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-   -   Duplicate entries in iCal & OmniFocus, or items being moved to OF inbox (http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=10835)

Fontmedia 2008-12-12 10:18 AM

Duplicate entries in iCal & OmniFocus, or items being moved to OF inbox
 
Hi,

I am seeing duplicated entries in iCal and OmniFocus. Strangely, the duplicated entries in OF are showing up with different contexts on some entries, and the same context for other groups, i.e., "Look for Electrician" is duplicated with the same context "home" and also has another duplicate with the context of "shopping-groceries"? Is this a bad database?

I have been using OF since the beta, and have OF for the iPhone as well. Mac OS 10.5.5, multiple machines. The database exists on a personal WebDAV server.

Thanks for any help.

Kurt

Brian 2008-12-12 12:38 PM

Is anything else on your Mac syncing with the iCal to-do database?

Unfortunately, the to-do database doesn't have a way to uniquely identify items - you can't rely on the name of the action because it might be modified, or you may have more than one action with the same name.

OmniFocus (and we suspect most other apps that sync to-dos) works around this problem by adding a link to the "URL" field of each to-do. This works to uniquely identify a to-do when a single product is syncing with iCal, but since each can only have one URL attached, if two products both try to sync with iCal, they stomp all over each other. The other product's links are going to look like brand-new actions to OmniFocus, and vice versa.

Another customer had duplicates start showing up in iCal, and we traced the problem back to this interaction.

Jody Severson 2008-12-12 04:21 PM

I've had the same thing happen, lots of dupes. I have been syncing tasks to my Blackberry via Missing Sync. In particular, items in subgroups were always being duped and moved out of the hierarchy to the top level in each project. Also, as noted by Kurt, some weirdness with erratic context assignments among the duped items.

I toggled Missing Sync to overwrite the Blackberry tasks 100% of the time and that seems to have solved the problem. I can't enter or change tasks on the BB now, but hardly ever did, and always carry other ways of capturing to-do ideas anyway.

pairof9s 2009-09-18 06:54 AM

iCal overriding OF tasks
 
Every morning, once I open OmniFocus (1.7.3) and settle up any tasks that are now complete, I usually wait for it to sync to iDisk then initiate a sync with iCal. However, just about every time, iCal overrides any tasks I have completed as not finished and places the tasks in the Inbox.

If I click on Clean Up, the tasks do go back to their original Projects, but it does not return them to the completed state as they were in OF prior to syncing w/ iCal.

Any new tasks entered in OF prior to the last sync w/ iCal are still indeed in OF after the new sync as well as located in iCal.

Is this a known issue and is there a workaround (other than manually editing each changed instance)?

Brian 2009-09-18 04:10 PM

Are any other products syncing with iCal? If something else is modifying iCal's to-do list, it may be breaking the link to the originals in OmniFocus. That would be one thing that could cause OmniFocus to add a whole bunch of tasks to the inbox when you sync...

pairof9s 2009-09-21 10:05 AM

[QUOTE=Brian;67079]Are any other products syncing with iCal? If something else is modifying iCal's to-do list, it may be breaking the link to the originals in OmniFocus. That would be one thing that could cause OmniFocus to add a whole bunch of tasks to the inbox when you sync...[/QUOTE]

No, I am unaware of any other programs running syncs with iCal besides MobileMe. Certainly none that are creating/editing tasks in iCal; this even includes me creating tasks in iCal that may or may sync w/ OF.

Simply put, every time I make a change to a To-do in OF such as completion and/or date change, the initial sync with iCal causes the To-do in OF to move to the Inbox and change its completion status (if completed in OF), as well as the To-do list's order.

Chango 2009-09-24 03:01 AM

I've just started using the iCal synchronisation feature, and also noticed a few duplicate entries appearing. I do not sync iCal with any other software/device, and all OF synching happens within discrete calendars designated for the purpose (i.e. no non-OF entries in there). The duplicates I've encountered have all the same details, except that the OF reference URLs are different.

I just tried modifying a detail on one entry, and it synched ok, transferring the change through to one of the existing entries, but left the duplicate in place.

The only non-standard use recently is the transition from Leopard to Snow Leopard, for which I did a clean install (i.e. not using Migration Assistant), and copied across the Preferences file and Application Support folder, then upgraded the OmniFocus software when prompted that I didn't have the latest version. I notice that this newer version mentions updates to sync issues in the release notes.

