OmniFocus 1.6 for iPhone is now available!
 

OmniFocus 1.6 is a major update to OmniFocus, with sync performance improvements, animated list updates, better access to Quick Entry, integration with other applications, experimental support for perspectives, and more. We hope you enjoy this update, and we look forward to your feedback!

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[B]Performance[/B]
[LIST][*]Syncing multiple changes from the sync server should be dramatically faster. (Syncing is over five times faster for several of our test cases.)
[*]Removed a workaround for an HTTP authentication bug in iPhone OS 2.x, eliminating an extra round trip to the sync server for each synchronized change.
[*]OmniFocus now automatically compacts its database history when synchronization is disabled, rather than building up more and more history (which made OmniFocus slower and slower).
[*]Reduced memory usage in a number of places.[/LIST]
[B]Animation[/B]
[LIST][*]List updates are now animated and immediate: When you check off a repeating item, the old item checks off and fades from view while the new item slides in from the right. Similarly, if you check off an item in a sequential project which was blocking several other items, you'll see it check off and fade out while the newly available items it was blocking slide in from the side of the screen. (This is clearer to see than to explain!)[/LIST]
[B]Quick Entry[/B]
[LIST][*]It wasn't very clear that Quick Entry is available while the database loads, so we've added a "Quick Entry" label on the loading screen to help draw more attention to that button.
[*]Quick Entry is now also available while updating with synced data.
[*]Quick Entry can now be used more than once in a row while a progress bar is visible.
[*]Quick Entry no longer displays fields which can't be used while the database is unavailable (such as context, project, and repeat).[/LIST]
[B]App Integration[/B]
[LIST][*]OmniFocus can now accept tasks from other applications! As a demo of this functionality, there's now an "Install Safari Bookmarklet" option under Experimental Settings (to install a bookmarklet which sends your current web page from Safari to OmniFocus).[/LIST]
[B]Perspectives[/B]
[LIST][*]Added experimental support for synchronizing perspectives from the Mac version of OmniFocus. This is still a work in progress, and currently only supports non-hierarchical (Context mode) perspectives. You can enable support for Perspectives under Experimental Settings, at which point you'll see a new Perspectives top-level item in the Home screen.[/LIST]
[B]Workflow[/B]
[LIST][*]Actions which have been deferred (by setting a future start date) will no longer appear in lists of available or due soon actions. (After all, that's the purpose of deferring an action!) Deferred actions which are overdue will continue to appear in the Overdue list. ("Overdue" still trumps "Deferred".)
[*]Inbox items now show up in Context lists. (This behavior will be customizable in the future for those who would prefer to use the Inbox as a triage dumping ground rather than a work area.)
[*]When a project is on hold or otherwise inactive, its actions are no longer considered to be available.[/LIST]
[B]General[/B]
[LIST][*]The default filename for the reminder calendar is now OmniFocus-Reminders.ics rather than DueSoon.ics, and settings for the reminder calendar are now synchronized between all clients (including OmniFocus 1.8 for Mac) rather than being stored as a local preference. Please feel free to remove your old DueSoon.ics calendar and any subscriptions to it.
[*]Added support for viewing RTF attachments.
[*]Updated localizable content.[/LIST]
[B]Counters[/B]
[LIST][*]When projects are configured to show all items, they will show a count of all items within the project rather than just the "remaining" (unfinished) items.
[*]When context lists are configured to show only "next" actions, contexts will now display a count of the number of next actions they contain.
[*]Fixed a bug where syncing a change to an action's start date wouldn't always change its context's count of available actions.
[*]Fixed a bug where project lists would sometimes display "-1 overdue" (or "-1 due soon") when the project itself was past (or approaching) its due date but blocked from actually becoming due (such as when its parent folder was dropped, or the project itself was deferred).
[*]Item counts in context lists are now properly updated when a change to an item's context is synchronized from another copy of OmniFocus.[/LIST]
[B]Interface[/B]
[LIST][*]While updating with synced data, the progress bar now shows meaningful progress updates.
[*]The Nearby Contexts list now only shows contexts which are within 50km (~30 miles) by default. You can change this by using a settings link to update the NearbyDistanceLimit setting (specified in km).
[*]Fixed an issue where the sync password prompt wouldn't always appear.
[*]Eliminated some flicker in the toolbar when navigating from one screen to another.
[*]On the Nearby list, contexts which are at the same distance (or are being edited) are now sorted by their order from the Contexts list (rather than alphabetically or randomly).
[*]You can now delete actions from lists which group actions into sections (such as the All Actions and Nearby lists).[/LIST]
[B]Bugs[/B]
[LIST][*]Fixed a bug which could cause the Due Soon, Overdue, and Flagged lists to be out of date.
[*]When a project appears in a search list, checking it off now correctly changes its state to Done.[/LIST]
[B]Synchronization[/B]
[LIST][*]As noted above, synchronization is now dramatically faster in some cases.
[*]A sync progress bar now appears when updating the database with synchronized changes.
[*]Fixed a problem which could cause sync database incompatibilities if you synced from a non-list screen (e.g. when editing an action, project, or context), made some edits, but didn't sync those edits before exiting OmniFocus.
[*]When OmniFocus defers synchronization because it's displaying a modal screen which doesn't want automatic changes applied while it's active, they now get applied as soon as you leave that screen (rather than waiting for a subsequent screen transition).
[*]While prompting for a sync password, autosync will no longer try to start a second sync.
[*]Improved error reporting when attempting to sync with some Windows WebDAV servers.[/LIST]
[B]Stability[/B]
[LIST][*]Fixed a Nearby List crash encountered when leaving Edit mode just as a context finished looking up its address.
[*]Fixed a Nearby Map crash encountered when leaving Edit mode as a new dropped pin finished looking up its address.
[*]Fixed a crash on the Nearby Map or List which could happen when the location manager reported a change to the device's current location.
[*]Fixed a crash encountered when trying to quit the app while the progress bar is up.
[*]Fixed a crash encountered when an address for a map location is received from the network after leaving the Map screen.
[*]Fixed a crash encountered when leaving Quick Entry.
[*]Fixed a bug with jittery/flashy/crashy behavior encountered when editing the context list in the Nearby screen.
[*]Fixed some crashes triggered by deleting items from a list.
[*]Fixed some crashes encountered when checking off items on the Nearby list.[/LIST]
We love hearing from you! You can reach us by tapping Send Feedback on the Settings screen, sending email to [URL="mailto:omnifocus-iphone@omnigroup.com"]omnifocus-iphone@omnigroup.com[/URL], tweeting to [URL="http://twitter.com/omnifocus"]@omnifocus[/URL], or calling 1-800-315-OMNI or +1 206-523-4152.

