# : or munging an email-list's attribution string.
# Osax: Satimage.osax http://tinyurl.com/dc3soh
# Tags: @Applescript, @Mail, @Email, @Salutation
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# Notes:
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# The bullet character in the table defines the entry as an email-list.
# When the destination is an email-list the script looks for an attribution-string in the
# message body. If found it will use it to form the saluation.
# The regex for the attribution string may require adjustments for your system date set-up.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
try
set lookupTable to <LOOKUP-TABLE> # Replace this line with the table above.
set salutationStr to missing value
tell application "System Events"
if quit delay ≠0 then set quit delay to 0
tell application process "Mail"
tell front window
if text field "To:" exists then
set msgRecipientList to value of text fields of text field "To:"
if msgRecipientList = {} then
if text field "BCC:" exists then
set msgRecipientList to value of text fields of text field "BCC:"
end if
end if
# Unused ; Left as an example
# set msgSubject to value of text field "Subject:"
tell groups of UI element 1 of scroll area 1
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to linefeed
set msgBodyText to (get value of its static text) as text
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {""}
end tell
else
error "The front window is NOT an outgoing message!"
end if
end tell
end tell
end tell
if length of msgRecipientList = 1 then
set msgRecipient to item 1 of msgRecipientList
set msgRecipientEmail to fndUsing("<([^>]+@[^>]+)>", "\\1", msgRecipient, 0, 1) of me
set msgRecipientName to fndUsing("^([^<]+?) *<.+", "\\1", msgRecipient, 0, 1) of me
set lookUpStr to fnd("^.*" & msgRecipientEmail & ".+", lookupTable, 0, 1) of me
if lookUpStr ≠false then
set salutationStr to fndUsing("[[:blank:]]{2,}(\\S.+)$", "\\1", lookUpStr, 0, 1) of me
if lookUpStr starts with "¢" then
set attributionString to fnd("On [a-z]{3} \\d{2}, \\d{4}.*wrote:.*", msgBodyText, false, true) of me
if attributionString ≠false then
set attributionString to cng("^.+, ", "", attributionString) of me
set _name to fnd("^\\w+", attributionString, 0, 1) of me
if _name ≠false then
set salutationStr to "Hey " & _name & ","
end if
end if
end if
else if lookUpStr = false then
if msgRecipientName ≠false then
set msgRecipientName to cng(" .+", "", msgRecipientName) of me
set salutationStr to "Hey " & msgRecipientName & ","
end if
end if
else if length of msgRecipientList > 1 then
# Stub for multiple to-recipients.
end if
# Paste salutationStr using System Events.
if salutationStr ≠missing value then
set salutationStr to quoted form of (salutationStr & linefeed & linefeed)
# Using `pbcopy` to prevent AppleScript from adding styled-text to clipboard.
do shell script "pbcopy <<< " & salutationStr
tell application "System Events"
tell application process "Mail"
set frontmost to true
click menu item "Paste" of menu 1 of menu bar item "Edit" of menu bar 1
end tell
end tell
end if
on error e number n
set e to e & return & return & "Num: " & n
if n ≠-128 then
try
tell current application to button returned of ¬
(display dialog e with title "ERROR!" buttons {"Copy Error Message", "Cancel", "OK"} ¬
default button "OK" giving up after 30)
if ddButton = "Copy" then set the clipboard to e
end try
end if
end try
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--» HANDLERS
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on cng(_find, _replace, _data)
change _find into _replace in _data with regexp without case sensitive
end cng
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on fnd(_find, _data, _all, strRslt)
try
find text _find in _data all occurrences _all string result strRslt with regexp without case sensitive
on error
return false
end try
end fnd
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on fndUsing(_find, _capture, _data, _all, strRslt)
try
set findResult to find text _find in _data using _capture all occurrences _all ¬
string result strRslt with regexp without case sensitive
on error
false
end try
end fndUsing
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