Now accepting testing volunteers for the OmniFocus Mail Drop feature
 

As I mentioned in a [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showpost.php?p=117469&postcount=2"]recent thread[/URL], we've been working to improve the OmniFocus experience for folks who do a lot of work on non-Apple platforms.

More specifically, we've been working on an improvement over the "Mail Rule" feature of OmniFocus for Mac, as well as the "send-to-omnifocus" [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showpost.php?p=90557&postcount=1"]email-processing service[/URL] we run.

Both of the existing methods of turning email into OmniFocus items have some significant drawbacks - we feel the new method should be a lot better for the majority of folks looking to do this.

[B]What is it?[/B]

We call this new feature the "OmniFocus Mail Drop". Unlike previous mail-processing features, we wanted a method that wouldn't require any of your devices to be present in order to add items to OmniFocus, we wanted to add the much-requested better attachment support, and we wanted to reduce the amount of extra work you had to do in order to get your items into OmniFocus as much as possible.

To this end, we implemented the feature as part of the [URL="https://manage.sync.omnigroup.com/"]Omni Sync Server[/URL]. Accounts on the server can now have a special email address generated. Any message forwarded or sent to that address will be processed (including attachments) and added to your OmniFocus database right there on the server. (If a spammer gets ahold of your Mail Drop address, we give you a way to generate a new one.)

Note: this does require you to sync your OmniFocus data via our server, but, once the Sync Server processes the mail you send, each of your devices will pick up the new items during their next sync. No link-tapping, and no need to keep any of your copies of OmniFocus for Mac running 24/7 in order to process messages into actions for you.

We've been testing this internally for a while now, and we're just about ready to start giving customers who are willing to provide bug reports and feedback access. Our current plan is to do this next week; we wanted to give forum-goers a heads-up on this now so they can get into the earliest portions of the queue.

[B]Getting Access:[/B]

Just do the following: head over to the [URL="https://manage.sync.omnigroup.com/"]Omni Sync Server[/URL] page, and log into your account using the fields in the lower left of the page. (If you don't have an account yet, use that link and the "email address" field to request one.)

Once you log in, scroll down the page until you see the "OmniFocus" section of your account settings. Check the "I'd like to try the Mail Drop beta" box and you're all set. (See attached screenshot.)

Note: this won't give you access to the feature right away; that box adds you to the queue of folks requesting access. Once we give you access, you'll receive an email from the server with more information.

Thanks, everyone!

Awesome, can't wait to try this.

Super excited about this!

Good news - many thanks. Looking forward to putting it through its paces

Oh, wow, didn't notice it until I read about it at MacSparky. Looks terrific, thank you!

Utterly love this idea. Signed up for the beta before I'd read to the end of the sentence. Looking forward to trying it out.

First couple hundred invites just went out. Assuming nothing blows up, we'll continue adding folks on a daily basis until everyone is in. Thanks to everyone testing this out.

We'll read/respond to posts and questions here, of course, but please send any feedback or suggestions you have to [EMAIL="sync@omnigroup.com"]sync@omnigroup.com[/EMAIL] - stuff does occasionally fall through the cracks here on the forums. Thanks again!

This is the killer feature that got me to finally buy the iPad app. Can't wait to start using it.

couple things
 

New sync server tasks appear at the top of the Inbox which is not consistent with new tasks via the Quick Entry panel which places them at the bottom of the list. Sorting by Added does not have any effect.

I'm surprised since you've been using it internally that the facility to designate Project, Context, and dates is not present (yet). ie ">p2@c2#2d$5m"

:) Single step remote entry, hurrah!

[QUOTE=pjb;118235]<snip>
I'm surprised since you've been using it internally that the facility to designate Project, Context, and dates is not present (yet). ie ">p2@c2#2d$5m"
<snip>
[/QUOTE]


Couldn't agree more!

The placement of items at the top of the inbox is by design - we intend to change that eventually, but the Mail Drop will ship with the current behavior.

Making the mail drop work the way folks would prefer would require updating all three editions of OmniFocus; we don't want to do that right now. We've heard folks say loud and clear that they want OmniFocus 2 for Mac as soon as we can manage it. Part of accomplishing that means making compromises in service of the larger goal.

Ditto with regards to the auto-filing features; it would take longer to implement than we have available right now. Ship the feature now so folks can benefit from it, then improve it later when we've got room on the schedule. Votes added to the existing feature request on that, though. :-)

This may simply be a limitation on the implementation, but wanted to note in case it's a bug.

When I send an email to my Omni email address and then refresh OF iPad while looking at the inbox, both the large number listed in the Inbox yellow sticky note on the top left and the number listed under Inbox [x] available in the inbox project update, for example 5 to 6, but the emailed item does not actually show up in the Inbox until I refresh by reopening the inbox. This is in contrast to what happens if I add an item in the traditional way (from my iPhone, for example). An item added from my iPhone shows up in the list of tasks upon sync without having to refresh my inbox.

Animgif, rather than re-opening the inbox, try scrolling - if the item appears, you're encountering an issue we plan to fix in a future update to the iPad app.

Ah, by being at the top of the list the item is hidden because I presume the interface "remembers" where in the list it was before it updated. Sneaky =) And thanks.

Sounds like a great new feature! I applied for the test in the Omni Sync Sync configuration and I hope I'll be able to take part in the test soon … :)

When do you think you can allow send mail to all the volunteers??
I've registered this once you released this post..I guess same day you posted this. Really wanna try this feature,, this is sth I've waiting for...

sorry about something i don't understand how to setting to mail drop feature , example like i using the gmail . i should go setting the "forwarding" ? then add the omni email ? but how do i get the confirmation code for verify?