Can't wait! Has the update been submitted to the App Store yet?

OMG OMG OMG OMG!

Once again you've read my mind and fixed just about every thing that bygged me about OF for iPhone.

Can't wait to get this baby on my iPhone.

Folks, this is so great to here!
Many great Improvements!

Can´t wait to see it on the appstore!

Thanks!!

Do we have real synchronization now (i.e. when both instances are modified, changes are merged)?

I've stopped using OF for the iPhone because I was getting synchronization errors very often. I would then have to choose between my phone or desktop database, both of them having changes, thus losing one set of them (without even having the opportunity to know what the changes were).

Ken, thanks for the update on 1.6, and thank you for continuing development on this great product!

I know I'm being cheeky, but can you share any thoughts on what you might want 2.0 to have in it? :)

[QUOTE=beharkey;71467]Can't wait! Has the update been submitted to the App Store yet?[/QUOTE]

Yes, it was submitted before I posted. (However, there are a lot of apps being sent to Apple every day, so it's hard to know how long the review process might take. And if they find something we missed that we'll need to fix, it could take even longer.)

[QUOTE=brab;71472]Do we have real synchronization now (i.e. when both instances are modified, changes are merged)?

I've stopped using OF for the iPhone because I was getting synchronization errors very often. I would then have to choose between my phone or desktop database, both of them having changes, thus losing one set of them (without even having the opportunity to know what the changes were).[/QUOTE]

It sounds like you were running into this problem, which is now fixed:
[INDENT]Fixed a problem which could cause sync database incompatibilities if you synced from a non-list screen (e.g. when editing an action, project, or context), made some edits, but didn't sync those edits before exiting OmniFocus.[/INDENT]
If you're curious about implementation details, the underlying problem in this situation was that the sync database thought the iPhone had already synced all its changes—which it had, up to that point—so it compacted the sync history. But the changes-in-progress on the iPhone were based on its older pre-sync state, so when those changes were saved they caused the database to become incompatible (because the sync database was missing the history it needed to understand how to merge them).

[QUOTE=ianbetteridge;71476]I know I'm being cheeky, but can you share any thoughts on what you might want 2.0 to have in it? :)[/QUOTE]

Later. :) (Next up: OmniFocus 1.8 for Mac!)

This update sounds great! Question, though: you say that there will be an experimental feature for perspectives to be synced from a Mac. I only use OF for my iPod, since I don't have a Mac. Will the ability to use perspectives be available without syncing?

[QUOTE=starfish84;71492]This update sounds great! Question, though: you say that there will be an experimental feature for perspectives to be synced from a Mac. I only use OF for my iPod, since I don't have a Mac. Will the ability to use perspectives be available without syncing?[/QUOTE]

We'd like to do that eventually, but I'm afraid it's not in this release. (There isn't yet an iPhone interface for creating or editing perspectives, so the only way to get a perspective on the iPhone is to create it on a Mac and sync it over.)

