iCal integration

[SteveNenninger]

Any advice on resources for coordinating with iCal

[MacBerry]

I think you need to me a bit more specific. What do you want to do?

[Lizard]

Here's the relevant section of OmniFocus' documentation. If you've read that and still have questions, please ask.

Synchronizing with iCal
An excellent way to liberate your data from OmniFocus and communicate with lots of other applications and devices is to synchronize with iCal. Once your data is in iCal, you can share it in the iCalendar format understood by scads of calendar and to-do applications.
To synchronize OmniFocus with iCal:
Choose OmniFocus ▸ Preferences, then click the Sync icon.
Select the Unsynchronized group in the Calendar list; all of the contexts you're not synchronizing appear in the Contexts list.
Drag context names into the calendar name you'd like to synchronize them with. For instance, if you drag your "errands" context to your "Home" calendar, any actions assigned to your errands context will get corresponding to-do items in your Home calendar in iCal.
From the File menu choose Synchronize with iCal. For each context that you dragged into a calendar, its actions are synchronized to iCal.
Whenever you like, choose Synchronize with iCal to bring iCal and OmniFocus back in sync. New OmniFocus actions in synchronized contexts are copied to the associated calendars in iCal. New iCal to-dos in synchronized calendars are copied to the OmniFocus inbox. Changes to actions on either side are applied to the corresponding items on the other side.

In the Sync preferences, you can change just how the synchronization process works:
Add blocked actions to calendars — if this is selected, even actions that aren't available (because another action needs to be completed first, for instance) are copied to iCal.
Add completed actions to calendars — if this is selected, even actions that you have already marked complete are copied to iCal.
If actions are deleted from calendars, delete them from OmniFocus — If you want to delete actions in iCal and have them be deleted from OmniFocus too, select this checkbox. Otherwise, you can be sure that synchronizing will never delete any of your actions in OmniFocus.
Include each action's context in its calendar item title — This prepends your action titles with the assigned context name, like @Office: alphabetize paperweights.

[rllewis@mac.com]

is this for todo's only? Or will it work with appointments? If so, I can't get it to show appts from ical in OF.

[MacBerry]

Yes todo's only. You can drag appointments into OF (well, onto the dock icon), but the results may not be what you're looking for.

[sprocketjockey]

What about bringing items into just the inbox from a calendar that is not setup for syncing.

For instance; I have a calendar that relates to client x: Items from this calendar are synced in via another program. I'd like for these items to appear in my inbox so I can apply the proper context and project. Any ideas, workarounds? Is this possible already?

[MacBerry]

What about bringing items into just the inbox from a calendar that is not setup for syncing.

For instance; I have a calendar that relates to client x: Items from this calendar are synced in via another program. I'd like for these items to appear in my inbox so I can apply the proper context and project. Any ideas, workarounds? Is this possible already?

No, not possible. I've been discussing automatic collection of various things into the inbox elsewhere on this forum, and yours is a perfect example of the kind of thing I have in mind. I've come up against quite a bit of resistance though, probably because I've not explained well enough that it's not all or nothing - it would collect as much or as little as the user wanted.

Mark

[SteveNenninger]

Thanks. I read through it and am still confused how to use it and how I would use it. I know I use iCal. I know I want to use Omnifocus... but it is confusing.

This is the problem. You guys are Omni geniuses. I am an Omni idiot. Can't you have at least an mp.3 interview where someone like me asks you dumb questions? (better would be your own video, Don McAlister, etc)

Omnifocus is such a great concept that I have recommended it to others, but I need more walk through than what is offered below. Thanks - Steve

[SteveNenninger]

I think you need to me a bit more specific. What do you want to do?
Ok, let me try. I have a project. I want to inject its actions into a day and time. How do I do that?

[SteveNenninger]

Here's the relevant section of OmniFocus' documentation. If you've read that and still have questions, please ask.

