Idea: temporal contexts
 

[I]Here's what I wrote to Omnifocus for iPhone support, with some elucidations:[/I]

Contexts are not just spatial, but temporal as well. You've got the spatial contexts covered very well. Now for the temporal ones! It would be very useful to have a checkbox "Working Hours Only" for tasks and projects; if checked, items would not be displayed as "available" outside the time range defined by the user as his or her working hours (or those of people he or she usually deals with; I would simply enter regular Dutch office hours).

Of course, "hours" here includes days of the week, as in "Monday through Friday from 8 AM until 6 PM".

This would mean I would not be reminded to buy milk at 2 AM, or to discuss something with a colleague on Sunday. (That's right, I don't work weekends. This feature would probably lessen the stress and therby improve the health of many OF users.)

LifeBalance does something like that. Contexts have open and closed hours. If you make your @Office context open from 8-5 on weekdays, those tasks don't show up during other times. At least that's how it worked when I used it several years ago. I did like that part.

[QUOTE=Betsy;46073]LifeBalance does something like that. Contexts have open and closed hours. If you make your @Office context open from 8-5 on weekdays, those tasks don't show up during other times. At least that's how it worked when I used it several years ago. I did like that part.[/QUOTE]

Indeed, that's good too, contexts with temporal restrictions. But I'd like to see tasks and projects with such restrictions, also. My phone context doesn't need such restrictions, but work related phone calls should only appear as available tasks during office hours.

I'd suggest that giving time-based restrictions to individual tasks would probably be too much granularity. I think it would make more sense in these scenarios to simply have two contexts.... The use of sub-contexts seems to work well enough for this purposes, even on the iPhone: A parent "Calls" context with two sub-contexts for Work and Personal calls.

[QUOTE=jdh;46482]I'd suggest that giving time-based restrictions to individual tasks would probably be too much granularity. I think it would make more sense in these scenarios to simply have two contexts.... The use of sub-contexts seems to work well enough for this purposes, even on the iPhone: A parent "Calls" context with two sub-contexts for Work and Personal calls.[/QUOTE]

Yes, giving contexts 'open and closed hours', like mentioned by Betsy, solves most of these issues, but if I have to call Dirk between 2 and 4 pm workdays, its would be nice to be able to assign those hours to just the one task 'call Dirk'.

This is the kind of feature that, if it is not used, is not in your way either.

Ah.... For that sort of thing I'm inclined to just use a start date/time on the individual task, but I understand that this wouldn't work so well if it was a matter of "call Dirk any day this week between 2pm and 4pm."

I would like this too. I don't want to make a call before 8:30 a.m. or after 9pm, for example; and I'm not going to mow the lawn when it's dark. I suppose we could just make perspectives for different times of the day, though.

Realized this thread is in the iPhone forum, so my perspectives idea wouldn't work. However, what would be even better is if we could have perspectives on the iPhone. That would be supremely helpful to me.

[QUOTE=Christopher;46626]I would like this too. I don't want to make a call before 8:30 a.m. or after 9pm, for example; and I'm not going to mow the lawn when it's dark. I suppose we could just make perspectives for different times of the day, though.[/QUOTE]