[QUOTE=Ken Case;71489]
If you're curious about implementation details, the underlying problem in this situation was that the sync database thought the iPhone had already synced all its changes—which it had, up to that point—so it compacted the sync history. But the changes-in-progress on the iPhone were based on its older pre-sync state, so when those changes were saved they caused the database to become incompatible (because the sync database was missing the history it needed to understand how to merge them).[/QUOTE]

Ah, I see. So it is able to merge changes when done on both sides. Excellent news!

Always has been able to do so -- but the catch is that the merge algorithm is "last change wins" and it is done on a per-action basis. In other words, if you change the context on an action on your iPhone, and then change the title of the action on your Mac, when the two are synced, the only change that will remain is the change to the title.

[QUOTE=Ken Case;71464]
[B]App Integration[/B]
[LIST][*]OmniFocus can now accept tasks from other applications! As a demo of this functionality, there's now an "Install Safari Bookmarklet" option under Experimental Settings (to install a bookmarklet which sends your current web page from Safari to OmniFocus).[/LIST]
[/QUOTE]


Any chance to expand on this more? :) Specifically, for Mail.app? ;) Or even other applications? What is the implementation?

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;71498]Always has been able to do so -- but the catch is that the merge algorithm is "last change wins" and it is done on a per-action basis. In other words, if you change the context on an action on your iPhone, and then change the title of the action on your Mac, when the two are synced, the only change that will remain is the change to the title.[/QUOTE]

I see. It's still fine with me: I was basically hit by the sync bug everytime, so I would lose added Inbox actions. I can live with not being able to edit a given action.

Did you take advantage of the excellent Omni customer support you've paid for? There's no need to lose any data in the cases where the clients throw up their hands and make you choose, so long as the data is still present in one or more of the databases. Don't be shy, you've paid good money for it!

[QUOTE=gandalf44;71501]Any chance to expand on this more? :) Specifically, for Mail.app? ;) Or even other applications? What is the implementation?[/QUOTE]

We'll be documenting in more detail soon, but the API is a simple URL-based API, much like other iPhone APIs (such as those you'll find in [URL="http://www.stone.com/Twittelator/Twittelator_API.html"]Twittelator[/URL] and [URL="http://developer.atebits.com/tweetie-iphone/protocol-reference/"]Tweetie[/URL]).

Here's an example of how you would add a task:
[INDENT]omnifocus:///add?name=hello%20world&note=text%20and%20http://example.org/%20link[/INDENT]
(And before anyone asks: yes, OmniFocus 1.8 for Mac will support this as well.)

We can't add support for this to other iPhone apps ourselves, but we've tried to make it easy for other app developers to add support if they wish. (They can test whether OmniFocus is installed before presenting the option to send something to it, so it will only appear for people who are using OmniFocus.)

P.S. — If you're an iPhone app developer, you'll want to check out our [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?p=71590#post71590"] sample iPhone code for adding a task to OmniFocus[/URL].

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;71503]Did you take advantage of the excellent Omni customer support you've paid for? There's no need to lose any data in the cases where the clients throw up their hands and make you choose, so long as the data is still present in one or more of the databases. Don't be shy, you've paid good money for it![/QUOTE]

I did contact them back in October, and here is the reply I got.

[QUOTE]I'm terribly sorry for the trouble here. As you suspected, OmniFocus currently syncs the most recent edits to the database, rather than merging unsynced edits from multiple sources. So far, we haven't found an effective way of doing this without extending sync times to the point of being unacceptable.

It's good practice to run manual syncs on each copy of OmniFocus before opening and quitting the application- that way your edits will be synced with the server, and pulled down to other devices when you sync them. Again, apologies for the inconvenience.[/QUOTE]

It seems that this has now changed, which is great news.

No, it hasn't changed in the way you think. The practice they describe simply makes it less likely you'll have the opportunity to change the same action in two different places before syncing. By syncing a device when you stop using it, you get any changes made into the transaction history of the central copy, and by syncing a device before you start using it, you get those changes from the central copy.

If you get into a situation where you do have unsynced conflicting changes on multiple devices and OmniFocus throws up its hands, the way to rescue your changes is as follows. I'll assume you have 1 computer and 1 iPhone, for simplicity. On the computer, back up your database to a known backup with File->Back Up Database... to save a copy of that set of changes. Next, force the iPhone to sync and when asked if you want to keep the device database or the sync database (the central copy mentioned above), keep the device database. Now have the computer sync and take the sync database. At this point, double-click on your backup file made above, which will get you an additional OmniFocus window showing your database from the computer as it was when you made the backup. Use the grouping and sorting operations to find any actions and projects changed recently and apply those changes to the main database.

Thanks for this walk through, this would have been very useful a few times.

I guess I should put back OF on my 1st iPhone screen then ...

Looking forward to this!!
 

WOW.This guys just keep blowing my mind!I'm excited about the perspectives stuff, but I'm really looking forward to seeing how much faster the syncing is gonna take,Nonetheless GREAT update from a GREAT company!

…and 1.6 is now available!

Sync time greatly decreased on my iPhone. Thanks very much.