If you're setting up a forwarding rule from Gmail, the email with that confirmation code will also go to your OmniFocus inbox. So you can just check there for the confirmation code and enter it in Gmail's UI.

Sorting in Inbox
 

[QUOTE=pjb;118235]New sync server tasks appear at the top of the Inbox which is not consistent with new tasks via the Quick Entry panel which places them at the bottom of the list. Sorting by Added does not have any effect.[/QUOTE]

I have the same issue, and with a large inbox it is very inconvenient that newly added entries from different sources are put in different places. This needs to be sorted out or at least to allow sorting by Added!

[QUOTE=Chrisgl;118541]I have the same issue, and with a large inbox it is very inconvenient that newly added entries from different sources are put in different places. This needs to be sorted out or at least to allow sorting by Added![/QUOTE]

As Brian said above, this is currently the expected behavior. There's some weird technical reasons why it needs to be this way for now, but once we resolve those, we'll look at improving this.

For all the extra features I wish this had, I'm very grateful for what it does - keeping attachment when syncing to IOS as a big plus for me - so thanks

I'd like to also say thank you for this feature, it has made my life significantly easier!

IFTTT rule to send based on label in gmail
 

Hello Everyone — I figured the people would be of the automation mindset so this If This Then That (IFTTT; ifttt.com) rule would be right up your alley.

Here is an IFTTT rule I made (they won't let me post it as a hyperlink so you'll have to copy and paste :) )

bit.ly/IFTTTtoOmni

Hope it helps some other people.

2 notes —

1. [B]IFTTT[/B] strips the email of all of its formatting, so this can make for difficult to read notes.

2. If you have a message thread and you label it in gmail (and you have message threading enabled under Settings → General → Conversation View) it will make a copy of every email in that thread as an independent note with the same title. For this reason I turned off that threading

Cheers,
Mike

EDIT, December 31, 2012: I originally stated that Mail Drop strips the formatting, but it is IFTTT's Body Plain that strips the formatting. Apologies for that. With this in mind I'm now looking to see if there is a way around this.

[QUOTE=Brian;118274]Ditto with regards to the auto-filing features; it would take longer to implement than we have available right now. Ship the feature now so folks can benefit from it, then improve it later when we've got room on the schedule. Votes added to the existing feature request on that, though. :-)[/QUOTE]
Brian - Thank you for the new feature. This is so much easier. By "auto-filing" do you mean functionality to automatically move an email into a project or context in OmniFocus?

If not, is there a way to put something in the email subject line to designate the Context or Project the email is related to? I am an Ipad and Iphone user only. Thank you.

Welcome to the forums, Phibbs! Yes, by 'auto-filing', I mean what you're requesting - the ability to route an item to a particular project or context by encoding the email in some manner.

We plan to support that at some point in the future, but we don't have an ETA on when that work might happen. I'll attach your post to the item we have open on this in our dev database so the rest of the team knows you'd like to see it added. (The number of customers requesting a given change is one of the main metrics we use when planning our work.) Thanks!

Parsing projects and contexts, etc. was one of the first things we added to our wishlist after we started using it internally. However, we saw that what we had already built would have value to many people, so we decided to go ahead and make that available now. We hope to get back and add more features soon.

I would argue that the ability to specify a start/due date in the email is even more valuable than the project/context for many. The project or context is usually evident from looking at the action as it sits there in the Inbox. However, a due date may not be so obvious, especially when considering that email route is frequently used to capture something on the run, so the stimulus that prompted the action may no longer be present for checking at the time of processing.

Open In support would be great
 

It would be very helpful to have the ability to open the attachments in other apps on the iPhone and iPad especially for editing purposes. Thanks.

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;119703]I would argue that the ability to specify a start/due date in the email is even more valuable than the project/context for many. The project or context is usually evident from looking at the action as it sits there in the Inbox. However, a due date may not be so obvious, especially when considering that email route is frequently used to capture something on the run, so the stimulus that prompted the action may no longer be present for checking at the time of processing.[/QUOTE]

+1 to being able to specify the due date within the email.

Can we get an "original message" link?
 

I love the new feature of being able to forward email to my inbox.

The old method (Send to inbox) put the email in my inbox along with a link to open the original message in Mail. Apparently the new method eliminates that. Is there a way I can get that link using the sync server forwarding method? It's very handy.

Thanks!

Jody, the server-based approach has many advantages to the device-side ones we were using before, but it has a few drawbacks, as well. This is one.

To assemble a link like the mail rule does, the server would need a bunch of information that just isn't as easily available to it. As an example, if you forward a message from your Windows computer, the server would need to somehow know how to assemble a link to that same message on your Mac.

Even if your mac was in your briefcase and hadn't actually fetched that message yet. The mail rule has the advantage of being something that ran inside of Mail, so it had access to that info when it created the action.

Original email as an attachment.
 

The mail drop feature filled a specific gap in my work flow. So great job on this feature. However, to make it usable it will be nice if the sync server can convert the original email as an attachment. Currently, none of the email clients on mobile devices allow forwarding an email as an attachment.

If this capability is there then I can just double click on the attachment to start responding to emails that need more than 2 minutes to take care of right away.

Thanks.

-ebi

I've had a quick test of this for setting up tasks when I'm on my work PC, and I've run up against an unexpected issue that will stop me being able to use this in practice..

My company automatically inserts a whole host of 'If you're not the intended recipient..... Company Details...' etc.. which has resulted in 2-3 paragraphs of 'notes' that are effectively junk in every task that I create.. Would it be possible to use some form of markup within the body of the text so that you can ignore any extra text that's being auto-generated?