Folders for contexts
 

Hi there

When I have to choose the context for a to do I have to open up a longish list of contexts

If this were a collapsable folder structure it would be a lot easier to navigate and find the right context - having just one long list is a drag after a while

Also - is there any way to assign a context to a to do with a hotkey? I'm sure many of us only generally use about 3-5 context regularly, would be cool do be able to assign some with a key press

In fact the only bad thing I could say about OmniFocus is that I feel like I have to use my mouse too much

Are you selecting a context (or project) by popping up the list and scrolling, or by just typing? OmniFocus will quickly narrow the list down as you type, matching characters against the remaining possible choices. For example, I've got a nested context for library branches in errands, with the deepest level being

Errands : Library : San Mateo : Marina

which I typically enter by simply typing "e l s mar" in the context field thanks to the magic matching function. I am typing the first letter or three of each component of the name, with "Mar" needed to differentiate "Marina" from "Main", but the matching works anywhere in the name, and if I wanted to spend slightly more mental energy to save a little typing "e l s r" would do the trick. After typing the first character, you'll see the list of remaining candidates, and how your string matches against them. Eliminates a lot of mouse action!

ah ok thanks for that

would still be nice to be able to use a hotkey for some of the most used ones

now i'm going to assign perspectives to function keys which seems like the next cool thing to do!

If your list looks too long, you probably have way too many contexts.

It's always easier to have less buckets. I've tried creating tons of sub-contexts, but it winds up just making the whole process harder.

For instance, within my Mac context, I would have Mac:Photoshop, Mac:Online, Mac:Dreamweaver, etc. It makes it take way too long, and it confuses the whole issue. Unless you have a large number of next actions in each context (let's say 50+), subcategorizing it only makes it more complicated and time-consuming.

Just take the few sections to breeze through your next actions in the relevant contexts, drag and drop, flag, and get things done.

Right now, my only contexts are online, mac, phone, home, school, errands, and waiting. If I'm at home, I know to check @home, @online, @mac, and @phone. When I'm on the road, I check @errands. When I'm at school, I check @school, @online, @phone, and possibly @mac. It's only hard if you make it hard.

The only downside is that you can't take full advantage of the iPhone app's location features, but I really don't have much of a need for it.