With perspectives how do the perspectives: Contexts, Due and Flagged which synced over differ from the iPhones similar perspectives ? I think they were default OmniFocus Mac perspectives. My only custom perspective which is a Tickler file synced with its custom icon -- very nice.

If it was possible I would like to be able to choose to only sync my custom Tickler perspective and have that display at the top level instead in a Perspectives menu. But I imagine others with lots of perspectives might feel differently about this. Just a thought.

Will this run on the iTablet :-)

Michael

How does perspective sync work? I have about 6 custom perspectives on my mac and only one came across will I be able to choose what ones sync with OmniFocus on mac 1.8?

Cheers for the update though it is very nice.

If I look, on the Mac, at Perspectives > Show Perspectives I see:

Inbox, Projects, Contexts, Due, Flagged, Review, Completed, Flagged and Tickler. I think the last two are custom.

After sync on my iPhone I see in the Perspectives menu > Contexts, Due, Flagged and Tickler.

If I create a random new perspective on the mac called Test and sync it followed by an iPhone sync there is no sign of it on the iPhone. I tried turning off the sync perspectives, resyncing, turning it on again and resyncing. Still not there.

Michael


EDIT: Tthe answer is here

[QUOTE]This is still a work in progress, and currently only supports non-hierarchical (Context mode) perspectives.[/QUOTE]

I just tested it. Sorry for not reading the first post carefully!

Any way to implement iPhone app view in sidebar of mac app? It will be nice have a sidebar on mac like main window on iPhone. Show perspectives on side bar, no on toolbar; have de same on mac and iphone (of course, editable)

Install Bookmarklet
 

Hi All,

I've added the bookmarklet as instructed in Safari and I've edited the address so everything before javascript is included. But when I test the link on my mac it brings Omnifocus up but that's all. It doesn't appear to add the page as a task.

Am I missing something?

Thank you for the most important software update for me since OS 9 met a punk called NeXT. Speed increase is amazing!

This just made OF so much more useable for me on the run.

[QUOTE=Ken Case;71554]…and 1.6 is now available![/QUOTE]

Not yet in my neck of the wood, but I hope so soon.

Sync times here are greatly reduced-thanks so much!

The Perspectives feature, at first glance, appears to not function as I expected. I am not getting the results that I would expect. As one example, I have a 'Due' perspective that shows me 'Due' and the Status for the perspective is set to 'Due Soon'. On the desktop this morning, I have two tasks that appear in this view, both due today. On the iPhone, this perspective shows me tasks with due dates all the way out to April. Below the dated list, it appears that every remaining task in my database (which are all undated) appear.

Also, I have a flagged perspective that, as you might expect, includes all flagged items. On the iPhone, I get the same list of flagged items at the top, then I get a repeat list with all the projects that contain the flagged items. Any flagged item that appears in a SAL is grouped in a section titled 'No Context'.

Is there any documentation on how perspectives are mapped to the iPhone, so that I know how to configure my perspectives so that the results are consistent on both platforms?

Just got the download. My experience with perspectives is the same. I would say it's not ready for prime time as it stand (unless I'm missing something). I also get items that spans multiple days in perspectives that should be limited to 24 hours, and also same thing on flagged.

Also, one perspective, I was getting a number of projects listed underneath the tasks under the label "No Due Date." This is not the behavior I see in OF for Mac.

I guess we might have to wait for 2.0 for both OF and OF for iPhone . . .

NearbyDistanceLimit
 

[QUOTE=Ken Case;71464]The Nearby Contexts list now only shows contexts which are within 50km (~30 miles) by default. You can change this by using a settings link to update the NearbyDistanceLimit setting (specified in km).
[/QUOTE]

How do I do that?

[QUOTE=swashbuckler;71566]Hi All,

I've added the bookmarklet as instructed in Safari and I've edited the address so everything before javascript is included. But when I test the link on my mac it brings Omnifocus up but that's all. It doesn't appear to add the page as a task.

Am I missing something?[/QUOTE]
Yes, OmniFocus 1.8 for your Mac :) The bookmarklet only works on the iPhone/iPod Touch at the moment, because the currently shipping Mac version of OmniFocus (1.7.5) doesn't know what to do with the URLs produced by the bookmarklet.

[QUOTE=MacDork;71576]How do I do that?[/QUOTE]

See [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=14985"]this thread[/URL].

