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-   -   How to view task due dates in Context View, when you've scheduled the whole project (http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=14459)

bak 2009-11-09 07:53 AM

How to view task due dates in Context View, when you've scheduled the whole project
 
I may be overlooking something obvious, or perhaps using the tool wrong, but I don't think so -- the behavior I expect to see is in the iPhone app.

Here's my problem: A lot of my projects have many tasks, but can still be completed very quickly -- in a matter of hours. So I enumerate all of the tasks in a project, and give the project (but not the individual tasks) a due date. When I'm working in Project View, I can see the due date associated with the project itself, but it isn't filled in for each individual task. I guess that's fine. The problem comes in when I switch to Context View: the project header is no longer around, and the tasks, again, don't have the view date -- so unless they are not orange or red, I have no indication of when they are/were due.

I have made the "Due Date" column viewable in Context View.

For expected behavior, see the iPhone app -- the tasks that belong to a "dated" project have the project's due date displayed next to them in Context View.

Thanks in advance

whpalmer4 2009-11-10 07:50 AM

Nope, the desktop application doesn't show a due date for the actions in the way that the iPhone app does, you just get the due soon or overdue styling. It does use the implied due date from the project when sorting, although there's a bit of a gotcha -- it doesn't do the same for subsequent actions that might have a due date if different than the project. If I have 5 actions in a sequence, no due date on the first two, and a due date of Wednesday on the third, one might expect that it would treat the first two as having a due date of Wednesday for the purposes of sorting (as it would do if the project had a due date of Wednesday) but that's not what happens.

However, it's pretty easy to set all the due dates for those actions to be the same as the project's due date (unlike on the iPhone). Click on the project name in the sidebar, switch to the outline pane via cmd-4, click on the first action, shift-click on the last action, bring up the inspector, and put the due date in.

If you want the desktop application to behave like the iPhone app does, send in your vote with Help->Send Feedback or email [email]omnifocus@omnigroup.com[/email].

bak 2009-11-10 07:57 AM

Thanks for the response, that worked. So either setting a project's overall due date isn't meant to be the shortcut that I thought it was, or this is a bit of a bug that prevents it from being a good shortcut. I keep getting the feeling that I'm simply using the tool wrong - is there a good reason to not assume that a task's due date is it's project's due date unless otherwise noted?

whpalmer4 2009-11-10 08:14 AM

No, I think you're using it correctly. That feature was added to the iPhone app later (in v1.5.2 according to the release notes) -- it initially worked like the desktop app. Maybe that behavior will appear in the desktop app if enough people send in feedback requesting it, or the developers think it is a good idea on their own.

In my own usage on the desktop, I find the due soon styling to be sufficient, especially in conjunction with a context mode perspective for showing stuff that is due in the near future. (Group by due, sort by due, due soon, any flag, any duration) Because I can't do that on the iPhone, having the due dates shown next to each action is more essential there.


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