understanding context display and editing
 

As a result of poor maintenance I have a large number of items which have no context.

I have a Perspective for 'No Context', for when I switch between a contextless item in Context view to ' Planningmode' and then back.

The reason I have to switch often is that in 'Context' view, there is no distinction between actions and projects.

What is the rationale for this?

also, when I have switched to Project mode, and display a list of projects to maintain their context status, any projects with contexts do not display their context in the context column.

again, what is the rationale for this?

cheers

pete

further to the above:

In context mode, when I see an item I don't want any more, and I try to delete it, a warning comes up

"If you delete the selected items, the following hidden items will also be deleted.To hide the selected items without losing their contents, consider changing their status to Dropped or Completed instead of deleting them. 1 project"

This is difficult to understand for the following reasons:

1. When I switch to Planning Mode, I find that it IS a project.
( see my confusion above)

2. it has no dependencies. Why, then, am I warned that there are?

3. my exercise is to have all items contextualised - so it doesn't help me to put anything 'On Hold' as that won't remove it from the 'No Context' list. And marking it 'complete' is OK but it's a bit like brushing feathers under the carpet.

I just want to delete it :-)

pete

Pete, check [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=17441"]this thread[/URL] for info on the thinking behind the behavior you're seeing there.

If you'd prefer that Projects or Action Groups not show up in Context view, you can control that in the Data pane of preferences.

[QUOTE=peterlemer;97300]2. it has no dependencies. Why, then, am I warned that there are?[/QUOTE]

Presumably, it contains items that have been completed or are otherwise being filtered out of view. A number of OmniFocus users base their "tell my boss what I did recently" reporting (or have other 'make an archive of the stuff I did' needs) on their OF database. Deleting information about the stuff they've marked off is something they want to be warned about...

Okay, juggling too many tasks today and manners failure: hope that info is helpful, and if you have more questions, ask away. Happy to help! :-)

[QUOTE=Brian;97329]Presumably, it contains items that have been completed or are otherwise being filtered out of view. A number of OmniFocus users base their "tell my boss what I did recently" reporting (or have other 'make an archive of the stuff I did' needs) on their OF database. Deleting information about the stuff they've marked off is something they want to be warned about...[/QUOTE]

I do this, I have a perspective that shows me completed items grouped by date of completion, it's very useful because:

1. When reporting I can use it as a reminder of what I did.
2. If I check something off by accident I can find and uncheck it easily.
3. When depressed, I can go and see that I did actually achieve something today :-)

[QUOTE=Brian;97328]Pete, check [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=17441"]this thread[/URL] for info on the thinking behind the behavior you're seeing there.

If you'd prefer that Projects or Action Groups not show up in Context view, you can control that in the Data pane of preferences.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the option to switch off Projects & Action groups :-)

I found the thread confusing - I'm trying to find out:

1. why do projects not show their context in Project Mode?
2. why does deleting a project in Context Mode warn me about dependencies when there aren't any?
3. why doesn't Context Mode provide a different graphic for Actions and Projects?

pete

[QUOTE=Brian;97329]Presumably, it contains items that have been completed or are otherwise being filtered out of view.[/QUOTE]

I've looked at all filtering options and these items do not have dependencies.

Am I crazy? :-)

Create a new project, give it a simple context, go to Context Mode and delete that project.

try this now :-)

pete

Peter- Aah, I see now what's going on! Yeah, the app doesn't realize that the thing you're deleting is visible. I'll file that as a bug. Sorry for the confusion.