[QUOTE=mmurray;71557]
With perspectives how do the perspectives: Contexts, Due and Flagged which synced over differ from the iPhones similar perspectives ? I think they were default OmniFocus Mac perspectives.
[/quote]
Right. One difference is that you can edit them (on the Mac) if you want their behavior tweaked a bit, unlike the built-in perspectives on the home screen.
[quote]
If it was possible I would like to be able to choose to only sync my custom Tickler perspective and have that display at the top level instead in a Perspectives menu. But I imagine others with lots of perspectives might feel differently about this. Just a thought.
[/quote]
Perspectives are stored in the database just like actions, and all of them are synced everywhere. The iPhone app currently disregards the ones that are based on a project mode view. It isn't impossible to imagine that the Settings panel could get a link to another page that allowed controlling which of the synced perspectives were displayed, perhaps similar to the table of switches for experimental functions.
[quote]
Will this run on the iTablet :-)
[/QUOTE]
Send me one and I'll research it for you :)

[QUOTE=adamayers;71560]How does perspective sync work? I have about 6 custom perspectives on my mac and only one came across will I be able to choose what ones sync with OmniFocus on mac 1.8?
[/QUOTE]
The iPhone app only handles perspectives in context mode, where it isn't necessary to display a hierarchy. Do your "missing" perspectives show contexts or projects?

All perspectives are synced to all clients, just like the rest of the database.

[QUOTE=nawichita;71564]Any way to implement iPhone app view in sidebar of mac app? It will be nice have a sidebar on mac like main window on iPhone. Show perspectives on side bar, no on toolbar; have de same on mac and iphone (of course, editable)[/QUOTE]

Not at the moment. Use Help->Send Feedback or email [email]omnifocus@omnigroup.com[/email] to make an official feature request.

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;71586]See [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=14985"]this thread[/URL].[/QUOTE]

Works perfectly! Thank you very much!

Flawless upgrade
 

This is, for me, a flawless upgrade. Much faster synchronizing, and I am particularly happy about the live updating of lists (more specifically, new tasks materializing when their preceding task in a sequential project is checked off). Perspectives are not very useful as they are now, but they're experimental; I am sure the implementation will improve. Very happy about the delete button (a cross in a circle) for due and start times is now responsive -- no need to tap it 47 times anymore to clear the date and time.

Hurray for the developers!

Sync is super fast! I'm so happy! When I turn on perspectives, it seems to take longer though. With no custom perspectives and the perspective feature turned off, it screams. :-D

[QUOTE=HiramvdG;71604]Perspectives are not very useful as they are now[/QUOTE]
What makes you say that? Are your perspectives mostly project-based? I've found them extremely useful, even though there was a bug until just a few days ago that meant I had to wait about 2 minutes after checking off an action in a perspective!

Specific feedback (here's what I don't like, and why I don't like it, and what I think would work better) is more likely to result in future versions that work the way you want than relying on the developers guessing what changes should be made to get a response other than "this isn't useful to me"....

[QUOTE=sriggs;71605]When I turn on perspectives, it seems to take longer though. [/QUOTE]
What takes longer? My startups (with a large database and a bunch of perspectives, which should amplify any differences) seem to take the same amount of time with the perspectives turned on or off. It's a bit tricky to make good comparisons on syncs if some work is being done, but the comparisons I did seem to suggest the perspectives feature isn't slowing them down much, if at all. I could believe that it takes a bit longer if you have a sync take place while you are viewing a perspective than if you are at the home screen.

Thanks Ken for the update. Congratulations on implementing a release that illustrates your vision for a seamless experience. That is encouraging to current users. Especially like the following items.

[B][U]Perspectives:[/U][/B]
Even though Perspectives are in context mode (which is a small percentage of my overall perspectives), this is a welcomed addition to the iPhone. I have been waiting for this for a while.

[B][U]Quick Entry:[/U][/B]
Also the Quick Entry button text was a great feature (although I knew about it), I did not know if it was supported/encouraged as I thought it might slow down/cancel the sync if I pushed it. Good to know that it was approved.

[QUOTE=Greg Jones;71571]
The Perspectives feature, at first glance, appears to not function as I expected. I am not getting the results that I would expect. As one example, I have a 'Due' perspective that shows me 'Due' and the Status for the perspective is set to 'Due Soon'. On the desktop this morning, I have two tasks that appear in this view, both due today. On the iPhone, this perspective shows me tasks with due dates all the way out to April. Below the dated list, it appears that every remaining task in my database (which are all undated) appear.
[/quote]
Yes, 'Due Soon' as an action filter on the Mac doesn't seem to work the same way on the iPhone. Whether or not this was a design decision, I don't know. It doesn't filter out actions which have no due date. On the other hand, I don't like that there isn't a way to construct a context mode perspective on the Mac that shows all items with a due date, not just those overdue and due soon.

[quote]
Also, I have a flagged perspective that, as you might expect, includes all flagged items. On the iPhone, I get the same list of flagged items at the top, then I get a repeat list with all the projects that contain the flagged items. Any flagged item that appears in a SAL is grouped in a section titled 'No Context'.
[/quote]
I'm not seeing the SAL behavior you report. All my flagged actions in SALs end up in their appropriate context when viewed in my Flagged perspective which I think is unchanged from factory settings. The list I get with no context consists of projects that don't have a default context set. One thing that Ken seems to have omitted from the release notes is that action groups and projects now show up! Here's the relevant text from the first release notes from the alpha test:

Feature: Parent items (projects and other groups of actions) and Inbox items now show up in Context lists, Due lists, and Flagged lists. When a list is sorted by project they follow their children (the natural order for completing them).

