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-   -   Projects with hidden actions (http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=8228)

sriggins 2008-06-19 09:24 AM

Projects with hidden actions
 
I apparently have two projects with hidden actions. When I select these projects, no actions are listed. When I try to delete them, it says I have hidden actions and I am better off marking them as completed first.

How do I find these hidden actions?

whpalmer4 2008-06-19 10:58 AM

You've undoubtedly got your view set to screen out some tasks. If you're viewing Next Actions, for example, and the next action has a start date in the future, it won't show up, but if you try to delete the project you'll get the warning. Under the Perspectives menu, choose All Items and you'll be able to see the hidden actions.

sriggins 2008-06-19 12:38 PM

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;38332]You've undoubtedly got your view set to screen out some tasks. If you're viewing Next Actions, for example, and the next action has a start date in the future, it won't show up, but if you try to delete the project you'll get the warning. Under the Perspectives menu, choose All Items and you'll be able to see the hidden actions.[/QUOTE]

Well it was a completed action, so showing all showed it.

But man, how confusing! I completed the action, now deleting the project, and OF is confusing me by telling me I have hidden actions, which I don't even care about.

/sigh

whpalmer4 2008-06-19 01:08 PM

[QUOTE=sriggins;38342]Well it was a completed action, so showing all showed it.

But man, how confusing! I completed the action, now deleting the project, and OF is confusing me by telling me I have hidden actions, which I don't even care about.
[/QUOTE]

OmniFocus is trying to keep you from accidentally deleting something you didn't intend to delete. I do believe you were just complaining in another thread today about how easily you could accidentally complete a project, were you not? Do you like a safety net, or not? :-) Yes, this is a bit confusing in your particular case, but less so than trying to figure what happened to something accidentally deleted, and if you encounter this situation again, you'll know why and what to do. I suppose a code modification to disable the warning when attempting to delete a completed project which contains hidden actions might not be unreasonable. Send in a request with the Help->Send Feedback... command if you want Omni to take note of it.

Toadling 2008-06-19 01:16 PM

[QUOTE=sriggins;38342]But man, how confusing! I completed the action, now deleting the project, and OF is confusing me by telling me I have hidden actions, which I don't even care about.[/QUOTE]

Hmm, I don't agree at all on that point. The deletion warning feature is really handy. I guess it depends on how much you care about your hidden actions (which might be hidden for reasons other than having been completed). But even if you don't care, a single click of the dialog's "Delete" button solves it.

The OmniFocus approach of keeping everything in its place in the database and manipulating an item's state and the UI's view filters to show/hide different subsets of data is elegant, efficient, and powerful. And once you get your mind around that basic concept, it's pretty straight forward too.

-Dennis

sriggins 2008-06-19 04:48 PM

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;38346] I do believe you were just complaining in another thread today about how easily you could accidentally complete a project, were you not? Do you like a safety net, or not? :-) [/QUOTE]

There is a difference between automatic deletion (I never asked for that!) and giving me enough information about why I can't delete something. Telling me there are some hidden actions is not enough.

Listing them, giving me an option to change the UI to show them and then focus on them, etc, would be helpful.

This is akin to that annoying Finder bug when you trash files and it says "Some files are in use" and no clue as to which files nor who has them in use.

Brian 2008-06-20 12:06 AM

We've actually got a feature request open on improving that dialog to include information on the hidden items.

We do our best, but that don't mean we're perfect. :-)

sriggins 2008-06-20 06:47 AM

[QUOTE=Brian;38407]We've actually got a feature request open on improving that dialog to include information on the hidden items.

We do our best, but that don't mean we're perfect. :-)[/QUOTE]

If you were perfect, these forums would be empty. If we didn't care, we wouldn't post :)

I love OG's stuff, that is why I give feedback.

Toadling 2008-06-20 07:47 AM

[QUOTE=sriggins;38420]I love OG's stuff, that is why I give feedback.[/QUOTE]

That's a really good point, sriggins. It's easy to get defensive when someone brings criticism against your product or a product you love. But it's that same criticism that can make the product so much better. Fortunately, the Omni Groups seems pretty open to feedback - good and bad.

-Dennis


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