OmniFocus 1.7.3 (v77.40 r118571) running on Snow Leopard (10.6.1).

stzenni@me.com 2009-09-24 02:17 PM

I have exactly the same problem. Usually I backup OF, then sync with iCal, find a lot of actions in the inbox, and then restore from backup...
I also use Bento, but I never create new tasks from Bento.

Brian 2009-09-24 07:09 PM

Hmmm... if nothing else is syncing with iCal, this doesn't sound like something I've heard of before. We'd love to investigate it with you, though - if you send email to the [EMAIL="omnifocus@omnigroup.com"]support ninjas[/EMAIL] we can look into what's going on here. Sorry again for the trouble it's causing.

shinfu 2009-10-05 10:47 AM

I have this issue. Annoying.

gordoncww 2010-01-30 05:31 PM

I also have this issue. Could it be due to syncing from both my laptop and iphone?

sequethin 2010-02-02 10:26 AM

this is killing me right now... I am reading GTD (the book) and I'm so excited about implementing the total system via omni focus. I love omnifocus! but can't afford to cancel my current cell phone contract, i.e. an iPhone for me is half a year away at least!

Now I have everything (ok almost everything, I'm trying!) in OF and I want to be able to add stuff from my phone. I have 2 phones, a blackberry and palm treo, and I have missing sync for palm and blackberry (note: I bought both of these in hopes of using the basic task list to "GTD" before I knew about OF and GTD in general). But now here I am... first sync works great - after that, every time I sync the items I completed seem to return, then there are duplicates... and it seems it's all because I want to sync to my phone (this happens with either phone, I've tried one and the other - I'm not trying to sync both. actually the old palm treo has much better calendar support than the blackberry curve, specifically the ability to handle multiple calendars, but I digress).

So basically I can't use my on-the-go task list to edit at all, just to look at. Honestly, the best part of a mobile device task list is the satisfaction from clicking the check box! It's just not useful for me unless I can check the stuff off as I go. I'm really frustrated and it feels like my best hope to actually get things done is now being thwarted. I'm surrounded by technology and it's beginning to feel like I have to print out my todo's and check them off with a pen as I go through my day... that's crazy talk!

Has anyone come up with a work around (other than overwriting the handheld each time?).

whpalmer4 2010-02-02 12:56 PM

Sequethin,

I would try doing some syncing between iCal and OmniFocus without muddying the waters with Blackberry and Treo sync activity. If you still have problems, then you'll have a better chance of the problem getting some attention from Omni. If the problem only occurs when you mix in some 3rd party's software, it's a bitter pill to swallow, but that's probably going to be quite a distance down their priority list if code changes are required.

In any case, be sure to contact the support ninjas for their help. Omni's got a great support team, and you've already paid for their help!

sequethin 2010-02-02 08:40 PM

I don't want to jinx myself by speaking too soon, but my treo seems to be behaving... so far i have about 5 contexts mapped to about 5 calendars... been adding from each, modifying from each, syncing... i'll keep adding and see!

sequethin 2010-02-03 07:04 PM

So far so good... maxed out missing sync's calendar sync (it can only sync as many as 15 calendars), had to get a little creative with my context->calendar mapping but it's working. I do get 4 tasks that sometimes show up in my inbox. They used to be repeating events, but I've stopped using repeating events and it's all working with an exception of those 4. Not sure why those 4 keep coming back but it's not so bad.

Should hold me over till I get an iPhone anyway...

Mr.Ric 2010-02-09 10:27 PM

Six months later and no closer to nailing the duplicates
 
[QUOTE=sequethin;72693]So far so good... maxed out missing sync's calendar sync (it can only sync as many as 15 calendars), had to get a little creative with my context->calendar mapping but it's working. I do get 4 tasks that sometimes show up in my inbox. They used to be repeating events, but I've stopped using repeating events and it's all working with an exception of those 4. Not sure why those 4 keep coming back but it's not so bad.

Should hold me over till I get an iPhone anyway...[/QUOTE]

...well if OF app on the iPodTouch is any indication of how OF & iCal will work with the iPhone, you may find yourself better off with your OF desktop/iCal/Missing Sync combo to Treo solution.

