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-   -   Omnifocus iCal Due Reminders Calendar (http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=20474)

fredday 2011-03-22 04:56 PM

Omnifocus iCal Due Reminders Calendar
 
I just discovered the omnifocus iCal Due Reminders option. I was very excited to be able to integrate this at my work, but there was some limitation. This is what I was looking for:

The ability to transfer my tasks in OF that have a "Start" and "Due" date inputed to ical through sync. For example if I have an OF Task: Process E-mails Start: 9:00 am Due: 9:30 am, I would like it to be sent to iCal as an Event: Process E-mails From: 9:00 am To: 9:30am (it would be even better if it attached notes from the OF task as well)

Unfortunately the current iCal Due Reminders option only enters the due time without the relevent start time so the iCal Event appears as: Process E-mails From: 9:30 am To: 9:30 am).

I know that GTD states that calendars are sacred landscapes dedicated only to appointments and not tasks. But I've been finding it very successful for me to plan for the upcoming week by actually scheduling urgent tasks in my calendar (with flexible flex time of course dedicated to knock off tasks that are not as urgent). That way I know what to concentrate on and when.

Anyway, by having an option, where OF can send "scheduled tasks" with a Start & Due date straight to iCal would be perfect integration and take out a few steps in my planning process (more efficient time managment). If anyone has a solution or advice that would be great.

Fredday
P.S. I've already tried an applescript hack "send to ical" but I found it faulty, clumsy and erased iCal events in other calendar. Basically it cause more work for me.

whpalmer4 2011-03-22 05:31 PM

The OmniFocus Reminders calendar is just a sneaky way to get notifications of impending due events on the iPhone/iPod touch/iPad in the absence of a reliable notification service that could be used by 3rd party applications under iOS 3.x. It puts in a zero-length appointment at the time the notification is to happen, and the calendar app does the rest.

My suggestion is that you not try to maintain these items in both places. If you want to make an agreement with yourself to answer email from 9 to 9:30 every morning, put it on your calendar, not in OmniFocus. You're not bucking GTD orthodoxy at all by doing so, any more than you would be by putting a trip to an office in another city to meet with colleagues. But when 9 am rolls around, you work on answering email. If you aren't going to stick to the agreement, there's little point having it in your calendar.

fredday 2011-03-22 08:48 PM

Hi whpalmer4,
Perhaps my example was too simple in what I was trying to portray. I have a number of projects on the go and as part of my weekly review I do every Friday I schedule urgent tasks for the upcoming week associated with those projects directly into my calendar.

A little background to my GTD approach. I adhere to most of the GTD philosophy, but where I veer away from GTD is that i adhere strongly to [URL="http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?3931-Question-About-quot-Take-Back-Your-Life-quot-Book"]Sally McGhee's[/URL] take of GTD application (David Allen's former business partner who co-founded the GTD process). Her approach is much more structured around scheduling. One of her principles is that there is a higher probability of a task being done if it is scheduled in your calendar. This approach works very well for me because i need that structure.

Ive recently gone from PC to Mac at my work in the past week and a half and integrating my iphone, Macbook pro, email, iCal and iPad. Since OF is my central task list I find myself going back and forth from my tasks and iCal when planning. So the ability to integrate scheduling for tasks in iCal will help me incredibly in managing my time efficiently.

I apologize for my longwinded rationale but I thought it important to provide some background.


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