Can I get contexts to show up in Spotlight?

[Humbro]

The title says it all I guess…

I'm not able to find my OF contexts in spotlight now, and I sorely miss that.

[sooinlee1]

When I typed a context, the spotlight came back with its related projects in under the document list. I am a newbie so I may be wrong. I am using OF 1.8 preview on Snow Leopard.

SL

[Humbro]

You are quite right (if I understand you correctly): spotlight finds projects and single-action lists, but not contexts. And I think that is a pity.

[sooinlee1]

I think I know what you mean now. You cannot find its context by typing in a project in the spotlight.

[Humbro]

I guess we've established that the answer to my question is No then...

Does anyone know if this is a design decision by the Omnis – or is it just hard to do for some reason?

[whpalmer4]

If I have a project called "Paint house" containing an action called "Buy paint" with context "Hardware store", typing the project or action name into Spotlight will get me a list of matching project and action names, and clicking one will take me to the project or action in OmniFocus, if all goes well. What is it that you want typing the context name to show, a list of everything in that context, or just the matching context names? What happens if you have both a project or action AND a context with the same name?

[Humbro]

Thanks for your reply, whpalmer.

I would like spotlight to show the matching context name(s), so that I could bring up the context list in OF by clicking it in spotlight. I guess what I'm looking for is a way to effectively access a context list without using the mouse. I use spotlight for this with projects all the time, so it seemed natural that it should work for contexts too. You don't think so?

In the unlikely situation that I have a project, an action and a context all with the same name, I think spotlight should show all three. I see what you're getting at, but I don't really think that would be problematic.

[whpalmer4]

I would like spotlight to show the matching context name(s), so that I could bring up the context list in OF by clicking it in spotlight. I guess what I'm looking for is a way to effectively access a context list without using the mouse.

You said "clicking it in spotlight" -- how are you doing that without using the mouse?

And to clarify, by "context list" you don't actually mean a list of contexts, but a list of actions in a specific context, right?

I use spotlight for this with projects all the time, so it seemed natural that it should work for contexts too. You don't think so?

Not saying anything of the sort.

In the unlikely situation that I have a project, an action and a context all with the same name, I think spotlight should show all three. I see what you're getting at, but I don't really think that would be problematic.
As a developer myself, I tend to look critically at suggestions which I find to be loosely specified (meaning important details are left out, or the language permits multiple, incompatible interpretations). This isn't always warmly received by the one making the suggestion :-) Not doing so, however, is usually a good way to end up with something that doesn't work reliably or predictably, or doesn't work the way the suggester expected. As it is, I don't get the feeling from the exchange so far that if I could point some programmer at this thread and say "go implement Humbro's suggestion" that what would result would necessarily be what you want, or even if it did turn out to be what you want, whether that is the best solution available.

[Humbro]

I see your point. I usually try to put more effort into writing a post, but that often means it doesn't get written, so I lowered the bar a bit for this one. Apparently I got a bit too sloppy. Sorry 'bout that ;)

You said "clicking it in spotlight" -- how are you doing that without using the mouse?

I guess I should have written "selecting it in spotlight", I use the arrow keys and return.

And to clarify, by "context list" you don't actually mean a list of contexts, but a list of actions in a specific context, right?

Yes.

So (to clarify further) what I want is the ability to bring up a the list of actions for a specific context by using a simple keyboard shortcut and typing in a few letters of the name.

Originally, I thought this should be implemented inside of OF. I am always impressed by how easily I can choose project and context in the quick entry window, and how cumbersome it can be to actually bring up the project or context in the GUI. (I say this partly because I generally find using the keyboard far more efficient than the mouse, but also because OF's interface tends to be a bit laggy.) I think a "go-to" keyboard shortcut (like the Finder's cmd-shift-G) inside OF could be very helpful.

Then I realized I could use Spotlight, but alas, not for contexts. Now I actually would prefer to use Spotlight (if I could access contexts and not only projects), although an OF-internal "go-to" keyboard shortcut (that perhaps could access other things like perspectives as well) could be useful in addition.

[Arild]

You can use the menu bar icon (must be ticked in preferences) and then type the first letters of your context, then return.

In general, I could perhaps recommend the program LaunchBar (http://www.obdev.at/products/launchbar/index.html) if you like short cuts. There is a free one too called Quicksilver, but I'm not sure if anyone is doing maintenance still.

[Humbro]

You can use the menu bar icon (must be ticked in preferences) and then type the first letters of your context, then return.

In general, I could perhaps recommend the program LaunchBar (http://www.obdev.at/products/launchbar/index.html) if you like short cuts. There is a free one too called Quicksilver, but I'm not sure if anyone is doing maintenance still.

Thanks, Arild!

I wasn't aware of the menu bar icon option. It's not ideal, but far better than nothing ;)

Re LaunchBar, I have been looking into different options for this kind of software since I gave up on QuickSilver some time ago. I was thinking Keyboard Maestro (http://www.keyboardmaestro.com/main/) looked like the best one (partly because it integrates with KeyCue (http://www.ergonis.com/products/keycue/)), but I don't think LaunchBar was one of the others I considered. Any thoughts on pros and cons of LaunchBar v Keyboard Maestro?