To Do and Note Taking - A great combination

[therickaustin]

Omnifocus appears to be a great application with the potential to become greater. I attend a lot of meetings and so do my colleagues across industries. The two things they do regularly is Take Notes and Create Action Items / To Dos. Wouldn't it be great to do them from the same place?

Imagine if you will, an application that allows you to take notes. While doing so, you think of something that you need to make sure gets done so you insert a check box right into the body of your note and type the name of the action item or to do. The item remains in your notes but also contains a link to the "to do" list for quick access. The new "to do" item is now in your notes and in your inbox for quick attribute assignment. When you complete an item, it's checked in the notes and in the "to do" list. If note taking could be as cool as WritePad, even better (includes handwriting recognition).

Anyway, I've thought about this a lot and have quite a following that would agree with the concept. If you have further questions on the concept, please let me know. Maybe you'll consider it for an upcoming release. I hope so.

[rhwolf]

Absolutely right!

The sooner this is done, the more likely the Omni Group is to make lots of money. This is the killer app for most execs who use the iPad at work. And if the love the iPad, you can be sure their teams will love the iPad, and the killer app on the iPad! As a CIO who has introduced ipads to the organization... Help! This combination will alter the usefulness of the iPad, and will sell lots of copies of the app that brings this capability to market first.

[digiboy]

I was taking notes in a meeting today and adding action items in my notebook to type into Omni Focus later. This idea would save time (and lives too.)

[atreinke]

This is definitely an idea that - if implemented - I would use constantly. I go to a lot of meetings, and take a lot of notes (using my iPad). Then I go back to my office at the end of the day, or at home that evening, and review the notes to transfer any actions that need to be put into OF. Having this automated would be great! And I may be wrong here, but my guess is that there are a lot of OF users out there that use the same basic process that I do, I know I'm not the only one that seems to spend a large chunk of time in meetings...

[CatOne]

Sounds a lot like what Circus Ponies Notebook does at the moment ;-)

[blysik]

All they have to do is merge OmniOutliner and OmniFocus. Or somehow let them interoperate together very nicely.

[marcussommer@mac.com]

All they have to do is merge OmniOutliner and OmniFocus. Or somehow let them interoperate together very nicely.

Or go for a common file format >> OF, OO ( and maybe other software like OG) would be powerful front ends to display and work with this data.

[SuperMog2002]

I use Evernote extensively for note taking. Frequently, I'll be in meetings where I want to take freeform notes that don't really belong in an OmniFocus action items list, so I'll have both Evernote and OmniFocus up on my MBP. This isn't really an option on the iPad, so I'd love to see an integration between the two so that I can have one of those apps up and enter data that appears in the other.

[marcussommer@mac.com]

Have u tried Notebooks App?
full tex search, syncing, tasklist integration.
Very reliable on iPhone, now even better on iPad.

[atreinke]

Have u tried Notebooks App?
full tex search, syncing, tasklist integration.
Very reliable on iPhone, now even better on iPad.

I tried it out about a week ago and love it. In fact, I took all of my notes that I had on my iPad and iPhone in Evernote and moved them over to Notebooks.

[jklymak]

I use Evernote extensively for note taking. Frequently, I'll be in meetings where I want to take freeform notes that don't really belong in an OmniFocus action items list, so I'll have both Evernote and OmniFocus up on my MBP. This isn't really an option on the iPad, so I'd love to see an integration between the two so that I can have one of those apps up and enter data that appears in the other.

I'd like this as well, or even be happy with the concept of Project Notes for projects. To me, projects don't just have tasks and todos, they have notes, and being able to have both in one app would be great.

[edusch]

Hi therickaustin,

maybe you want to have a look at my workflow.
For taking notes and snippets form Safari I exclusively use Alfons Schmid's "Notebooks" on both, iPhone and iPad. This is a mighty little App that offers nested folders (very cool), full text searches, syncing (via MobileMe, webDev servers, SyncDocs) task management, smartbooks and much more. And "Notebooks" allows sending notes a/o tasks to Omnifocus! (This feature has to be be enabled in the App Settings and sends selected notes to the Inbox of Omnifocus. The first line of a note becomes the title of the Onmifocus entry, the rest of the note becomes the attachment/content). So, whenever I think, that a note should also appear in OmniFocus I use this action. This works perfectly for me.
I am happy to see, that I am not the only "Notebooks" user in this forum ;-)

[mandolin]

Notebooks has a "Send to OmniFocus" option in the send to dialog. Really useful.