Synchronizing with iCal
An excellent way to liberate your data from OmniFocus and communicate with lots of other applications and devices is to synchronize with iCal. Once your data is in iCal, you can share it in the iCalendar format understood by scads of calendar and to-do applications.
To synchronize OmniFocus with iCal:
Choose OmniFocus ▸ Preferences, then click the Sync icon.
Select the Unsynchronized group in the Calendar list; all of the contexts you're not synchronizing appear in the Contexts list.
Drag context names into the calendar name you'd like to synchronize them with. For instance, if you drag your "errands" context to your "Home" calendar, any actions assigned to your errands context will get corresponding to-do items in your Home calendar in iCal.
From the File menu choose Synchronize with iCal. For each context that you dragged into a calendar, its actions are synchronized to iCal.
Whenever you like, choose Synchronize with iCal to bring iCal and OmniFocus back in sync. New OmniFocus actions in synchronized contexts are copied to the associated calendars in iCal. New iCal to-dos in synchronized calendars are copied to the OmniFocus inbox. Changes to actions on either side are applied to the corresponding items on the other side.

In the Sync preferences, you can change just how the synchronization process works:
Add blocked actions to calendars — if this is selected, even actions that aren't available (because another action needs to be completed first, for instance) are copied to iCal.
Add completed actions to calendars — if this is selected, even actions that you have already marked complete are copied to iCal.
If actions are deleted from calendars, delete them from OmniFocus — If you want to delete actions in iCal and have them be deleted from OmniFocus too, select this checkbox. Otherwise, you can be sure that synchronizing will never delete any of your actions in OmniFocus.
Include each action's context in its calendar item title — This prepends your action titles with the assigned context name, like @Office: alphabetize paperweights.
I may have responded to the wrong person, sorry if this is a duplicate. So..let's say that I have a series of 5 action steps and want to put them in Thursday from 9-11 am. Or I want to do one step every day at 9:15 am. I don't see how the explaination helps me understand if I can do this or how I would do it. Fondly - Steve

[MacBerry]

If you want to add them to your calendar as actual events (like appointments), then sorry but it can't be done :( OmniFocus can only add actions to iCal as todo's I'm afraid.

It's a shame, because OmniPlan can do it, though one way only. In fact, OmniPlan allows you to choose whether its tasks get added as events or todo's, which is what I think OmniFocus should do.

Mark

[nutellacrepe]

Having my OmniFocus actions in the to-do area is not at all convenient or intuitive. I also would like to see the times in OmniFocus, not just the dates, when I specify a due time as well as a due date.

[golla]

Hi,

I just stepped up to OF 1.5 and am soooo happy about the OF syncing through MobileMe. I'm wondering if you folks have seen a problem with syncing with multiple instances of iCal. Let me explain how I've been using OF...

I have OF on my MacBook and my office iMac at school. I sync my MacBook OF with iCal and sync iCal (and other stuff) between my MacBook and iMac. Generally I use iCal to do stuff (my context calendars are checked "on" or "off" in iCal depending on where I am) and OF to organize stuff (add todos, set dates and contexts, revise, etc.).

So far I have only OF-iCal sync'd on my MacBook. If I also sync with OF with iCal on my office iMac do you think I'll run into problems?

Andrew

[whpalmer4]

Are you syncing iCal between machines with MobileMe? I think you would only want to do the OF-iCal sync on one machine if so, and let MobileMe sync get the information between different iCal instances. Injecting the same information into the system in multiple places is asking for trouble given how fragile the iCal system seems to be, and I'm not sure I see what it would get you even if it worked perfectly. There'd be a lot more transactions floating around for iSync and friends to reconcile, which will just make it more of a pig than it already is.

The fact that iSync and friends screwed up and duplicated all my calendars and left me with 2,000+ sync conflicts the other day didn't make me cranky, nope, not a chance of that, is there? :-)

[Ken Case]

I think you would only want to do the OF-iCal sync on one machine if so, and let MobileMe sync get the information between different iCal instances. Injecting the same information into the system in multiple places is asking for trouble

This is exactly right.

You can sync with different iCal calendars on different computers (for example, you might have Home and Work calendars that you sync separately on your home and work computers), but syncing to the same iCal calendar from two different machines is likely to confuse them both.

[dastogie]

Has anyone else problems where To Do's will not show up in iCal?

[Brian]

The part of the OS that we talk to to sync with iCal sometimes gets stuck and prevents us from syncing. Contact the support ninjas via email and we'll help you get this straightened out. Thanks!

[golla]

Thanks. That's what I suspected might happen.