Tying OmniFocus to OmniOutline
 

I use OmniOutline to record many details about projects that I'm working on. These details don't belong in OmniFocus, but a GREAT feature would be the ability to have a Project and/or task provide a clickable link to OmniOutline.

Now a simple URL link that you could click on to send you to the file level would be OK, but what I was looking for was a way to link to a heading inside of a complex OmniOutline document. This link might contain specific information related to the task at hand (The project might be linked to the file itself).

If this link could be inherited to subtasks that would be a killer feature. Of course this isn't simple, as it probably requires some kind of unique identifier tied to a specific heading in OO (so when you move the item in OmniOutline, the link would still be able to find it). Of course this requires a slight change in OO's file format and DTD.

Just something to think about.

Jeffrey

OO items already have unique identifiers associated with them. I think all of what you want can be done with AppleScript.

What do you see as the interface? I was thinking of a script in OO that would take the selected OO item and create a new OF action (in the OF inbox) that links to the item. From the OF side another script would cause the linked OO outline to open with the linked item selected.

[QUOTE=Kane]I use OmniOutline to record many details about projects that I'm working on. These details don't belong in OmniFocus, but a GREAT feature would be the ability to have a Project and/or task provide a clickable link to OmniOutline.

Now a simple URL link that you could click on to send you to the file level would be OK, but what I was looking for was a way to link to a heading inside of a complex OmniOutline document. This link might contain specific information related to the task at hand (The project might be linked to the file itself).[/QUOTE]

I was [B]just[/B] imagining exactly that same setup the other day. OO would be a great place to park the thinking associated with a project (desired outcome, brainstorming, etc.) and if I could have all of that stuff for all of my active projects in one big OO file, directly linkable from OF, that'd be great.

I looked through the stored files and didn't see any persistent id-tag data stored with the headings. It could be that these could be added easlily (since any program that reads the file will just ignore XML tags it doesn't understand), however I don't think OminOutline would preserve the extra data after you opened it (at least in it's current "incarnation")

I haven't looked at the XML, but items in OmniOutliner clearly have unique IDs accessible via Applescript that persist across launches. The functionality is central to many scripts that I've written and to Ethan's kGTD implementation.