[quote]
Is there any documentation on how perspectives are mapped to the iPhone, so that I know how to configure my perspectives so that the results are consistent on both platforms?[/QUOTE]

No, not that I've seen.

[QUOTE=ksrhee;71572]I also get items that spans multiple days in perspectives that should be limited to 24 hours, and also same thing on flagged.
[/quote]
What do you mean by that, exactly? The perspective support on the iPhone doesn't heed what was collapsed on the Mac, is that what you mean?
[quote]
Also, one perspective, I was getting a number of projects listed underneath the tasks under the label "No Due Date." This is not the behavior I see in OF for Mac.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, you don't see it in OF for Mac because it is an OF for Mac 1.8 feature :)

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;71631]I'm not seeing the SAL behavior you report. All my flagged actions in SALs end up in their appropriate context when viewed in my Flagged perspective which I think is unchanged from factory settings. The list I get with no context consists of projects that don't have a default context set. One thing that Ken seems to have omitted from the release notes is that action groups and projects now show up! Here's the relevant text from the first release notes from the alpha test:

Feature: Parent items (projects and other groups of actions) and Inbox items now show up in Context lists, Due lists, and Flagged lists. When a list is sorted by project they follow their children (the natural order for completing them).[/QUOTE]

I've not had much time to explore this further, but today I do not see the SAL behavior that I first reported. However, I am seeing the behavior where when a flagged item contained within a project that has a default context, the project and the task appear in the flagged perspective (follow the children). Flagged tasks that are in a project without a default context do not show the project. If this is indeed a feature, it is not obvious to me how so? If I am in flat, context mode list, why would I want to display any hierarchical data? I suppose this might have value for me if the project is flagged, but in my database I have no flagged projects.

Again, let me say it is not yet obvious to me how this feature might add value, but my first reaction is that I believe it is counter-intuitive and counter-GTD. My GTD workflow, and my understanding of GTD, is to plan (if desired) in a hierarchical mode, but it is imperative to work the plan in a flat mode. This is one of the key things that always appealed to me with OmniFocus-a hierarchical planning (Project) mode and a flat working (Context) mode. I suppose I can override this by removing the default contexts from my projects, but I will miss the time-saving feature that came with auto-assigning a default context.

[i]Test project with a default context assigned, and a flagged task in that project, viewed in a flagged perspective. The project is not flagged.[/i]
[img]http://grab.by/grabs/01dc8d3a7a9ef9cf402a4020b420738f.png[/img]

[QUOTE=Greg Jones;71641][i]Test project with a default context assigned, and a flagged task in that project, viewed in a flagged perspective. The project is not flagged.[/i]
[img]http://grab.by/grabs/01dc8d3a7a9ef9cf402a4020b420738f.png[/img][/QUOTE]

Please send us feedback about any perspectives which don't match up with what you expect—that's why they're still experimental! (There's no way to do public beta tests on the iPhone, unfortunately, so we've only been able to test the app with a few people's perspectives so far.)

I just tested, and you're right, it looks like perspectives which have their Flag Filter set to "Flagged" show unflagged parents of flagged items. They're not supposed to do that, it's a bug. (That's an accidental artifact of the way Project mode perspectives work on the Mac, where the perspective has to include the parent of a flagged item or it wouldn't show up within its hierarchy.)

We'll fix it!

I don't quite understand how to add the bookmarklet. I mean . . . I know I need to to "install bookmarklet", then go into safari, and delete everything before the word "javascript".

But this is the part I don't understand. Does this mean, everything after "http://", which means "help.omnigroup.com/____?", thus leaving me with:

[url]http://javascript:window[/url] . . . . Component(document.title)"

Do I have this correct?

You don't want the http:// bit. It should look like this:

Thanks for the pic!

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;71634]What do you mean by that, exactly? The perspective support on the iPhone doesn't heed what was collapsed on the Mac, is that what you mean?

Yes, you don't see it in OF for Mac because it is an OF for Mac 1.8 feature :)[/QUOTE]

I have a perspective that is supposed to only show due soon (24 hours), but I saw on Sunday not only Sunday, but Monday, Friday, several days next week, and then NO DUE DATE.

So, this got to be a bug since I should be seeing overdue items and items that are due within 24 hours.

Another reference to flagged items that I was seeing was just mentioned by Ken Case to be a bug.

As far as your comment about I'm not seeing in OF since I don't have 1.8 doesn't seem to make sense to me. If I'm seeing something that is not supposed to be (the way I designed the perspective), then how can it be a feature of a new version (unless OMNI wants to introduce a bug into a new version intentionally?)

