always losing things in OF!

[bigcloits]

I'm reasonably confident that I'm of at least average intelligence, but my adequate gray matter is not preventing me from constantly losing things in OF. I can't be the only one with this problem. Am I the only one with this problem?

Something is wrong with the UI for views and searching, because I am routinely smacking myself in the forehead after five-minute wild goose chases for some action that I was SURE I had entered into OF.

This morning, I just spent a full half hour rummaging through backups because I simply could not find a project that I thought had truly disappeared from the database. In fact, it was simply obscured by a byzantine combination of view settings.

I think it is absolutely necessary to have some way of searching not just the current view, but the whole database. There are many, many circumstances where I really want to find something in the database NO MATTER WHAT the current view is. Not only is this just important functionality, but it seems to be an important defense against OF's tendency to create the appearance of "lost" data.

[ips]

I second that.
Of course, everything is completly logical, but often it’s just a bit too complicated to find what you are looking for.

[steve]

Agreed. Adding this to the 1.5 wish list thread.

[Jacco]

Agreed, this stil prevents OmniFocus being a "trusted system".

[Ethan Schoonover]

We've got a lot of things planned to address this. That's all I can/will say right now... Your 1.0 investment will stand you in good stead going forward. :)

[steve]

Ethan, I love it when you hop on these boards!

[tunesmith]

I have an "Everything" Perspective in Project mode, grouped by Folder. It contains the most inclusive settings. I do all my searches from there. It'll find anything.

[ambi]

This happens to me on occasion as well. One thing I got into the habit of doing, is to lay down a Perspectives > All Items to see *everything* before I search.

[Ken Case]

Right now the search field only searches the visible rows, but we're planning to add a "Search All" option which will search everything whether or not it's currently visible. (We'll probably make "Search All" the new default setting, with "Search Visible" the alternative.)

[Toadling]

Oh, that sounds nice. I like the ability to "Search All" but I'd also like to keep the option of searching only what's visible (i.e. only the current sidebar selection).

This new approach would seem to satisfy both needs.

[Frosty Crunch]

I have found that "losing stuff" has been a great motivator and route to my actually learning how to use OF. It's forced me to learn the ins-and-outs of the view bar settings and the statuses.

[bigcloits]

I have found that "losing stuff" has been a great motivator and route to my actually learning how to use OF.

;-) I feel motivated enough by actually needing to, y'know, GTD!

Obviously struck on something others have been noticing. Can't remember the last time I've seen "I agree, I agree, I agree" in multiple replies in a forum thread about anything, anywhere! I appreciate all the replies — I don't feel so alone now.

And great to have reassurances from Omni that there's a light at the end of this tunnel. Thanks, Omni. It's great that you're keeping on eye on your forums.

[miller]

Hello there. I don't want my first post to be negative, but....
I have to agree that the fact that OF is so incredibly flexible has made my experience a somewhat frustrating one.

Eventually, I sat down and worked my way through all 50 pages of the manual, which has been very beneficial in getting things to make more sense.
I'm now at the point where I am going to sit down and do a (very) thorough review of everything that is in my system and ensure that all of the properties are correct, as well as making sure that my projects, contexts and perspectives make sense.

I'm sure that once my system is ticking over, everything will be great, but the amount of time it's taken me to get there is absolutely insane.

On a side note, I would say that I think the single reason that "Things" has been so warmly received in the OSX community is that it is far more intuitive. I think that if OF had a simple set of perspectives in the toolbar on first launch, people would better understand the features that are causing them so much pain. As it is, many people don't even know that perspectives exist, which is why it feels like actions and projects are disappearing - which is definitely not what you want from a 'trusted system'.

[BwanaZulia]

I don't think I have lost anything yet.

BZ

[bigcloits]

I don't think I have lost anything yet.

Well, good to know someone isn’t as befuddled as I am! What’s your secret ...? Do you do anything in particular with OF to prevent these “do’h” moments that so many other users are having? Or are you just a bit brighter? ;-)

Or perhaps you are calmer. I am inclined to “panic” when I can’t find data. I jump to conclusions. I assume the worst (not without some justification). If I would only just stay calm and realize that, in the case of OF, it’s just a matter of perspective (pun intended), I’m sure this wouldn’t happen. But, of course, lots of computer users respond to the appearance of lost data in this way ...

[Toadling]

Hmm, I don't think I've lost anything yet either, at least not recently, and I'm not particularly bright. :) In fact, I didn't have any trouble figuring out OmniFocus in general; I found it to be quite intuitive, despite some of the criticisms I've read from others. I guess people just think differently.

I think the key for not losing stuff just comes down to learning all the ways you can filter your data. Because OmniFocus has so much power in that area, it's easy to fool yourself if you haven't "been around the block" a few times.

I think that if OF had a simple set of perspectives in the toolbar on first launch, people would better understand the features that are causing them so much pain.

They're not in the toolbar, but there are four default perspectives under the Perspectives menu: Remaining Items, Due Items, Completed Items, and All Items.

[BwanaZulia]

Well, good to know someone isn’t as befuddled as I am! What’s your secret ...? Do you do anything in particular with OF to prevent these “do’h” moments that so many other users are having? Or are you just a bit brighter? ;-)

Or perhaps you are calmer. I am inclined to “panic” when I can’t find data. I jump to conclusions. I assume the worst (not without some justification). If I would only just stay calm and realize that, in the case of OF, it’s just a matter of perspective (pun intended), I’m sure this wouldn’t happen. But, of course, lots of computer users respond to the appearance of lost data in this way ...

