Any "Save pdf to Omnifocus" feature?
 

Hi,

Whenever I print a file on my Mac, I can choose to save it as a pdf or send the pdf to another application (for example, my menu gives me the option of "send pdf to Journler" or "send pdf to Evernote.") I was wondering if it is possible to have this menu for Omnifocus as well. If so, how do I activate it?

Thanks for suggestions,

Acacio

This functionality isn't built-in to OmniFocus. It could probably be implemented using scripts. Use Help → Send Feedback to submit feature suggestions to get them entered in the development database. (See [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=3734"]this sticky thread[/URL] at the top of the forum for details.)

If you do a search on the internet I think you'll be able to find instructions for writing scripts for that PDF menu. I remember it being relatively straightforward.

Writing workflows for the PDF button is relatively straightforward if and only if there's an Automator plug-in that does what you need...but at the end of this workflow, you need to clip the file into OmniFocus, and I don't think there's anything off the shelf that will do that. I understand that you can roll your own Automator actions with Applescript and Xcode, however. [URL="http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/AppleApplications/Conceptual/AutomatorTutorialAppleScript/Introduction/Introduction.html"]http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/AppleApplications/Conceptual/AutomatorTutorialAppleScript/Introduction/Introduction.html[/URL]

Personally, I think I'll be able to print quite a few PDF files to the desktop and clip them from the Finder in the time that getting the fully automated setup working might take :-)

An interesting aside that might be of some help: You can place a folder alias in your "~/Library/PDF Services" folder to have the location show up in the "Save as PDF" menu in the Print dialog. This might make it easier to have a common location for all your saved PDFs.

Now, if OmniFocus' dock icon accepted file drags, you might be able to place an alias of the OmniFocus app itself in your PDF Services folder. Seems like that should work.

But, alas, the OmniFocus dock icon turns its back and looks the other way whenever a dragged file approaches. :-(

-Dennis

I did a bit more digging, including installing Evernote to see how it accomplished the PDF to Evernote workflow. It installs an alias to the Evernote app in the Library/PDF Services folder, named PDF to Evernote. Apparently, the Evernote app knows that if it is invoked with the alternate name, it is to take the associated PDF file and add it to the database. Doesn't help us, unfortunately. Put in a folder alias as Dennis suggests as a "PDF inbox", then clip them one at a time from the Finder on a regular basis...

Sadly, it appears that sending an email with an attached PDF to user+omnifocus doesn't do the trick either.

Well, what do you know, I already had the solution sitting in my Inbox, waiting to be processed!

This website [URL="http://www.cerquant.com/omnifocus_scripts"]http://www.cerquant.com/omnifocus_scripts[/URL] has an "AddFileToInbox" script/droplet that appears to do the trick if set up as a Folder Action item in a folder.

Nice one!

Thanks!
 

Hi Folks,

Thanks for all the suggestions. I got it working by doing the following.

1. downloaded the script (thanks whpalmer4) AddFileToInbox from the link [url]http://www.cerquant.com/omnifocus_scripts[/url]

2. Moved the scripts to a directory where I would keep it, and created an alias to "AddFileToInbox_Dropplet" (right click on it and choose "create alias").

3. Then I moved the alias to the folder "~/Library/PDF Services", and changed the alias name to "Save PDF to Omnifocus".

That's it. Not I can print a pdf to Omnifocus.

Now, there is a small caveat. For some reason, when I print it, the file is saved in a subdirectory of /private/var/folders/.../tmp, which suggests me is a temporary directory. Do you guys know if there is a way to change this?

Thanks again for all the help.

Acacio

What I did was make a folder in my Documents folder called "Printed PDF files for OmniFocus". I then made an alias to that folder, which I named "Send PDF to OmniFocus" and placed in ~/Library/PDF Services. I used Applications/Applescript/Folder Actions Setup to enable folder actions for the "Printed PDF files for OmniFocus" folder, and set it to run the AddFileToInbox_Droplet file when a file is put in that folder. This saves a copy of the file in a place where it won't be deleted if my system is rebooted.

Note that the script does not embed the file in the OmniFocus database, so if you are syncing with another Mac or an iPhone/iPod touch, you won't be able to view the file. It isn't clear to me if it is possible with the current Applescript dictionary to tell OmniFocus to embed a file. One possible workaround for this difficulty would be to arrange to store your files "printed" to OmniFocus in a common location, such as a MobileMe folder or a [URL="http://www.getdropbox.com"]Dropbox[/URL] folder which would have the same name and be reachable from multiple machines, and then it wouldn't matter that you were only syncing the URL, not the actual file.