I am seeing the same flagged bug that Ken mentioned, as well as the lack of respect for the "Due Soon" items in any perspective. Since it seems like some people (glances at Whpalmer) are having trouble understanding what the problem is here, it is rather simple. The "Due Soon" mode on the iPhone on the main screen respects the phone's setting for "Due Soon" time being 24hrs. However, if one creates a perspective that includes "Due" this is not respected, and everything is shown. Let know if that is not clear and I will try again...

Everything else (sync time, etc.) is fantastic -- thanks for the hard work devs!!!

I realize the perspectives are experimental, but I was really hoping my "Today" view (which has Due or Flagged stuff on it) would work on the first shot since it isn't hierarchical. Hopefully next time!

I was referring to the fact that OmniFocus 1.6 for iPhone has (accidental, it seems) support for showing the parent action group or project in a context list, a feature that is planned (as I understand it) to appear in OmniFocus 1.8. Ken tells me he pulled it at the last minute from 1.6, but didn't get all of it, the perspectives part of it remains. My test case to reproduce your scenario looked a lot like what I'd been seeing all along, so it didn't strike me as being a bug. So, the behavior you saw (or what I thought you saw, at least) was due to a feature that is only in the iPhone version at the moment.

[QUOTE=wolfneuralnet;71682]I am seeing the same flagged bug that Ken mentioned, as well as the lack of respect for the "Due Soon" items in any perspective. Since it seems like some people (glances at Whpalmer) are having trouble understanding what the problem is here, it is rather simple.
[/quote]
:)
Some people (glances at self) think it's an improvement! I dislike that I can't get a due view that goes into the future as far as the eye can see. You can always stop scrolling if the list goes longer than you want, but you can't look at something that isn't shown.

The perspectives support on the iPhone doesn't heed the expanded/unexpanded state of groups at all.
[quote]
The "Due Soon" mode on the iPhone on the main screen respects the phone's setting for "Due Soon" time being 24hrs. However, if one creates a perspective that includes "Due" this is not respected, and everything is shown. Let know if that is not clear and I will try again...
[/quote]
It's clear. We might have to agree to disagree on which behavior we feel is correct, Mac or iPhone. I think the Mac gets it wrong with 'Due or Flagged' because what it implements is 'Due Soon or Flagged' and that is neither what I want nor what the documentation describes (to be fair, 'Due or Flagged' doesn't appear to be documented at all, but the non-existent documentation should spell out the behavior).
[Quote]
I realize the perspectives are experimental, but I was really hoping my "Today" view (which has Due or Flagged stuff on it) would work on the first shot since it isn't hierarchical. Hopefully next time![/QUOTE]
So, in addition to thing due today, it shows stuff you should have gotten done already, and it shows stuff you've flagged as important but isn't due today, meaning if you do everything on your "Today" view you're ahead of the game. This is a problem? :)

Moderator's note: I inadvertently started a side discussion of the [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=15012"]filter bar changes which are coming in OmniFocus 1.8[/URL], which I've now moved to its own thread.

OK -- so I got that the Due Soon behavior will be more flexible in 1.8 for desktop OF (other thread). Thanks for the clarification.

Ken -- back to this thread, which got off track -- is there a reason, or is it just a bug, that the perspectives on the iPhone version are not respecting the Due Soon iPhone setting (like 24hr), or am I not understanding correctly why all of the Due items are showing up instead of just the Due Soon items in these perspectives?

[QUOTE=wolfneuralnet;71741]Ken -- back to this thread, which got off track -- is there a reason, or is it just a bug, that the perspectives on the iPhone version are not respecting the Due Soon iPhone setting (like 24hr), or am I not understanding correctly why all of the Due items are showing up instead of just the Due Soon items in these perspectives?[/QUOTE]

That sounds like a bug, but based on what you've described so far I'm not able to reproduce it: I just checked my Due perspective and experimented with changing my "due soon" definition in Settings, and it obeys the setting for me. (I set it to 24 hours, and my perspective only showed me due items through today; I then changed it to 1 week, and it showed me all my due items for the next week.)

P.S. — Of course, one difference is that I'm using OmniFocus 1.8 development builds on the Mac side. I wouldn't expect that to matter, but maybe there's something in the 1.7 compatibility code that isn't working quite right?

[QUOTE=Ken Case;71743]That sounds like a bug, but based on what you've described so far I'm not able to reproduce it: I just checked my Due perspective and experimented with changing my "due soon" definition in Settings, and it obeys the setting for me. (I set it to 24 hours, and my perspective only showed me due items through today; I then changed it to 1 week, and it showed me all my due items for the next week.)

P.S. — Of course, one difference is that I'm using OmniFocus 1.8 development builds on the Mac side. I wouldn't expect that to matter, but maybe there's something in the 1.7 compatibility code that isn't working quite right?[/QUOTE]

Perhaps it is a difference in how the platforms are behaving, or in 1.7.6 and 1.8. On my side, if I create any perspective with "Due or Flagged" as the setting on the 1.7.6 side, I get only that stuff which is due today on the Mac

When the perspective is synced, I get everything and the kitchen sink, sorted by context on the iPhone. Perhaps the due or flagged is not implemented properly on the iPhone side (or just differently?)