Someone beat me to it!

[henry]

Note and actions are different things serving different purposes. Actions are ephemeral, once you have completed it you no longer need it whereas notes are reference material, they last for the lifetime of a project or even longer.
If your notes don't need this permanence then there is the existing notes fields for actions and projects.
Adding note taking will add complexity and bloat to OF. While it's not as outlandish as the mail client suggestion, it's still not a core function of task management.
A better feature would be integration with Omni's other apps so data can be shared between them.

[hypotyposis]

Note and actions are different things serving different purposes. Actions are ephemeral, once you have completed it you no longer need it whereas notes are reference material, they last for the lifetime of a project or even longer.
If your notes don't need this permanence then there is the existing notes fields for actions and projects.
Adding note taking will add complexity and bloat to OF. While it's not as outlandish as the mail client suggestion, it's still not a core function of task management.
A better feature would be integration with Omni's other apps so data can be shared between them.

I agree that the better solution would be integration with Omni's other apps (OG, OO), but while "not a core function of task management", IMO notes are a core function of GTD. Although it is otherwise completely unoperable, this is one of the few things Midnight Inbox got right.

[marcussommer@mac.com]

Note and actions are different things serving different purposes. Actions are ephemeral, once you have completed it you no longer need it whereas notes are reference material, they last for the lifetime of a project or even longer.
If your notes don't need this permanence then there is the existing notes fields for actions and projects.
Adding note taking will add complexity and bloat to OF. While it's not as outlandish as the mail client suggestion, it's still not a core function of task management.
A better feature would be integration with Omni's other apps so data can be shared between them.

For short-term note taking (as long as the project lasts) I crated an @info context that will allow that.

Otherwise: YES, give us a common "data base", I.e. File format interchangeable between for example OF, OG & OO.

[henry]

IMO notes are a core function of GTD. Although it is otherwise completely unoperable, this is one of the few things Midnight Inbox got right.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought notes were raw material for your Inbox which may be discarded, turned into actions or entered into your filing system. They're not 'entered into' your action lists.

[jklymak]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought notes were raw material for your Inbox which may be discarded, turned into actions or entered into your filing system. They're not 'entered into' your action lists.

If you are only worried about keeping track of your todos that is true. If you are trying to organize a project, its a little cumbersome to have to use different software to organize todos and your notes.

[hypotyposis]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought notes were raw material for your Inbox which may be discarded, turned into actions or entered into your filing system. They're not 'entered into' your action lists.

Hi Henry,

You're absolutely right—and this is where there is greater debate about project support material (as brought up by jklymak) on the one hand, and on the other hand about reference material in general (where do you file your electronic reference stuff? OF or outside?).
reQall's implementation with Evernote linked in is a good model, and I think the kind of thing you were envisaging when talking about integration of Omni's apps.
In my particular case, I'm interested in a workflow solution that would enable me to enter to-dos and notes in the same app, and then automatically send notes to a good electronic reference system as smoothly as possible (I know, I know, scriptable with OF).

[Stephenmclark]

Now with the release of OmniOutliner for iPad we can all lobby for the sort of integration discussed above.

Half my working day is spent in meetings and the ability to take notes and also flag actions which could then be sent to Omnifocus would be fantastic!

[imlad]

All they have to do is merge OmniOutliner and OmniFocus. Or somehow let them interoperate together very nicely.

Those are the components, exactly. The immediacy of doing a single tap that indicates a not I just took in OO is an OF task would be golden. This should be easier, as OO is not as free form as Evernote, so identifying a particular row in OO as a feed to OF should be easier.

With all the other features and strength of both applications, this tying together should be sufficiently compelling for people to shell money for both (you get so much more than just the ability to take notes and keep a task list, but it's this tying in of the two that will be compelling enough to "make the move.").

So yes, Omni Group - here is a chance for a killer app (mini suite).

[JohnJ80]

I've *sort of* got this done.

I take my notes on my iPad using OOipad. I have three columns in OOipad - item, due and who. If there is an action item, it will have a "who" and maybe a "due".

