Love the apps. Please add this little change

[xamevou]

Hi. Just bough OF for iPad. I have already the desktop and iPhone versions, so it is a lot of material to sync.

I would like a simple menu item to optimize the database in order to have just one .zip file in it. And even a reminder would be helpful, to do it after x zips.

Today, I have found that I have around 27 zip files in my database ! And the (desktop) process of compressing it (export to backup + restore) is too cryptical, in my opinion.

On another side, I would like an option to set "due soon means..." for 2 weeks or, at least, 10 days. One week is too short for my workflow, specially for some tasks. This would apply to all the versions of OF, of course,

Thanks for your attention

[ksrhee]

Hi. Just bough OF for iPad. I have already the desktop and iPhone versions, so it is a lot of material to sync.

I would like a simple menu item to optimize the database in order to have just one .zip file in it. And even a reminder would be helpful, to do it after x zips.

Today, I have found that I have around 27 zip files in my database ! And the (desktop) process of compressing it (export to backup + restore) is too cryptical, in my opinion.

On another side, I would like an option to set "due soon means..." for 2 weeks or, at least, 10 days. One week is too short for my workflow, specially for some tasks. This would apply to all the versions of OF, of course,

Thanks for your attention

Go to settings (by pressing the gear button), and there should be a entry called "Due Soon means." Click on that, and you will see the options.

Hope this helps.

[xamevou]

Go to settings (by pressing the gear button), and there should be a entry called "Due Soon means." Click on that, and you will see the options.

Hope this helps.

Yes, but "one week" is the maximum available to choose...
I would like OF to increas that max to two weeks or so.

[whpalmer4]

Ken, the OP's issue is not that they can't set the value, but that they can't set it to the value they desire, as the current upper bound is 1 week.

Xameyou, use the Contact Omni option in the gear menu to file an official request for this. However, I suggest trying out the forecast view and a shorter value for due soon. I use either 1 or 2 days for due soon, and the forecast view to look further out, giving me a good feel for what I need to do today, this week, and with somewhat less accuracy, the upcoming months. I say less accuracy because I have a lot of projects or actions which repeat, and they do not show up in future views until the current instance is complete. Also, I regularly move projects on and off hold, which can rapidly change the future landscape.

[ksrhee]

Yes, but "one week" is the maximum available to choose...
I would like OF to increas that max to two weeks or so.

I see. I suggest you file the report, but I wonder if you set it to 2 weeks, you are going to be able to use the function effectively since Due soon, really means something that's due "soon."

Ken

[xamevou]

I see. I suggest you file the report, but I wonder if you set it to 2 weeks, you are going to be able to use the function effectively since Due soon, really means something that's due "soon."

Ken

ok, I will file it.


In fact, this is a request more related to OF in general, not only to the iPad version. Actually, this is probably less needed in the iPad thanks to the forecast view, as whpalmer4 pointed out.


Please, what about the other issue, on making easier to compress the database?

Thanks!

[whpalmer4]

It really shouldn't be necessary. I've got 149 zip files at the moment, and 4600 actions in 629 projects. It still starts quickly. If you make sure that all your clients sync regularly, the compaction will happen automatically. If they aren't syncing, a command to compact anyway will potentially lose changes. Sync all your devices, wait 60 minutes, sync again, and you should get a compaction.

[xamevou]

It really shouldn't be necessary. I've got 149 zip files at the moment, and 4600 actions in 629 projects. It still starts quickly. If you make sure that all your clients sync regularly, the compaction will happen automatically. If they aren't syncing, a command to compact anyway will potentially lose changes. Sync all your devices, wait 60 minutes, sync again, and you should get a compaction.

Wow. Do you sync via MobileMe? I do but sometimes is very slow, specially here in Europe (I've heard that in the US the MobileMe infrastructure works better than here)

[whpalmer4]

In the past I used MobileMe, lately I've been using Omni's sync server (http://sync.omnigroup.com). They all take a while when my entire database (at times as much as 10 MB, compacted!) needs to be written back to the server, but that is largely due to my upload speed. The Omni one might be a bit faster, but doing an accurate comparison was more trouble than it was worth for me, and it seemed unlikely my results would necessarily apply to someone else using a different connection/ISP, a different MobileMe server, etc.

Try the Omni one out and see if it is better for you. There are also various other free options, check the OmniFocus sync forum for a thread discussing them.

Most of a sync happens in the background, and recent OF versions make the quick entry button available very early in launch, so I don't find sync getting in my way very often.

[xamevou]

Thanks, I will try other options for sync, one of these days.

By the way, the number of clients could have a negative influence on sync performance?

I have four OF clients: an iMac at home, another iMac at the office, the iPhone and, now, the iPad. All of them sync once every day, or more.

[whpalmer4]

As long as they all do get synced, it should work fine with 4. You just want to avoid having a client that goes more than a few days without being synced, because the others can't compact their databases until the straggler catches up.

[curt.clifton]

As long as they all do get synced, it should work fine with 4. You just want to avoid having a client that goes more than a few days without being synced, because the others can't compact their databases until the straggler catches up.

It can be useful to check the list of clients in the desktop app's sync preferences to see if you have an old client still lingering. OF will detect and report that a client hasn't been sync'ed lately, but it seems to wait several days before doing so. Several days without an automatic compaction can result in a lot of zip files. If you switched from using the iPhone app on your iPad to using the native version, then the old iPhone app is probably still registered as a client.

[xamevou]

It can be useful to check the list of clients in the desktop app's sync preferences to see if you have an old client still lingering. OF will detect and report that a client hasn't been sync'ed lately, but it seems to wait several days before doing so. Several days without an automatic compaction can result in a lot of zip files. If you switched from using the iPhone app on your iPad to using the native version, then the old iPhone app is probably still registered as a client.

