Omnifocus Database Size
 

Hi,

I just realized that my OmniFocus database is roughly 60MB. That in itself isn't that much of a problem, until I realize that the backups are never deleted. So I have in my ~/Documents/OmniFocus Backups 11GB worth of backups accumulated since last year.

Note to the developers: It seems quite redundant to backup the attachments every time. An incremental backup for those would make much more sense it seems...

1. Am I gaining anything with the regular backup that I don't already have with the Time Machine backup?

2. Is there a way to discard the file attachments when a task is completed?

3. Is there now a way to view tasks "by size" so I can remove them manually?

4. Is there a way to keep a limited amount of backups? E.g. only the last month.

Thanks!

[QUOTE=gpetit;100782]Hi,

I just realized that my OmniFocus database is roughly 60MB. That in itself isn't that much of a problem, until I realize that the backups are never deleted. So I have in my ~/Documents/OmniFocus Backups 11GB worth of backups accumulated since last year.

Note to the developers: It seems quite redundant to backup the attachments every time. An incremental backup for those would make much more sense it seems...

1. Am I gaining anything with the regular backup that I don't already have with the Time Machine backup?

2. Is there a way to discard the file attachments when a task is completed?

3. Is there now a way to view tasks "by size" so I can remove them manually?

4. Is there a way to keep a limited amount of backups? E.g. only the last month.

Thanks![/QUOTE]

1. Yes, it's easier to restore. But there's no reason to keep hundreds of the backups around; you can delete the old ones.

2. How about archiving old tasks? Read the OmniFocus help about archiving old tasks; this keeps the database smaller.

3. No, but you can view attachments via Window->Attachment List.

4. OmniFocus doesn't have a setting. But it's easy to just delete old ones yourself. You could probably use something like Hazel to auto-prune, but my suggestion is just to make a "delete old OmniFocus backups" task as a part of your monthly review, as it takes about 2 seconds to do :-)

BTW... a 60 MB database is huge, given that it's compressed on disk. Do you have a ton of attachments, or never archive, or both? That would be a pain to sync to a mobile device!

Awesome, thanks for the answers.

Windows -> Attachment List was perfect for my needs.

File -> Move Old Data to Archive turned my 60MB database to 2KB.

It will sync much faster on my iPhone now I'm sure...!

As for adding a 2 second task every month, that's what cron jobs are for :)

Thanks

Excuse to intrude this thread ... The problem is not the 2 sec. It is more about having 2000 times 2 second to do, even if you always recall them. Staying focused is the job in this fragmented and lightning fast world.

Am I right to say that with tools like CrashPlan and Dropbox, there should be no more considerations about doing a OF backup ?

I know that OF's backup files are in the Documents folder, but where is the original data file ?

It's a total YMMV situation, rlesperance, but I've had just enough backup failures with varying systems to have a preference for redundant backups. It may not make my data that much safer, but it makes me feel a whole lot better. ;-)

In any case, the default OmniFocus database is stored in
<your home folder>/Library/Application Support/OmniFocus/

Hope this helps!