I bought the OF app for my iPodTouch in the hopes of GTD from WiFi locations where I work, using the OF desktop and iCal synching via MobileMe. I had been using my Treo 755p with Missing Sync & iCal for the past 3 years without incident, but really liked OF's claim of syncing across MobileMe with the OF app for iPhone/iPodTouch.

The OF app, like OF, is easy to use and the two work great together over MobileMe, but somehow iCal became the old man out. I keep getting duplication of modified tasks with originals (unmodified) from iCal which are now propagating in my OF app on the iPodTouch. Even after I nail the dupes, they return in OF desktop (in triplicate and even quadruplicate). All of this after I left Missing Sync and the Treo 755p entirely out of the loop (as instructed by the Support Ninjas and folks from other MobileMe syncing forums).

In short, the task duplication Samurai is stumping the OF Support Ninjas. I am sadly, but seriously, having to go back to the Missing Sync/iCal combo that has been the basis of my GTD for so long now. At the very least I will be able to spend more time doing the things on my task list rather than hunting down the phantoms that are plaguing this otherwise excellent software.

nhorseman 2010-02-10 09:05 AM

Mail.app is the issue?
 
I have the same issue.

Having read on this forum about the URL being used as a key value for the sync I have been monitoring the value of the field in my iCal ToDo's.

For me everything works fine until Mail.app (Snow Leopard) is started or restarted. For a short period of time all the ToDo's (when viewed in mail.app) are greyed out, I'm guessing while mail.app gets the latest ToDo's from iCal. While this takes place all the URL fields get updated, so a URL that was previously 'omnifocus:///task/fw0avcjKWJ6' gets changed to 'mailitem:818D81AE-D6C8-4543-A139-66CB06173256?type=todo&action=showparent'.

At this point I delete all the ToDo's in Mail.app and re-sync OF (ver 1.7.5) with iCal, and then the cycle repeats. :(

Is it possible to disable ToDo's in mail.app?

zoom 2010-02-11 04:27 PM

Same Here
 
Can't sync w/Ical accurately. Tasks will not erase in Ical when completed in OF AND they also show up in the inbox of OF.

This thread started a few months ago. Has anyone found a fix?

perronne 2010-02-12 11:26 PM

Duplicates, Sync Services and more than one Mac
 
[QUOTE=Brian;67387]Hmmm... if nothing else is syncing with iCal, this doesn't sound like something I've heard of before. We'd love to investigate it with you, though - if you send email to the [EMAIL="omnifocus@omnigroup.com"]support ninjas[/EMAIL] we can look into what's going on here. Sorry again for the trouble it's causing.[/QUOTE]

Actually, you're not syncing with iCal. You're syncing with the Snow Leopard's built-in extensible Sync Services. This is why syncing with 'iCal' syncs with my preferred calendar too: BusyCal. Just with a slightly better result at BusyCal treats tasks better than does iCal.

This leads to another problem. The contents of the Sync Services are synced through MobileMe to other Macs, to iPod Touches and to iPhones. And to the iPad when it is released.

In OmniFocus you are thought to sync with 'iCal' but if you are using OmniFocus on more than one Mac you are in problems if you do just that. You should only sync with the Sync Services on /one/ Mac as the synced tasks are automatically synced to the other Macs through MobileMe. If you sync from OmniFocus to the Sync Services on two Macs [laptop and desktop] you will get circular syncs - and lots of duplicates. OmniFocus tasks synced to the Sync Services on Computer 1, synced to Computer 2 through MobileMe without the use of the Sync Service's extensibility, can simply not be recognized by OmniFocus on Computer 2 as the same tasks it receives through MobileMe's iDisk.

Unfortunately, OmniFocus will frequently notify the user when he has not synced to the Sync Services for some time. Fortunately it doesn't sync automatically once an hour as is the case with syncs to MobileMe's iDisk. But it should be possible to be able to turn notification off.

Even better had it been to use the extensible Sync Services to sync everything between different Macs. Drop the iDisk sync and extend the Sync Services to include tasks with start dates, projects, contexts, ... it should sync to other Macs directly through MobileMe if set up properly, and the calendar applications will be able to use the features they can use. And OmniFocus should perform this sync with Sync Services automatically

The only problem that I can see to such a solution is that the present iPhone OS doesn't allow 3rd party applications general access to MobileMe. But this may change with the upcoming iPhone OS 4.0.

