Feature Request: "Smart" contexts
 

I would like the ability to have "smart" contexts. At "Home" I have "Internet" and a "Phone". At "Work" I also have "Internet" and a "Phone". At my dad's place, I have "Internet", but I do not want to do anything there with a "Phone".

I know I can nest contexts, but one context can only be the child of one other.

What I would like, is the ability to select one context, and have it know some others are included by implication.

[QUOTE=frosquin]What I would like, is the ability to select one context, and have it know some others are included by implication.[/QUOTE]

I second that! It's come up in a couple of other threads. Contexts should be able to include other contexts, so that I might specify that "Office" contains "Phone," "Briefcase," "Computer" and "Email," while "Study" also contains those items. Life Balance does this well (its places are simply contexts under another name).

Until that functionality is added, though, you can command-click to select multiple non-contiguous contexts. So at home you could select Home, Internet, and Phone contexts and see tasks from all three, grouped as you prefer.

I also strongly believe that something like this is badly needed. In another thread (somewhere) one of the Omni folks stated that they were thinking about including smart folders, but not for version 1. Plus there have been a few comments that smart folders aren't very GTD.

I think the "smart" label is tripping us up. In Mail or iTunes, smart folders have complex behaivior including serching over multiple feilds and implimenting AND/OR compound criteria.

I would perfectly happy with just a way to store and recall my OF settings. In another thread I posted a clunky bit of applescript that sort of does this for context view, but I'd much rather have it baked-in. I don't know a thing about application development, but the fact that I got 80% of the way there in a couple hours with applescript strongly suggests to me that it would not be that difficult to implement. Perhaps even in time for version 1.

By my count, there are only 13 values that need to be stored:

1. context or project view
2. focus (i.e. hoist position)
3. contexts selected
4. context view - show contexts filter
5. context view - group filter
6. context view - sort filter
7. context view - task state filter
8. context view - duration filter
9. project view - show projects filter
10. project view - group filter
11. project view - sort filter
12. project view - task state filter
13. project view - duration filter

That's it. Set every thing the way you like it for a particular circumstance like "In the office", or "Weekly review" or, "Planning vacation" and save it. Then bring all those settings back whenever you want.

What do you think, Omni? Remotely possible?

What you're describing is a feature we're calling saved perspectives, and is planned for 1.0. In addition to the things you mention we also plan to save the selection and the expansion state, window position and size, sidebar width—basically all the same things we already save when you quit. (That logic was written with this feature in mind, so the hard part to this feature at this point is just the user interface.)

lovely...look forward to that

That is very cool indeed and kind of like just selecting the calendars in iCal with the tasks that make sense. You will only see the available tasks you can do at that time or place.

I know on the Treo today, I just go to calendars that I need or can do anything for example, I never go to my Photoshop calendar on my Treo but use my Email, Internet and Phone ones.

BZ

[QUOTE=Ken Case]What you're describing is a feature we're calling saved perspectives, and is planned for 1.0. ... (That logic was written with this feature in mind, so the hard part to this feature at this point is just the user interface.)[/QUOTE]

Ken, you folks at Omni are wonderful ... will you have my baby? <big grin>

Actually, you can have them both -- then [I]you[/I] can nag them about getting ready for school. <bigger grin>

--Liz
who will be buying her daughter a copy of OmniFocus as soon as she's old enough for us to get her a computer of her own.

[QUOTE=Ken Case]What you're describing is a feature we're calling saved perspectives, and is planned for 1.0[/QUOTE]

Fantastic. Thanks.

[QUOTE=Ken Case]the hard part to this feature at this point is just the user interface.)[/QUOTE]

My 2 cents worth on the UI - the best UI is one that users don't have to learn how to use. Everyone is already familiar with using bookmarks in a browser. So maybe you could just add a "Perspective" menu that works just like that. First item would be "Add Perspective", then a list of the ones you've already saved. Simple and intuitive.