integration with iCal
 

I'd love to get some advice on methodologies for integrating OF with iCal.

So far I am finding both of these to be very helpful new software and I'd love to get some advice/experience on how other users do this for max utility.

Also, I am interested in quickly - if this is possible - adding iCal events with - say - some kind of shorcut. Say for instance there is a date in a newsletter for a lecture and I am copying and pasting the info into OF. Is there a quick way to add the date and time to iCal?

Thanks

iCal's to-do features are abysmal. BusyCal allows me to see my tasks in the day cell of my monthly or weekly view.

I created a calendar in BusyCal/iCal and call it "OmniFocus calendar".

Then I go to OmniFocus and create a context called "iCal to Go"

Then go to Preferences > iCal and drag the "iCal to Go" context to my "OmniFocus calendar".

Whenever I type in a task that I want to go to my calendar, I set the context of that task to "iCal to Go".

Then you can go to File > Synchronize with iCal". All of my tasks that have the 'iCal to Go" context will automatically transfer over to iCal. When I switch to iCal/BusyCal, my iCal calendar labelled "OmniFocus calendar" gets populated with all the tasks that have the context "iCal to Go".

You do have to remember to synchronize with iCal every now and then. It doesn't automatically synchronize on a schedule.

You can also customize the toolbar and add the Synchronize to iCal button.


Not every task should be mapped to iCal. The only tasks I really sync to iCal are true hard deadlines. Something like "buy Christmas presents by December 23" would be something worthwhile to sync. I also put some of my bills like "pay Visa/MasterCard/Amex card by May 1st" would be another one.

If you go to iCal/BusyCal, you will see a URL that links back to the original OmniFocus task. You can click on it to return back to OmniFocus to see the task in the project it was placed in.

If you check off the task in iCal/BusyCal and do another sync, it will show as completed in OmniFocus. Likewise, you can check off a task in OmniFocus, do a sync with iCal, and the task will be shown as complete in iCal. Notes can also be edited in either the calendar or OmniFocus.




I endorse BusyCal just because it can show me my deadline/tasks in a calendar view. iCal just shows the tasks on a sidebar and doesn't really help me much.

BusyCal can replicate the OmniFocus for iPad's forecast feature in this manner. So I don't really have to wait for Omnigroup to create a forecast view in the OmniFocus for Mac edition. BusyCal does it for me already!


But I do wish that the OmniFolks would just buy BusyCal already and integrate it into the product line!

Summary: Create tasks in OmniFocus and set the context to "iCal to Go". Select File >Synchronize with iCal.

That rocks
 

Wilsonng . . .

Just used your hack, and that is great. I was going round and round trying to get them to sync.

Thanks for that.

Don't have any handy hacks on setting up a perspective for *today's tasks* by chance . . . hm . . ?

Cheers.

You can do a search on the forums for "today perspective"

Everyone's today perspective will be a little different from everyone else.

Two recent threads can be found here:

[url]http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=20583&highlight=today[/url]


[url]http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=20769&highlight=today[/url]

A popular feature of Things was a built-in today perspective. You can find a similar setup of the today perspective in this thread.