The Omni Group Forums

The Omni Group Forums (http://forums.omnigroup.com/index.php)
-   OmniFocus for iPad (http://forums.omnigroup.com/forumdisplay.php?f=63)
-   -   Forecast Shows Tasks Way in the Future (http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=19894)

gdpmumin 2011-01-26 02:28 PM

Forecast Shows Tasks Way in the Future
 
Here's a sequence of events that has me confused.
[LIST][*]In Forecast view, checked a recurring item as completed[*]Looked at tomorrow's tasks[*]Next instance of the task appears (although it doesn't start until Monday)[*]Thought I had not checked completed task (didn't pay attention to the start date)[*]Checked task (again)[*]Next instance shows up (although it doesn't start until Monday, Feb. 1)[*]Pull up completed tasks[*]Uncheck next week's task[*]Now both next week's and the following week's task appear on tomorrow's list in Forecast view[/LIST]I have shut down and restarted the app and that doesn't solve the problem. Any help would be appreciated.

whpalmer4 2011-01-26 02:57 PM

Are you syncing, or is the iPad your only client? Can you show us the dates tab for the recurring action(s)? I'm not quite sure I understand the first part of your report.

The second part makes sense, however. Repeating tasks have the next task created when you mark the current one complete. If you subsequently go back and unmark the current one complete, it will not destroy the one you've made, so you will end up with a duplicate, unless you unmarked it with the Undo function. Just tapping the checkbox again will not do what you want.

You can simply delete the unwanted duplicates.

gdpmumin 2011-01-26 03:06 PM

I have attached a screen shot. You'll notice there are two instances of "Select Sunday's anthem." One doesn't start until Monday, January 31. That's the one I accidentally checked as completed after it was created when I checked its predecessor today. But my point is that task should never have appeared on tomorrow's task list in Forecast anyway, because it doesn't start until Monday. The fact that it showed up confused me.

I'm syncing with OmniSync for back up and to keep my iPad and iPod Touch in sync, but I use a PC at home and at the office.

[IMG]http://isaiahsix.org/images/of.png[/IMG]

whpalmer4 2011-01-26 03:45 PM

Okay, I think if you look at the Select Sunday's anthem actions, you'll find that they have a due date before their start dates. If there is a start date, that's what OmniFocus will show at the bottom right of the action, otherwise it will show a due date (if there is one). In this case, I'm going to channel [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTI3rm5z6bo"]Karnak the Magnificent[/URL] and divine that the due date on those two actions is...January 27, 2011 :-)

I asked about the syncing because an easy way to get a duplicate with a repeating action is to mark the same action complete on two different devices. The sync code isn't clever enough yet to only keep one of the newly created actions when the two (or more) devices are synced together, and doing so could be a bit complicated in the general case, because you might have gone and edited the newly created actions.

gdpmumin 2011-01-26 05:25 PM

Thanks, whpalmer4, for your help. I appreciate it. The tasks show due dates of February 2 and February 9, respectively. The recurring task is set to start on Monday and is on Wednesday each week.

Just to test the situation, I edited both tasks to remove the start date and left only the due date. Both remained on tomorrow's Forecast list. I then deleted both tasks completely and created a new task with a start of January 31 and a due date of February 2. I made the task recurring weekly. Next week's instance of the task appears on tomorrow's Forecast. The task also appears on tomorrow's list under Perspectives > Due. So, either I'm missing some logic here (likely) or OmniFocus is missing some logic (less likely, but still possible).

The syncing could be a problem if a task is addressed on two different devices; I get that. That's not the case here. I haven't opened OmniFocus on my iPod Touch at all today.

whpalmer4 2011-01-26 06:51 PM

Those actions are part of a project, right? What is the due date of the project? OmniFocus uses the most restrictive due date, so those actions must be part of a project or action group which is due on January 27.

whpalmer4 2011-01-26 06:53 PM

[QUOTE=gdpmumin;92345]The syncing could be a problem if a task is addressed on two different devices; I get that. That's not the case here. I haven't opened OmniFocus on my iPod Touch at all today.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I was just trying to alert you to another way you could get duplicates, not suggesting it was the cause here.

gdpmumin 2011-01-26 07:03 PM

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;92346]Those actions are part of a project, right? What is the due date of the project? OmniFocus uses the most restrictive due date, so those actions must be part of a project or action group which is due on January 27.[/QUOTE]

That's it exactly. I wasn't putting two and two together. Because not all tasks for a project due tomorrow have been completed, when I did complete some, next week's instances of those tasks were still showing up as due tomorrow because the project is not yet complete. So it can get a bit tricky having a recurring project. Now that I know that, I can plan accordingly.

Thanks so much for your help!

whpalmer4 2011-01-26 07:50 PM

Oh, do you have recurring tasks in a recurring project? That's usually not a good idea—either the actions repeat, or the project repeats, but both probably means the project never completes...

gdpmumin 2011-01-26 08:11 PM

Yes. Well, I did. The recurring tasks were part of a recurring project. It's something I have to do every week. I'll remove the recurring nature of the project and that should fix everything.


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 05:18 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.