I am a bit calm but not too bright.

Here is what I did/do.

- Set up perspectives for Waiting For, Daily To Do, Work Context, Needs Review each with a different window with a size/placement that makes sense.

- I take OmniFocus away from the doing. I only use it to CAPTURE not to do. You know what
you are supposed to do by looking at lists.

- I use the repeating a lot. If I build a great project with lots of tasks and I know I have to do it again, I set it to repeat.

- I made OF part of my Weekly Review, meaning I now "Review stalled projects @ OmniFocus" and "Review Projects on Hold @ OmniFocus" and "Empy OmniFocus inbox @ OmniFocus" and I put that all in a weekly repeating project at the ROOT of OF (start on Friday, Due on Sunday)

- I created folders for logical separation but not too many (Home/Finances/Health/Websites/Business/ and a few others) and make sure there are under 10 active projects in each.

- I use the ToodleDo script so I can enter tasks from FireFox at work (no Mac).

- I try not to set due dates unless it is ACTUALLY do on that day

- I put a lot of projects on hold since I know they will bounce back up in my weekly review and I trust that.

- I made my project review default 1 month

- I have gotten over the "this is a new fun tool to play with" feeling and have moved into "this is a tool to help me be proactive and organized"

- I start up OF every morning and check to see if there are things burning (Red) or simmering (Yellow) and since I don't set things to due dates unless the NEED to be, this is not crazed or a lot.

- I get enough Contexts so each context has no more than 10 things on it any time. This makes context list scanning and priority easier.

- I waste a lot of time here! :)

BZ

[Toadling]

@BZ: Wow, it's amazing how similar our approaches are. With only a few minor differences, I do basically the same thing.

[Robejazz]

I am a bit calm but not too bright.

Here is what I did/do.

- Set up perspectives for Waiting For, Daily To Do, Work Context, Needs Review each with a different window with a size/placement that makes sense.

- I take OmniFocus away from the doing. I only use it to CAPTURE not to do. You know what
you are supposed to do by looking at lists.

- I use the repeating a lot. If I build a great project with lots of tasks and I know I have to do it again, I set it to repeat.

- I made OF part of my Weekly Review, meaning I now "Review stalled projects @ OmniFocus" and "Review Projects on Hold @ OmniFocus" and "Empy OmniFocus inbox @ OmniFocus" and I put that all in a weekly repeating project at the ROOT of OF (start on Friday, Due on Sunday)

- I created folders for logical separation but not too many (Home/Finances/Health/Websites/Business/ and a few others) and make sure there are under 10 active projects in each.

- I use the ToodleDo script so I can enter tasks from FireFox at work (no Mac).

- I try not to set due dates unless it is ACTUALLY do on that day

- I put a lot of projects on hold since I know they will bounce back up in my weekly review and I trust that.

- I made my project review default 1 month

- I have gotten over the "this is a new fun tool to play with" feeling and have moved into "this is a tool to help me be proactive and organized"

- I start up OF every morning and check to see if there are things burning (Red) or simmering (Yellow) and since I don't set things to due dates unless the NEED to be, this is not crazed or a lot.

- I get enough Contexts so each context has no more than 10 things on it any time. This makes context list scanning and priority easier.

- I waste a lot of time here! :)

BZ

I like this - anyone else with Specific Examples?? I am still learning and love to see what others have as a set up.

I have a question: Is someday/maybe a context or a project???

[steve]

BZ- Your explanation was really interested. I didn't really understand this. . .


- I take OmniFocus away from the doing. I only use it to CAPTURE not to do. You know what
you are supposed to do by looking at lists.

-
BZ

Once you have captured everything, are you working out of contexts?

Steve

[Toadling]

I have a question: Is someday/maybe a context or a project???

I originally tried it as a Context, but I've since switched to assigning an item its real context (e.g. @home) instead of the @someday context. Then I just put the project on hold. If it's a single item, I put it in my "Future" Single-Action List, which is on hold.

Of course, you should use whichever method seems to work best for you.

[yucca]

Once you have captured everything, are you working out of contexts?

It depends. Generally speaking, yes. You pick your next action from a list of available tasks in a context view. Depending on how much material you have in OF and your context implementation, you may need custom perspectives to refine your context views to a manageable list of tasks to choose from. For some of us, this is where the Estimated Time field can be invaluable - if you create the perspectives to leverage it that is.

However, if you need to concentrate on finishing a project, you may want to select the project; and hit the Focus button so you are not distracted by anything else.

[vinyl_warrior]

I found that I would lose things a lot in OF until I setup some Perspectives that would show me what I want when I want it.

For example, I have a perspective setup to show me planning view. When I see planning view, I want to see everything that's not complete: remaining projects. This prevents things from getting lost whenever I look in planning view. I have my special planning view perspective in the toolbar so I click that instead of clicking on the planning view button.

To select what I want to work on, I have a perspective setup to show me context view with only available tasks and to show them grouped as projects. That way I'm looking at Projects, not tasks. Tasks are unimportant; projects are what's important. I use cmd+click to select all available contexts, then I select a project to work on. After I've decided on a project to work on, I double-click it to open it in a new window in planning view. This shows shows it with all available actions. This way when I complete a task, I can continue with the project until I don't have any more tasks that I can do right then. Being in this view also lets me confirm that I do have a next action setup to be worked on in a different context.

These trusted perspectives have really made OF happen for me. Without them, I would have given up on OF a long time ago.