Yes, true. I used OF for iPhone in the iPad for several weeks. After buying the iPad app, I went to the desktop app and realized that there were two iPad clients. I removed the old one, of course.

[xamevou]

Just a little thought...

I've been typing some notes in Evernote, just a few hours ago... Suddenly, I realized "damn, I have been using Evernote for years (desktop an iPhone) and, amazingly, I have never had a single issue with syncing"...

Why? I don't know but there is a detail: I have never configured how to sync or not in Evernote. The Evernote servers take care of that... Totally transparent. I think that is the way to go for OF, via sync.omnigroup.com, so I decided to ask for a beta and try it asap! (or as soon as the invitation arrives :-)

P.S. As far as I understand it, Evernote syncs on a record-by-record (note-by-note) basis, but OF does it on a file basis (the whole file at every sync). It that's true, it has surely a lot of implications for sync performance and reliability...

[curt.clifton]

P.S. As far as I understand it, Evernote syncs on a record-by-record (note-by-note) basis, but OF does it on a file basis (the whole file at every sync). It that's true, it has surely a lot of implications for sync performance and reliability...

Your understanding of OF sync is wrong, OF syncs every edit that you make as a separate transaction. It's extraordinarily fast and robust to changes on multiple devices.

The difficulties that people have with sync in OF stem from configuring access to various servers, not the sync mechanism or granularity. This problem doesn't happen in Evernote, because you have to use their servers; there aren't any other options. Using the Omni sync server removes the server access difficulties, because Omni controls the whole system. So, that's probably the easiest approach.

[xamevou]

Your understanding of OF sync is wrong, OF syncs every edit that you make as a separate transaction. It's extraordinarily fast and robust to changes on multiple devices.

The difficulties that people have with sync in OF stem from configuring access to various servers, not the sync mechanism or granularity. This problem doesn't happen in Evernote, because you have to use their servers; there aren't any other options. Using the Omni sync server removes the server access difficulties, because Omni controls the whole system. So, that's probably the easiest approach.

So the move to Omni Sync is very smart. Actually I've just started using the Omni server and everything seems ok. I guess all the problems I've found before were related to MobileMe (everybody knows how unreliable is MobileMe syncing, specially when compared to DropBox or any other alternative).

And Omni sync opens the path to new possibilities like browser access to the database from any computer (something I really missed when I was on a trip). I don't know which plans they have with regard to this.

[whpalmer4]

So the move to Omni Sync is very smart. Actually I've just started using the Omni server and everything seems ok. I guess all the problems I've found before were related to MobileMe (everybody knows how unreliable is MobileMe syncing, specially when compared to DropBox or any other alternative).

Careful, now. MobileMe sync of contacts, calendars, etc. is NOT related to using MobileMe as a webDAV server for OmniFocus sync. However, using MobileMe iDisk syncing to sync files from one computer to another can cause trouble for OmniFocus because the default location is in a spot that MobileMe iDisk syncing tries to sync, and because it does not understand how to safely sync OmniFocus databases (neither does DropBox), database corruption can occur (also with DropBox).

I've used MobileMe as the webDAV service for OmniFocus syncing for a couple of years. It has been essentially trouble-free. I've been using the Omni sync server since April to help test it out (I figure that there are plenty of people "testing" MobileMe, and my feedback to Omni will actually reach someone who cares and might be able to act on it). If I got an email from Omni tomorrow saying that they were going to start charging for the Omni sync server (without providing some other feature that I value sufficiently to merit the cost), I would switch back to MobileMe without a second thought. I've gotten comparable performance and reliability from the two.

[endoftheQ]

If I got an email from Omni tomorrow saying that they were going to start charging for the Omni sync server (without providing some other feature that I value sufficiently to merit the cost), I would switch back to MobileMe without a second thought.

I agree completely, whpalmer4, another first! :p

I've suggested in a different thread, that if Omni decide to go for a subscription-based server service, then added value features such as a web interface, the ability to push-share actions, projects, etc. would be necessary before I'd consider coughing up.

Although, in the past, I'd have been happy to ditch MobileMe without a backward glance, it is beginning to develop into something that justifies it's price. The ability to push a message with a manic warning sound (even if the recipient's iPhone is set to silent running) has saved my bacon on more than one occasion!

[xamevou]

Careful, now. MobileMe sync of contacts, calendars, etc. is NOT related to using MobileMe as a webDAV server for OmniFocus sync. However, using MobileMe iDisk syncing to sync files from one computer to another can cause trouble for OmniFocus because the default location is in a spot that MobileMe iDisk syncing tries to sync, and because it does not understand how to safely sync OmniFocus databases (neither does DropBox), database corruption can occur (also with DropBox).

...

Yes, they are different. Actually, in the last years, I had few problems with contacts and calendar MobileMe sync but a lot of problems with iDisk sync. I would never use iDisk sync for my important files (I use it for some pics, non-important pdfs and the like). Everytime I change the name of a folder or add a file bigger than 10 Mb, iDisk sync can't cope with it. That's why I still rely on a USB stick and Chronosync to keep my macs in sync.

For OF I changed the folder of my OF file and moved it to iDisk/Backup, instead of the problematic iDisk/Documents. The Backup folder is not iDisk-synched and OmniGroup recommended to use it, as gives more stability. Still, I was not happy... I've found that the notes attached to my projects and actions did not sync as expected...

Given those problems with iDisk and even DropBox, due to the nature of the OF files, it is clear for me that the best solution is a OG-owned sync server. I am happy with it, even when I only used it for two days... but I would never pay for that, unless they offer some amazing services on top of it.