With MS Office 2008 installed and after having installed a trial version of SOHO Organizer, in the sync portion of the MobileMe control panel I see that these applications use the extensible Sync Services and MobileMe to sync between different Macs. At least, I can see sync options for SOHO Notes, SOHO-tags and Entourage-notes. So it should be possible to set up the extended Sync Services to do so.

On the iPhone I use two 'organizers', Pocket Informant from WebIS with integrated calendar and tasks, and OmniFocus with tasks only. At present, Pocket Informant syncs with BusyCal [and thus the Sync Services] through Google Calendar - and no real sync of tasks to the Mac is done.

But I know they are working on a WebIS Desktop Sync application for Mac that will sync through WiFi [or the internet through port forwarding] to the extensible Sync Services. This means they have to define data structures for start date, project, context etc in the extensible part of the Sync Services. For sure it would be best for the customers of both products, OmniFocus and Informant, if you choose the same data structures enabling sync between OmniFocus and Informant. It is /extremely/ practical to have a today view with events and tasks together.

And in general to be able to see forthcoming tasks in your calendar. I can see OmniFocus tasks in BusyCal - but it is a nuisance to have to sync two sets of tasks manually, between OmniFocus and Informant.

Jay6821 2010-03-09 01:26 PM

Duplicates, sync services, and BusyCal
 
Perronne,

Thanks for your post, you have given me some ideas that may help me solve a problem. I spent a large chunk of time Sunday trying to sync my OmniFocus tasks on my iMac, with BusyCal on both my iMac (which seemed to work) and my laptop. I tried different combinations trying to get it to work and then realized Mail was getting in the way. It seems like I was trying to coordinate 4 programs, OmniFocus, iCal, BusyCal and Mail on 2 machines using Mobile Me. I ended up with a complete mess, duplicates, triplicates, and contexts all over the place. I had to use Time Machine to gain some sense of control, but still lost my lastest weekly review (which was one of my best one's) and a lot of time.

What I really would like to do is sync OmniFocus tasks with BusyCal on both my iMac and laptop. I would like to leave iCal and Mail out of the picture. I have an iPhone but can live without having tasks on that since I'm office bound and live off my iMac or laptop. I'm hoping some others have some experience working with BusyCal, which is a nice app.

epr22 2010-05-10 04:30 AM

>>>In OmniFocus you are thought to sync with 'iCal' but if you are using OmniFocus on more than one Mac you are in problems if you do just that. You should only sync with the Sync Services on /one/ Mac as the synced tasks are automatically synced to the other Macs through MobileMe. If you sync from OmniFocus to the Sync Services on two Macs [laptop and desktop] you will get circular syncs - and lots of duplicates. OmniFocus tasks synced to the Sync Services on Computer 1, synced to Computer 2 through MobileMe without the use of the Sync Service's extensibility, can simply not be recognized by OmniFocus on Computer 2 as the same tasks it receives through MobileMe's iDisk.


I figured this out on my own after thinking about it for awhile (have two Macs and iPhone which I sync via MobileMe. Got the duplicating (then quad, then 8x, etc.) to dos, and after thinking about it, realized that it must be that OF on my work computer had no way of recognizing the to dos in iCal as the synced-up actions from OF on my home computer. So I simply pulled all the OF Context—iCal Calendar assignments on the work computer, cleared out my sync database and synced from home. Problem solved. However, this means getting on to the home computer with some regularity in order to keep all syncs current. Oh, well.

jtmoore506 2010-06-26 08:27 PM

same problem
 
I was bad about syncing with iCal from my Macbook, but I did it the other day, and I think I know what may have happened for me. I think I had to-do's in the calendar from when I had my blackberry. When I got an iPhone, I simply copied a lot of them by cut and pasting them into the OF inbox (i didn't know about the iCal sync at the time), and somehow lately, I synced, and then a lot of completed actions came back into the inbox. To top it off, some other actions switched contexts on me (mainly from Mac:Online to Errands).

It was weird. I just tried something, I backed everything up, turned off iCal syncing (meaning I reset it so there were no contexts syncing) and then deleted all my iCal todos (since I have them all in OF anyway). Then I set up the iCal sync and it appears to be okay.

I'm just not sure, why when I did the last sync that it didn't get rid of some completed actions in iCal, then wanted to put them back in.

Any new ideas on this?

Thanks for your help, I'm new to the forum

Jason


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