Next Actions only to ical

[EricW]

Hi all

Being a GTD tragic I keep ending up with a massive list of things to do and resolve it by not looking any more...for a while.

Is there a way to just send next actions to iCal not all actions

Ta

Kind Regards
Eric

[wilsonng]

I think in Preferences, there is an iCal screen. From there, you can uncheck the box that says "Add blocked actions to calendar".

You can also uncheck the box that says "Add completed actions to calendar"

[EricW]

Hi Wilsonng

I wonder how it defines blocked.
I have one project 4 actions and all come across

Kind Regards
Eric

[Toadling]

Is the project parallel or sequential? If it's parallel, seems like that would send all of them.

I haven't had a chance to try this myself, so this is just a guess.

-Dennis

[wilsonng]

If you create a perspective that shows "Status Filter = Available", you should be able to see your Next Actions only. Do not use "Status Filter = Remaining."

Toadling is correct about a parallel project. All tasks that are in a parallel project will be considered available and will sync over to iCal.

If a project is sequential, the first task is "available" and will be considered your Next Action. So you would have to complete task number one before you get to see task number two. If task number one is not completed, task number two will be unavailable. When you sync to iCal, only available actions will transfer over if you uncheck the checkbox for "Add blocked actions to calendar."

You also have to remember to map out your contexts to iCal calendars.

A task is also unavailable if the Start Date or due date is still in the future. So if I have a task/project set to start next month, it is not available today and will not transfer to iCal.

The free Advanced OmniFocus screencast has a chapter dedicated to iCal sync and is worth a look.

http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=10787



I tinkered with transferring tasks to iCal but I decided to reverse myself. I'm using basic GTD principles of putting only tasks with "real" deadlines on the calendar. Everything else goes into OmniFocus.

I will put tasks in the calendar only if it has to be done by a certain date. Many of my tasks have a start date but no due date. Those tasks with real deadlines stay on my calendar. These are errands such as "pay school tuition on the 1st of each month" or "prepare rent check for the landlord on the 5th of each month."


When I did the OmniFocus to iCal sync, all available actions were transferred over. This included OmniFocus tasks that didn't have a due date but were available. It is also transferred tasks that were past due.

I'd tread carefully here. Is there a reason you need to transfer OmniFocus tasks to iCal? My iCal task list just became long and kinda pointless. I didn't bother looking at it. I'd rather look at my task list in OmniFocus and look at my calendar only for appointments and hard-deadline tasks.

For me, I use OmniFocus on my iPod Touch for tasks and then then the built-in calendar app showed events. Unfortunately, my tasks in iCal didn't transfer over to the iPod Touch. Hopefully iPhone OS 4.0 will correct that. Especially time-sensitive tasks such as April 15th = U.S. tax day!


Another way around that is to turn the task into an event in iCal. Then it will definitely appear in the iPod Touch/iPhone calendar.

BTW, I can't stand iCal. I've drank the Kool Aid and bought BusyCal - a much better calendar. Well worth every penny.....