iCloud support? [A: Possibly in future, not at launch. See thread.]
 

Hi

Would be cool if Omnifocus would someday support syncing over iCloud.
Someday being when iOS 5 comes out ;-)

Thanks,
Ivan

+1 for iCloud support.
I'd prefer to have all my apps sync to iCloud than have to use clouds all over the place for various apps.

If it meant that OmniFocus could have 'team' functionality and the ability to see another person's shared OmniFocus projects then I'd happily rebuy OmniFocus for both my Mac and my iDevices and those of my colleagues.

I love OmniFocus and we make do with sharing the OmniSync Server (Our own WebDAV was a little too slow when abroad and using our iDevices), but even now we occasionally suffer with horrible sync collisions. I know you're not supposed to do this, but OmniFocus kicks seven shades out of Things.

Also; OmniOutliner with iCloud support would be fantastic.
Heck, everything with iCloud support, including OmniPlan!

Hopefully we see more 'sharing' functionality soon as well.

Talked with Ken earlier today: iCloud support for all our document-based apps is something of a no-brainer. It's less clear whether the design of the service will support the needs of an app like OmniFocus.

We're looking into it, though, and even if it turns out to not be well-suited to OmniFocus sync, we'll keep the Omni Sync Server available for customers to use for sync at no additional charge.

Stay tuned, in other words.

Thanks for the reply, Brian. If only more developers were like The Omni Group; Amazing.

right now I am syncing omnifocus with mobileme - when mobileme is no longer available and I switch to iCloud this won't be a simple "seemless" transfer for current mobileme users then right?

I received this email from Apple regarding my mobileme account:

[COLOR="Red"]What does this mean for you as a MobileMe member?

When you sign up for iCloud, you'll be able to keep your MobileMe email address and move your mail, contacts, calendars, and bookmarks to the new service.

Your MobileMe subscription will be automatically extended through June 30, 2012, at no additional charge. After that date, MobileMe will no longer be available.

When iCloud becomes available this fall, we will provide more details and instructions on how to make the move. In the meantime, we encourage you to learn more about iCloud.[/COLOR]

It seems unlikely that we'll get definitive word from Apple about whether or not they will continue to provide WebDAV storage (such as OmniFocus uses) that you could use until shortly before they roll out the service. Fortunately, you can painlessly switch over to the Omni Sync Service if necessary. You just make sure your devices are all synced, switch one to sync to OSS, sync to install the database on the OSS, then switch the others to sync to OSS. You may even find that your syncs are faster, depending on your network connectivity. Not much cause for concern here.

The MobileMe sync option for OmniFocus uses iDisk, which will not be bridged over to iCloud.
[url]http://www.apple.com/mobileme/transition.html[/url]

[QUOTE=Lizard;98895]The MobileMe sync option for OmniFocus uses iDisk, which will not be bridged over to iCloud.
[url]http://www.apple.com/mobileme/transition.html[/url][/QUOTE]

The easiest way to solve this problem will be to use MobileMe's built-in Calendar. It has now been turned into a full CalDAV calendar with full GTD task support, and this CalDAV calendar will be moved directly to iCloud.

If this option is chosen, it will also mean that all tasks created in OmniFocus will automatically be available in iCal and BusyCal on Mac. Though only with Due dates and without OF's elaborate contexts and projects.

I think such a solution will be most friendly to OmniGroup's customers. Personally, I'm using OF for Mac, OF for iPhone and OF for iPad - and sync is very important. I currently sync through the iDisk.

Actually, iCloud has storage APIs:

[QUOTE]iCloud Storage APIs enable your apps to store documents and key value data in iCloud. iCloud will wirelessly push documents to a user's device automatically and update the documents when changed on any device — automatically.[/QUOTE]

See page 13 onward from this document, about APIs in iOS 5.
[url]http://cl.ly/151642201m1X072V0o15[/url]

Shamil, you're correct - iCloud does have storage APIs. They aren't really designed around a use case like OmniFocus' though. They're better-suited to the needs of a document-based app like OmniGraffle.

We may support iCloud at some point in the future, but not at launch. Folks using their iDisks for OmniFocus sync will want to switch to the Omni Sync Server or some other equivalent service. (We're not going to charge folks anything to use the sync server, so you'll save a few bucks compared to the previous MobileMe setup.)

I wanted to transfer my OmniFocus syncing from MobileMe to OminSync Server, but I see that OSS is still in beta. Just how stable is this beta, should I jump now or wait until MobileMe is completely toast?

We've had it up for a bit over a year now; we've had very little unplanned downtime, and we haven't had any data loss that we've been able to trace back to server-side issues. Overall, it's been pretty darn solid.

Having said that in public, I am now terrified I've jinxed the whole thing. ;-)

To possibly jinx myself now, I've been using the Omni provided sync server for a while, and I haven't run into any issues. Granted, my database/list is probably no where near as large as some, but it's been just fine for my needs.

iCloud
 

Personally, I want full OmniFocus support of iCloud as this is the only possible way to have my tasks synced to other apps on Mac and iOS. BTW, I'm using OF on Mac, iPhone and iPad but want to be able to see my tasks in my calendar apps too. As tasks.

iCal Sync and beyond
 

I'm hoping for iCloud support as well. The sync Server works great with the three OmniFocus products across my devices, but the calendar sync has now "broken" with iCloud and iOS5.

My case may be odd, but I am not sure how uncommon. I do not wish to use iCal, but rather use a 3rd-party Calendar (BusyCal). Previously, I could sync OmniFocus to iCal in MobileMe, then my BusyCal would pull the iCal data. It worked lovely and I could see all my "to do" list in BusyCal and copy them to appointments.

