Freehand sketch in omnifocus ipad

[wiisikke]

Is it possible to make a freehand sketch in omnifocus for ipad ? I try to find out if i can use omnifocus as notepad with clients, and as an technician i have to draw a lot off simple sketches as help for explaining, what i later use for completing a task.
Or do i have to use an other app for that ? I like to use it in omnifocus because in that case i have everything i need for the task at one place (Omnifocus).

[hypotyposis]

Is it possible to make a freehand sketch in omnifocus for ipad ? I try to find out if i can use omnifocus as notepad with clients, and as an technician i have to draw a lot off simple sketches as help for explaining, what i later use for completing a task.
Or do i have to use an other app for that ? I like to use it in omnifocus because in that case i have everything i need for the task at one place (Omnifocus).

I think that'll be another one of those things iOS 4 with fast-app switching will make much easier... As of now, there's no freehand sketching in OF iPad.

[Arrow]

I can't find a way to do this just using the iPad.

I've tried Penultimate and Notetaker HD. You can't copy and paste the image into OF. I tried emailing as a PDF. Can't copy from the body of the email either before or after emailing. I emailed to Evernote Pro and can't copy PDF to OF. I imported into GoodReader and tried to copy and paste from there, but that didn't work.

I'm sure you could use either Penultimate or Notetaker HD and email to yourself, then open and save on your Mac, then copy into OF in the desktop vesion. But that seems like a lot of work.

I just save output from those programs to Evernote and have them as reference for any task where they would be needed.

[whpalmer4]

Draw your sketch in whatever tool you like. Take a screen shot of the completed sketch by holding button at top of iPad and pressing the springboard button. In OmniFocus, open your action in the editor, tap on the attachment panel, and use the photo chooser to attach the sketch from the Saved Photos roll in the picture library.

[mcogilvie]

Draw your sketch in whatever tool you like. Take a screen shot of the completed sketch by holding button at top of iPad and pressing the springboard button. In OmniFocus, open your action in the editor, tap on the attachment panel, and use the photo chooser to attach the sketch from the Saved Photos roll in the picture library.

That works, but it is a lot of steps, and a lot of clean-up. I find that the Omni group, for all its virtues, does not particularly play well with others. The mail feature in OF iPad also comes to mind. It's designed for emailing tasks to other OF users, and there's no option for plain text, and you can't mail a project.

[whpalmer4]

That works, but it is a lot of steps, and a lot of clean-up.
I don't dispute that, but if you want to do this, that's what you have to do at the moment.

I find that the Omni group, for all its virtues, does not particularly play well with others. The mail feature in OF iPad also comes to mind. It's designed for emailing tasks to other OF users, and there's no option for plain text, and you can't mail a project.
Ken's already expressed an interest in implementing Document Interchange, which is the standard for exchanging documents between iPad apps. It's still going to be a bunch of taps, just like nearly everything else on the iPad.

As for mailing projects, how is that an example of Omni not playing well with others? I don't pay close attention to the competition's offerings — is there someone who has implemented a mail-a-project feature, and if so, which other products accept what they send?

[Chris.Joliat]

Is it possible to make a freehand sketch in omnifocus for ipad ? I try to find out if i can use omnifocus as notepad with clients, and as an technician i have to draw a lot off simple sketches as help for explaining, what i later use for completing a task.
Or do i have to use an other app for that ? I like to use it in omnifocus because in that case i have everything i need for the task at one place (Omnifocus).
There are a number of drawing apps that allow you to export/save directly to photos. I just tried Note Taker HD, TouchDraw, and Brushes. All three worked. It is then a simple matter to use OmniFocus's attachment button to access the drawing.

Cheers, Chris

[Jurek]

Thanks, very helpful advice! J

[PeterRHawkes]

How do you export / save a drawing from Note Taker HD to Photos?

[djjcarroll]

Is there a freehand tool on OmniGraffle? I tried the line tool but it does not permit me to 'freehand'.

DJJC

[whpalmer4]

Tap on the Pencil icon at upper right, then the curved line blob. Drag to draw freehand. See "Working in Draw Mode" in the help document.

[endoftheQ]

Hi wiisikke

Have a look at Underscore Notify (http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/underscore-notify/id380866331?mt=8). I use it to make freehand drawings, but also as a way to link PDF and MS Office docs, etc. to my actions when I'm away from my desktop.

It incorporates Send to OmniFocus which puts a live link in the notes field of an action, a quick tap and OF launches Notify and opens the relevant notebook. The long-suffering developer (my endless feature requests!) has agreed to modify this so that in the next release the App will return to the actual page in a notebook where StO was triggered, rather than just opening the associated notebook.

I'll probably continue to make use of Notify even when Document Interchange is added into OF, as a way of keeping my OF database down to a manageable size and avoiding lengthy sync times.

Hope this is helpful.