Then I save this to my iDisk.

When I get back to the office, I open the outline with OOmac. I select only the OO cells that have action items (apple-click). I then have an applescript that will convert each action item (cell) in OOmac to an action in the quick entry box of OFmac. I add the context, project and any other information and save.

But, I agree, it would be superb to denote an action item in OOipad and have that linked to OFipad and then have it all sync to the mac so that it would be preserved there as well. That would be awesome.

J.

[GeoffAirey]

Adding note taking will add complexity and bloat to OF. While it's not as outlandish as the mail client suggestion, it's still not a core function of task management.
A better feature would be integration with Omni's other apps so data can be shared between them.

Couldn't agree more. I don't want to keep notes in OF, I prefer it to be restricted to GTD methodology for Tasks and Projects.

[JohnJ80]

Couldn't agree more. I don't want to keep notes in OF, I prefer it to be restricted to GTD methodology for Tasks and Projects.

Yes, but I would very much want my action items to be harvested from my notes and turned into actions in OF. Also of interest (although I understand the difficulties) would be to be able to see the status of the action when reviewing the notes. So greater integration between apps like OO and OF would be fantastic.


J.

[imlad]

I've *sort of* got this done.

I take my notes on my iPad using OOipad. I have three columns in OOipad - item, due and who. If there is an action item, it will have a "who" and maybe a "due".

Then I save this to my iDisk.

When I get back to the office, I open the outline with OOmac. I select only the OO cells that have action items (apple-click). I then have an applescript that will convert each action item (cell) in OOmac to an action in the quick entry box of OFmac. I add the context, project and any other information and save.

But, I agree, it would be superb to denote an action item in OOipad and have that linked to OFipad and then have it all sync to the mac so that it would be preserved there as well. That would be awesome.

J.

John, I would love to see your scripts - are they posted anywhere? What I thought of doing is something like what you describe (am getting into using AppleScript for personal purposes). My thought was to have a checkbox column that will indicate that a particular line is a task. Once in OF for the Mac, the script could be run and have a selection formula to run only against the rows that have the task checbox checked. Once the task is generated in OF, I would grab the URI and stick it in the OO row (either in a column of its own or maybe appending it to the Note section, so that I could refer from the OO row to the OF task).

Regards!

[HappyCatMachine]

ActionNotes pleasantly surprised me. You can turn any item into a todo or hilight any item...or both. It would be nice if it liked to OF.

[JohnJ80]

John, I would love to see your scripts - are they posted anywhere? What I thought of doing is something like what you describe (am getting into using AppleScript for personal purposes). My thought was to have a checkbox column that will indicate that a particular line is a task. Once in OF for the Mac, the script could be run and have a selection formula to run only against the rows that have the task checbox checked. Once the task is generated in OF, I would grab the URI and stick it in the OO row (either in a column of its own or maybe appending it to the Note section, so that I could refer from the OO row to the OF task).

Regards!

Here you go:


tell front document of application "OmniOutliner Professional"
-- set theDoc to front document
--set columnCount to count of columns of theDoc

set theList to the selected rows
set theCount to (count of selected rows)
if theCount < 1 then
display dialog "You need to select at least one row to use this script." buttons "Cancel" default button "Cancel"
end if

-- go through each selected row in OmniOutliner and then create a corresponding
-- action in the quick entry box of OF

set actionText to ""
repeat with i from 1 to theCount


set actionText to (get topic of item i of selected rows)

-- create a new action in Omnifocus QuickEntry window

tell application "OmniFocus"
-- create new action
tell quick entry
open
set NewTask to make new inbox task with properties {name:actionText}
end tell
end tell
end repeat
end tell



How this works:

Put this script in your scripts folder for OmniOutliner Pro. Open an outline and then highlight the rows that you want to become actions in OF. Invoke the script from the scripts menu in your finder bar. The quick entry window will pop up with a line for each action. Add the contexts and dates and save.

Note, you can select a discontinuous selection of rows in OO by using the command key in concert with clicking. Shift clicking gets continuous selections of rows.

At some point, I'm going to add a section where this looks for a column called "due" and puts that in as the due date. I might do the same thing for contexts at some point. Right now, this works pretty well and makes very short work of setting up the actions.

J.