This allowed me to use OmniFocus to plan, track, and work with tasks. Then, I would use a Calendar to schedule and execute them.

This wasn't completely easy, because I was never able to find a two-way conduit between the Calendar and Omnifocus.

Ideally, my "process" would like to be:

1) Plan in OmniFocus
2) Sync and see the tasks in a Calendar
3) Drag the task to a time to execute
4) Finish my tasks (wouldn't we all!)
5) Mark them as compete - ideally from either the appointment, the to-do, or back in OmniFocus
6) Have everything sync across all instances of the task across all devices

Is that too much to ask? :) haha

Basically, I am looking to be able to execute tasks as tasks or appointments. A task scheduled has a greater chance of getting done!

Actually, I'd say that the major drawback of OF is the lack of iCloud support for sync with other applications (I use BusyCal, the best though not particularly good calendar solution for OS X, and Pocket Informant on iPhone and iPad, a good calendar with a developed task management system that should be compatible to OF, though not fully as good; a proper iCloud sync between the two would be perfect).

To me, sync between apps, also apps from (competing) companies, is a major thing. But I do get the impression that OmniGroup doesn't look at it as an advantage - but as a problem.

Simply put, the fact that OF on iOS now shows to-day's calendar events isn't enough. My calendar of choice should also show my OF tasks, as tasks (not events) and in a way so that they can be 'manipulated' - like being set to 'Done'.

+1 for iCloud
 

After a bit of a bumpy switch from .me to iCloud I noticed that Omnifocus so far does not support iCloud-calendars but only local ones once again. I'm pretty sure, you'll fix this, as this basically would open a nice door to «fusion» OmniFocus and the iOS-Reminders, which can be used with any given iCloud-Calendar. As I use iCal with «Alarms», this would be a pretty nice way of quickly entering stuff and edit it later in Alarms and/or Omnifocus.

Btw, I replaced by mobileme-Omnifocus-calendar with a local one, and ever since that whenever I change an event in Alarms/ical I get a sync-problem message in Omni when I try to sync iCal now. Never had that before - can I switch that off, so that Omni accepts changes from iCal without nagging me again?

A real iCloud-Sync-option would be nice, but isn't that much of a priority for me, as Omnisync works really fine. The only thing to improve here - and learn from iCloud - is auto sync, even if it is optional so some users can switch it off. I'd really prefer a simple automatic update between the Omnifocus-Devices and, if possible (at least on the desktop machine(s)), to iCal.


(To clarify my workflow:
I enter To-Dos in Omnifocus on two desktop machines, iPad and iPhone.
I sync them with iCal
iCal syncs with the wonderful Alarms, which has a nice GUI and allows me to fine-tune/granulate my tasks in a very graphical interface for the day, push tasks to another day and so on.
Alarms syncs back to iCal
iCal back to Omni.
Omni - alas manually - to the other devices.

So, even with a lot of «sync» buttons pressed, this works pretty well.
BUT it would be much smoother with Auto-Sync between all iDevices and with an automated or at least semi-automatic, regular iCal Sync without conflict messages. And it would be great if it would work with icloud-calendars, as this would allow me to use reminders and Siri as a quick-entry-tool).

Cheers...

I think iCloud support is really a sorely needed feature. Hope they implement.

iCloud sync = add events to iCloud calendar (For me)
 

I don't care about the sync mechanism under the hood - all the options work great and the flexibility of having the different options is nice. I don't see why people feel like iCloud sync for the database is an important feature - the free sync works just fine (or webdav, which is what I use).

I think the only thing that would be cool is the ability to push the due items to an iCloud calendar rather than a webdav ics file. I believe iOS 5 event kit makes this totally doable and must be how the siri integration works right now... it's just that for those with an iPhone 4 or iPad the cal sync part is still well worthwhile (even if siri is cool).

That would allow me to easily move reminders into shared calendars - so that things I've scheduled can be shared with others. Ie editing the reminder is important.

I think that's 50% of what I'd want, the other part is being able to see the full calendar in one view - visualization. But I get that already get that with webdav ics files.

Awesome app, thank you..

George

OmniFocus has the best syncing of any to-do app I've seen. There's been occasional glitches with the sequencing of projects with the iPad but I've *never* lost any data. I won't even talk about the so-called competition. They're a joke.

Having said that I do wish the sync was a little faster. It's also somewhat intrusive. I just upgraded to Lion finally and I'm quite impressed with the transparency, speed and accuracy at which changes propagate. I'm wondering if similar benefits could be realized with OF.

With the release of Mountain Lion looming and increased iCloud integration if it might be time to reconsider this. However, in no way would I want to sacrifice the conflict resolution and data integrity of the current sync function in OF.

We are keeping an eye on the state of iCloud (and integrating iCloud support into our document-based apps). Meanwhile, we still think that for OmniFocus it's a better use of our time to improve the performance and reliability of the sync system we have and update other aspects of our OmniFocus apps.

[QUOTE=Brian;98536]Stay tuned, in other words.[/QUOTE]

Yes! OmniFocus in Apples iCloud would be fantastic!

In the short-term it might be a "bummer" (since you just created the fantastic Omnifocus sync setup yourself), but in the long term (if it works out) it's less of a 'burden' on Omnigroup, and an addition for customers that loves uniformity/streamlining and all that rubbish. :-P

*fingers crossed*

Thanks for a fantastic GTD app!
Tom,
Omnifocus,
Mac, iPad, iPhone.

I'd like to see this too. WHile I'm not likely to switch over to Things, looking at their iCloud sync is instructive. It's a lot like what you see in address book and calendar on the Mac/iPhone/iPad. When you make a change on one, it's on all the others in a few minutes. This would be a lot better than the sync startup scheme that is used in OF on iPHone and iPad.

J.