Lets try this a different way. If I want to create a new perspective that will only show me the items that are due in the next 24hrs or have been flagged, what should I do (i.e. a combination of the main "Due Soon" and "Flagged" from the initial screen of the iPhone.) I call this perspective "Today" whether that is good GTD practice or not :)

Thanks for your help with this. I know a lot of users (and Things refugees looking for syncing) will appreciate having this option when it is worked out.

[QUOTE=Ken Case;71743]That sounds like a bug, but based on what you've described so far I'm not able to reproduce it: I just checked my Due perspective and experimented with changing my "due soon" definition in Settings, and it obeys the setting for me. (I set it to 24 hours, and my perspective only showed me due items through today; I then changed it to 1 week, and it showed me all my due items for the next week.)

P.S. — Of course, one difference is that I'm using OmniFocus 1.8 development builds on the Mac side. I wouldn't expect that to matter, but maybe there's something in the 1.7 compatibility code that isn't working quite right?[/QUOTE]

I definitely see this as well. Any perspectives that use "Due Soon" or "Due Soon or Flagged" on OF 1.7.5 for Mac show ALL items on the iPhone. What you effectively get is "All items, grouped by due date" as the view on the phone.

I can send a support request if you truly can't reproduce this, but it's trivial for me to reproduce. I've avoided using perspectives on the iPhone for this reason.

Frankly, my preference (feature request!) is to be able to replace the default "perspectives" on the phone (Due Soon, Overdue, and Flagged) with my perspective which is "Due Soon or Flagged" on the Mac. As right now, I have to view 3 separate areas to view all tasks, and the "Due Soon or Flagged" setting on OF for Mac shows it all in one view.

[QUOTE=CatOne;71747]I definitely see this as well. Any perspectives that use "Due Soon" or "Due Soon or Flagged" on OF 1.7.5 for Mac show ALL items on the iPhone. What you effectively get is "All items, grouped by due date" as the view on the phone.
[/QUOTE]

I can confirm. For me, a perspective on the iPhone with "Due or Flagged" or "Due Soon" shows every task, regardless of whether or not it has a due date at all. Bummer!! I was about to drop Things and come back to Omnifocus if this worked.

C

exporting: on date of event...
 

Hello Ken,

I don't understand how should work
exporting calendar: on date of event...
is it supposed to create an all-day event/warning?

thanks

Alessandro

[QUOTE=brab;71472]Do we have real synchronization now (i.e. when both instances are modified, changes are merged)?

I've stopped using OF for the iPhone because I was getting synchronization errors very often. I would then have to choose between my phone or desktop database, both of them having changes, thus losing one set of them (without even having the opportunity to know what the changes were).[/QUOTE]

I know I'm late to this party, but I think there was a miscommunication in the original email exchange, and I wanted to try and clear it up.

Brab, you were encountering the bug that Ken mentioned in his post; the database on the device and the server end up out of sync and cannot be reconciled.

The Support Ninja that responded to your ticket thought you were encountering a different situation, though - a situation where the same item in the database has been edited on multiple devices. In that smaller, more limited case, whatever edit was made last 'wins' and the earlier one is discarded. (Doing a field-by-field merge of the two edits to the same item is the part that would prolong sync times.)

Basically the response you got didn't actually match the problem you were having; I'm really sorry about the confusion this caused. I'll mention it to the support ninja in question.

I'm really sorry for the confusion this caused. The bug that caused your original symptoms has been fixed. In current versions, those messages will only appear if folks manually compact their database while some devices aren't fully synced.

And yes, one sync can both push changes up to the server and pull them down at the same time.

[QUOTE=CatOne;71747]I definitely see this as well. Any perspectives that use "Due Soon" or "Due Soon or Flagged" on OF 1.7.5 for Mac show ALL items on the iPhone. What you effectively get is "All items, grouped by due date" as the view on the phone.[/QUOTE]

I checked in with the team on this - we're going to have a fix for this in the 1.6.1 release. Sorry for the trouble it's caused, folks.

[QUOTE=amelchi;71924]Hello Ken,

I don't understand how should work
exporting calendar: on date of event...
is it supposed to create an all-day event/warning?

thanks

Alessandro[/QUOTE]

Alessandro, we try to spend as much time on the forums as we can, but we can't promise that we'll always be able to respond. If you email the [EMAIL="omnifocus-iphone@omnigroup.com"]support ninjas[/EMAIL], though, you will always get a timely response to your question.

The calendar sync doesn't create all-day items. What it does is create an event a few minutes before the due dates on your actions; that's meant to remind you of the deadline you added to the action.

[QUOTE=Brian;72718]I checked in with the team on this - we're going to have a fix for this in the 1.6.1 release. Sorry for the trouble it's caused, folks.[/QUOTE]

Nobody's perfect. Glad it's getting fixed in 1.6.1!